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Denon, Dominique-Vivant, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Denon, Dominique-Vivant, Baron dōmēnēkˈ-vēväN bärôNˈ dənôNˈ [key], 1747–1825, French artist, writer, and archaeologist. He had a brilliant career as an artist and diplomat during the anc...

Abd ar-Rahman I, emir of Córdoba

(Encyclopedia)Abd ar-Rahman I, d. 788, first Umayyad emir of Córdoba (756–88). The only survivor of the Abbasid massacre (750) of his family in Damascus, he fled from Syria and eventually went to Spain. There he...

Napier, Sir Charles James

(Encyclopedia)Napier, Sir Charles James nāˈpēr, nəpērˈ [key], 1782–1853, British general; brother of Sir William Napier. He served with distinction in the Napoleonic Wars. Stationed (1822–30) on the Greek...

Pogodin, Nikolai

(Encyclopedia)Pogodin, Nikolai fyôˈdərəvĭch sto͞okäˈlôf [key], 1900–1962, Russian dramatist. Pogodin wrote many colorful, optimistic, and popular plays generally dealing with the theme of man's conquest ...

Popol Vuh

(Encyclopedia)Popol Vuh pōpōlˈ vo͞oˈ [key] [Quiché,=collection of the council], sacred book of the Quiché. The most important document of the cosmogony, religion, mythology, migratory traditions, and history...

Quisling, Vidkun

(Encyclopedia)Quisling, Vidkun kwĭzˈlĭng, Nor. vĭdˈko͝on kvĭsˈlĭng [key], 1887–1945, Norwegian fascist leader. An army officer, he served as military attaché in Petrograd (1918–19) and Helsinki (1919�...

Lucania

(Encyclopedia)Lucania lo͞okāˈnēə [key], ancient region of S Italy. It was bounded on the east by the Gulf of Tarentum (now Taranto) and by Apulia, on the north by Samnium and Campania, on the west by the Tyrrh...

Arias de Ávila, Pedro

(Encyclopedia)Arias de Ávila, Pedro pāᵺräˈryäs [key], c.1440–1531, Spanish colonial administrator. He was sent (1514) as governor to Darién (now part of Panama), then under the rule of Vasco Núñez de Ba...

Huayna Capac

(Encyclopedia)Huayna Capac wīˈnä käˈpäk [key], d. 1525, Inca of Peru, last of the great emperors. The Inca empire reached its greatest extent and power under his rule, but disruptive forces were already at wo...

Yusuf ibn Tashfin

(Encyclopedia)Yusuf ibn Tashfin yo͞oso͝ofˈ ĭˈbən täshfēnˈ [key], d. 1106, ruler in the dynasty of the Almoravids (c.1059–1106). A Muslim, he led the Berbers in N Africa, continued the conquest of Morocco...