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Maine, region and former province, France

(Encyclopedia)Maine mĕn [key], region and former province, NW France, S of Normandy and E of Brittany. It now comprises the departments of Mayenne and Sarthe and parts of Loire-et-Cher, Eure-et-Loir, and Orne. Le ...

Marche, region and former province, France

(Encyclopedia)Marche märsh [key], region and former province, central France, on the NW margin of the Massif Central. It is coextensive with Creuse dept., much of the Haute-Vienne dept., and parts of Vienne, Indre...

León, region and former kingdom, Spain

(Encyclopedia)León lā-ōnˈ [key], historic region and former kingdom, NW Spain, E of Portugal and Galicia, now part of Castile–León. It includes the provinces of León, Salamanca, and Zamora, named after thei...

Livonia, region and former Russian province

(Encyclopedia)Livonia lĭvōˈnēə [key], region and former Russian province, comprising present Estonia and parts of Latvia (Vidzeme and Latgale). It borders on the Baltic Sea and its arms, the Gulf of Riga and t...

Baltic Shield

(Encyclopedia)Baltic Shield, the continental core of Europe, composed of Precambrian crystalline rock, the oldest of Europe. The tectonically stable region was not affected by the Caledonian, Hercynian, and Alpine ...

Romanian language

(Encyclopedia)CEE Romanian language, member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages). It is spoken by about 22 million people in Romania, wher...

Carboniferous period

(Encyclopedia)Carboniferous period kärbənĭfˈərəs [key], fifth period of the Paleozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), from 350 to 290 million years ago. The pl...

Pendlebury, John Devitt Stringfellow

(Encyclopedia)Pendlebury, John Devitt Stringfellow, 1904–41, British archaeologist. He participated in expeditions to Macedonia (1928) and Tell el Amarna (1928–29 and 1930–36). From 1930 to 1934 he was curato...

Véroia

(Encyclopedia)Véroia or Veria both: vĕˈrēä [key], town (1991 pop. 38,713), capital of Imathía prefecture, N Greece, in Macedonia. It is a lignite-mining and textile-milling center. In ancient times the town w...

Khalkidhikí

(Encyclopedia)Khalkidhikí kălsĭdˈĭsē [key], peninsula (1991 pop. 92,117), NE Greece, projecting into the Aegean Sea from SE Macedonia. Its southern extremity terminates in three peninsulas: Kassandra (anc. Gr...