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Lens, city, France

(Encyclopedia)Lens läNs [key], city (1990 pop. 35,278), Pas-de-Calais dept., N France. During the 19th and 20th cent. it was one of the most important coal centers in N France, but its mines are now closed. Much o...

Bouillon, Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Bouillon, Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, duc de dük də bo͞oyôNˈ [key], 1555–1623, marshal of France, diplomat, and Protestant leader. He served with Henry IV against the Cath...

Longueuil, Charles le Moyne, sieur de

(Encyclopedia)Longueuil, Charles le Moyne, sieur de shärl lə mwän, syör də lôNgöˈyə [key], 1626–85, French colonial leader in Canada, founder of a famous Canadian family, b. Dieppe, France. Emigrating to...

Mendès-France, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Mendès-France, Pierre pyĕr măNdĕsˈ-fräNs [key], 1907–82, French statesman. A lawyer and economist, he entered (1932) the chamber of deputies as a Radical Socialist. In World War II he was a pi...

Landes, department, France

(Encyclopedia)Landes, department (1990 pop. 313,100), SW France, in Gascony, on the Atlantic coast. Mont-de-Marsan is the capital. ...

Fréron, Louis Marie Stanislas

(Encyclopedia)Fréron, Louis Marie Stanislas frārôNˈ [key], 1754–1802, French revolutionary; son of Élie Fréron. After the outbreak (1789) of the French Revolution, he founded a radical journal, Orateur du ...

Dollier de Casson, François

(Encyclopedia)Dollier de Casson, François fräNswäˈ dôlyāˈ də käsôNˈ [key], 1636–1701, priest and explorer in Canada, b. near Nantes, France. In 1657 he entered the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, and...

Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, duc de (Cardinal Richelieu) plĕsēˈ dük də rēshəlyöˈ [key], 1585–1642, French prelate and statesman, chief minister of King Louis XIII, cardinal of the Ro...

Dordogne, river, France

(Encyclopedia)Dordogne, river, c.305 mi (490 km) long, rising near the Puy de Sancy in the Auvergne Mts., S central France. It flows southwest to join the Garonne River N of Bordeaux and to form the Gironde. The up...

Portalis, Jean Étienne Marie

(Encyclopedia)Portalis, Jean Étienne Marie zhäN ātyĕnˈ märēˈ pôrtälēsˈ [key], 1746–1807, French statesman and lawyer. A moderate, he was suspected of royalist sympathies during the French Revolution b...