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Preti, Mattia

(Encyclopedia)Preti, Mattia mät-tēˈä prĕˈtē [key], 1613–99, Italian baroque painter, called Il Calabrese for his birthplace. Preti went to Rome c.1630 and studied with Lanfranco. His most dramatic works we...

Camagüey, province, Cuba

(Encyclopedia)Camagüey kämägwāˈ, kämäwāˈ [key], province (1995 est. pop. 840,000), E central Cuba. Camagüey is the capital. The area is a vast prairie and is Cuba's largest province. The major economic ac...

relief

(Encyclopedia)relief, in sculpture, three-dimensional projection from a flat background. In alto-relievo, or high relief, the protrusion is great; basso-relievo, or bas-relief, protrudes only slightly; and mezzo-re...

Acominatus, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Acominatus, Michael kōnēāˈtēz [key], c.1140–1220, Byzantine writer and metropolitan of Athens. Acominatus' speeches, poems, and letters give much information about medieval Athens, which he, a ...

Czech language

(Encyclopedia)Czech language chĕk [key], in the past sometimes also called Bohemian, member of the West Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages). The off...

Norman Conquest

(Encyclopedia)Norman Conquest, period in English history following the defeat (1066) of King Harold of England by William, duke of Normandy, who became William I of England. The conquest was formerly thought to hav...

Dibon

(Encyclopedia)Dibon dīˈbŏn [key] or Dibon-gad, ancient city, E of the Dead Sea, now a ruin called Dhiban. The Moabite stone was found there, and important remains from the Moabite period have been excavated. Ref...

Alcántara

(Encyclopedia)Alcántara älkänˈtärä [key], town, Cáceres prov., W Spain, in Extremadura, near the Tagus River. A fine Roman bridge (Arabic al-kantara) built (a.d. 105–106) in ...

Colton, Walter

(Encyclopedia)Colton, Walter kōlˈtən [key], 1797–1851, American editor, writer, and clergyman, b. Rutland co., Vt. He became a naval chaplain in 1831. His books Ship and Shore (1835), A Visit to Constantinople...

Americana

(Encyclopedia)Americana, term used to describe material printed in or about the Americas, or written by Americans; usually restricted to the formative period in the history of the two continents. Thus the letter wr...