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Colossus of Rhodes

(Encyclopedia)Colossus of Rhodes kəlŏsˈəs [key], large statue of Helios, the sun god, destroyed by an earthquake in antiquity. Consider one of the Seven Wonders of the World by the ancients, it was built in par...

Leopold II, king of the Belgians

(Encyclopedia)Leopold II, 1835–1909, king of the Belgians (1865–1909), son and successor of Leopold I. His reign saw great industrial and colonial expansion. In 1876 he organized, with the help of H. M. Stanley...

Ordinance of 1787

(Encyclopedia)Ordinance of 1787, adopted by the Congress of Confederation for the government of the Western territories ceded to the United States by the states. It created the Northwest Territory and is frequently...

Rio Grande, river, United States and Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Rio Grande rēˈō grănd, rēˈō gränˈdē [key], river, c.1,885 mi (3,000 km) long, rising in SW Colo. in the San Juan Mts. and flowing south through the middle of N.Mex., past Albuquerque, then c...

Portsmouth, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Portsmouth, Treaty of, 1905, treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War. It was signed at the Portsmouth Naval Base, New Hampshire, on Sept. 5, 1905. Negotiations leading up to the treaty began in the sprin...

Washington, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Washington, Treaty of, May, 1871, agreement concluded between the United States and Great Britain in Washington, D.C. Its principal articles provided for determination of the Alabama claims by an inte...

free trade

(Encyclopedia)free trade, in modern usage, trade or commerce carried on without such restrictions as import duties, export bounties, domestic production subsidies, trade quotas, or import licenses. The basic argume...

Döblin, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Döblin, Alfred älˈfrĕt döblĭnˈ [key], 1878–1957, German novelist and physician. His experiences as a psychiatrist in the workers' district of Berlin served as the basis for his experimental n...

justice of the peace

(Encyclopedia)justice of the peace, official presiding over a type of police court. In some states of the United States the justices, who are usually elected, have jurisdiction over petty civil and criminal cases a...

Kimberley, town, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Kimberley kĭmˈbərlē [key], town (1991 pop. 6,531), SE British Columbia, Canada. Canada's highest city (3,660 ft/1,115 m), it is the site of the Sullivan mine, where large quantities of silver, lea...