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Ellesmere, Francis Egerton, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Ellesmere, Francis Egerton, 1st earl of ĕlzˈmēr [key], 1800–1857, British politician, author, and philanthropist. His family name was Leveson-Gower, but he changed it on inheriting (1833) the est...

Head, Sir Francis Bond

(Encyclopedia)Head, Sir Francis Bond, 1793–1875, British administrator in Canada. A soldier (1811–25) and unsuccessful mining adventurer in South America, he had had little experience to prepare him for the pos...

Abdullah I

(Encyclopedia)Abdullah I (Abdullah ibn Husayn) äbdo͝olˈlä ĭˈbən ho͝osānˈ [key], 1882–1951, king of Jordan (1946–51), b. Mecca; son of Husayn ibn Ali of the Hashemite family. During World War I, Abdull...

Magna Carta

(Encyclopedia)Magna Carta or Magna Charta [Lat., = great charter], the most famous document of British constitutional history, issued by King John at Runnymede under compulsion from the barons and the church in...

Athaliah

(Encyclopedia)Athaliah ăthˌəlīˈə [key]. 1 The only queen to occupy the throne of Judah, daughter of Ahab of Israel, wife of Jehoram 2 of Judah, and mother of Ahaziah (2) of Judah, whom she succeeded. She had ...

Jehoash

(Encyclopedia)Jehoash jōˈăsh [key], in the Bible. 1 King of Israel, son and successor of Jehoahaz. He was generally successful in a war with Damascus, and he conquered Amaziah of Judah. He was succeeded by his s...

Massachusetts Bay Company

(Encyclopedia)Massachusetts Bay Company, English chartered company that established the Massachusetts Bay colony in New England. Organized (1628) as the New England Company, it took over the Dorchester Company, whi...

mountain beaver

(Encyclopedia)mountain beaver, stout, short-limbed North American rodent, Aplodontia rufa, not closely related to the true beaver. Also called sewellel beaver after the Chinook word for a robe made from its pelts, ...

O'Brian, Patrick

(Encyclopedia)O'Brian, Patrick, 1914–2000, British novelist, b. near London as Richard Patrick Russ. He changed his name in 1945 and after World War II settled in France. O'Brian's first novel, Caesar (1930), wri...

Copenhagen

(Encyclopedia)Copenhagen köˌbənhounˈ [key], city (2021 pop. 799,033), capital of Denmark and of Copenhagen co., ...