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primate

(Encyclopedia)primate, member of the mammalian order Primates, which includes humans, apes, monkeys, and prosimians, or lower primates. The group can be traced to the late Cretaceous period, where members were fore...

Limerick, city, Republic of Ireland

(Encyclopedia)Limerick, city (1991 pop. 56,083), seat of Co. Limerick, SW Republic of Ireland, at the head of the Shannon estuary. The city has a port with two docks. The primary imports are grain, timber, and coal...

McGivney, Michael Joseph

(Encyclopedia)McGivney, Michael Joseph, 1852–1890, American Roman Catholic priest, founder of the Knights of Columbus, b. Waterbury, Conn. After studying at seminaries in Canada and the United States, he was orda...

Vedanta Societies

(Encyclopedia)Vedanta Societies, first and most influential Hindu organization in the West, founded by Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902), a disciple of Indian mystic Ramakrishna (1836–86). Vivekananda attended an i...

Sokolow, Nahum

(Encyclopedia)Sokolow, Nahum nāˈəm sōˈkəlō [key], 1859–1936, Jewish writer and Zionist leader, b. Poland. He served (1906–9) as general secretary of the Zionist Organization, editing its various publicat...

Mycale

(Encyclopedia)Mycale mĭkˈəlē [key], promontory, W Asia Minor, opposite Samós island. The center of the Ionian League was there, in the temple of Poseidon. In 479 b.c. the Greeks destroyed the Persian fleet at ...

Prester John

(Encyclopedia)Prester John, legendary Christian priest and monarch of a vast, wealthy empire in Asia or in Africa. The legend first appeared in the latter part of the 12th cent. and persisted for several centuries....

Nyos, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Nyos, Lake nēōsˈ [key], freshwater lake in a volcanic crater in North-West prov., Cameroon, 15 mi (24 km) ENE of Wum. On Aug. 21, 1986, carbon dioxide gas was released from the mineral-saturated wa...

Manych

(Encyclopedia)Manych mäˈnĭch [key], two rivers, SE European Russia. The Western Manych, c.200 mi (320 km) long, rises near Stavropol in the N Caucasus and flows NW through Lake Manych-Gudilo into the lower Don R...

Sibir

(Encyclopedia)Sibir sĭbērˈ [key], former city, southeast of present-day Tobolsk, W Siberian Russia. Founded in the 11th or 12th cent., it became (early 16th cent.) the capital of the Tatar khanate of Sibir, whic...