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Messina, Strait of

(Encyclopedia)Messina, Strait of, channel, c.20 mi (32 km) long and from 2 to 10 mi (3.2–16 km) wide, separating the Italian peninsula from Sicily and connecting the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas. Reggio di Calabria...

Isabel of Bavaria

(Encyclopedia)Isabel of Bavaria, 1371–1435, French queen, consort of Charles VI, daughter of the duke of Bavaria. After her marriage (1385) she was several times regent for her demented husband. Sympathizing with...

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...

Commonwealth of Independent States

(Encyclopedia)Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), community of independent nations established by a treaty signed at Minsk, Belarus, on Dec. 8, 1991, by the heads of state of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. Bet...

Oliva, Peace of

(Encyclopedia)Oliva, Peace of ōlēˈvə, –vä [key], 1660, treaty signed at Oliva (now a suburb of Gdańsk) by Poland and Sweden. John II of Poland renounced the theoretical claim of his line to the Swedish crow...

Pio of Pietrelcina, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Pio of Pietrelcina, Saint, 1887–1968, Italian Capuchin friar and mystic known as Padre Pio. Born Francesco Forgione, he was a sickly child who experienced visions and ecstasies at a young age and en...

Guido of Siena

(Encyclopedia)Guido of Siena sēĕnˈə [key], fl. 13th cent., Italian painter. All that is known of him is an inscription on a large and almost completely repainted Virgin and Child Enthroned, formerly in San Dome...

Paris, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Paris, Congress of, 1856, conference held by representatives of France, Great Britain, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), Sardinia, Russia, Austria, and Prussia to negotiate the peace after the Crimean War....

Pueblo, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Pueblo, name given by the Spanish to the sedentary Native Americans who lived in stone or adobe communal houses in what is now the SW United States. The term pueblo is also used for the villages occup...

Biscay, Bay of

(Encyclopedia)Biscay, Bay of bĭsˈkā [key], arm of the Atlantic Ocean, indenting the coast of W Europe from Ushant island (Île d'Ouessant) off Brittany, NW France, to Cape Ortegal, NW Spain. The bay is noted for...