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Americas, University of the

(Encyclopedia)Americas, University of the, at Cholula, Puebla, Mexico; founded 1940 as Mexico City College. The school achieved university status in 1963. It has faculties of administration, basic sciences, enginee...

agrarian laws

(Encyclopedia)agrarian laws, in ancient Rome, the laws regulating the disposition of public lands (ager publicus). It was the practice of Rome to confiscate part of the land of conquered cities and states, and this...

Herrera, José Joaquín

(Encyclopedia)Herrera, José Joaquín ārāˈrä [key], 1792–1854, president of Mexico (1844–45, 1848–51). Rising to power after the collapse of Santa Anna's second presidential administration, he incurred t...

Marbury v. Madison

(Encyclopedia)Marbury v. Madison, case decided in 1803 by the U.S. Supreme Court. William Marbury had been commissioned justice of the peace in the District of Columbia by President John Adams in the “midnight ap...

Lew, Jack

(Encyclopedia)Lew, Jack (Jacob Joseph Lew), 1955–, American government official, b. New York City, grad. Harvard (1978), Georgetown Univ. Law School (1983). A Democrat, he first worked politics at 17 in Eugene Mc...

Iran-contra affair

(Encyclopedia)Iran-contra affair, in U.S. history, secret arrangement in the 1980s to provide funds to the Nicaraguan contra rebels from profits gained by selling arms to Iran. The Iran-contra affair was the produc...

Brock University

(Encyclopedia)Brock University, at St. Catharines, Ont., Canada; coeducational; founded 1964. It has faculties of humanities, social science, science and mathematics, education, business, and physical education and...

d'Amboise, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)d'Amboise, Jacques zhäk dămbwäzˈ [key], 1934–2021, American dancer and choreographer, b. Dedham, ...

Ghitani, Gamal al-

(Encyclopedia)Ghitani, Gamal al-, 1945–2015, Egyptian novelist and journalist. He studied Oriental carpet design and apprenticed as a carpet maker before turning to journalism. A strong supporter of human rights,...

Modigliani, Amedeo

(Encyclopedia)Modigliani, Amedeo ämādĕˈō mōdēlyäˈnē [key], 1884–1920, Italian painter, b. Livorno. In Paris after 1906, Modigliani first worked as a sculptor and was influenced by the works of Constanti...