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Biddle, Nicholas, American financier

(Encyclopedia)Biddle, Nicholas, 1786–1844, American financier, b. Philadelphia. After holding important posts in the American legations in France and England, he returned to the United States in 1807 and became o...

Michael II, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Michael II (Michael the Stammerer), d. 829, Byzantine emperor (820–29). A native of Phrygia, he fought with Emperor Leo V, whom he had helped gain the throne. Leo had him arrested for heading a cons...

Mieszko II

(Encyclopedia)Mieszko II or Mieczyslaw II, 990–1034, king of Poland (1025–34), son and successor of Boleslaus I. His reign was marked by internal and external strife. Moravia was lost to Bohemia, Lusatia to Ger...

Oka, river, Siberian Russia

(Encyclopedia)Oka, river, c.600 mi (970 km) long, rising in the Sayan Mts., Buryat Republic, S central Siberian Russia. It flows N through Irkutsk oblast to join the Angara River below Bratsk. The lower Oka valley ...

Amalric II

(Encyclopedia)Amalric II or Amaury II, c.1155–1205, Latin king of Jerusalem (1197–1205) and Cyprus (1194–1205); brother and successor (in Cyprus) of Guy of Lusignan. His title to Jerusalem was established thr...

Andronicus II

(Encyclopedia)Andronicus II (Andronicus Palaeologus) pālēŏlˈəgəs [key], 1258–1332, Byzantine emperor (1282–1328), son and successor of Michael VIII. He devoted himself chiefly to church affairs, renewing ...

John II, Spanish king of Castile and León

(Encyclopedia)John II, 1405–54, Spanish king of Castile and León (1406–54), son and successor of Henry III. He was little interested in government, which he entrusted to his favorite Alvaro de Luna. Literature...

Ardashir II

(Encyclopedia)Ardashir II, king of Persia (379–83), of the Sassanid, or Sassanian, dynasty. A provincial governor under Shapur II, he succeeded to the throne. He earned popularity by remitting taxes, but his rule...

Yekaterinburg

(Encyclopedia)Yekaterinburg or Ekaterinburg svyĭrdlôfskˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 1,365,000), capital of the Sverdlovsk region and the administrative center of the Ural federal district, E European Russia, in the ...

Abbas II

(Encyclopedia)Abbas II (Abbas Hilmi) , ăbäsˈ, ăbˈəs [key], 1874–1944, last khedive of Egypt (1892–1914); son and successor of Tewfik Pasha. Nominally he ruled in subordination to the Ottoman Empire, but i...