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Vespucci, Amerigo

(Encyclopedia)Vespucci, Amerigo ämārēˈgō vāspo͞otˈchē [key], 1454–1512, Italian navigator in whose honor America was named, b. Florence. He entered the commercial service of the Medici and in 1492 moved ...

commando

(Encyclopedia)commando, small, elite military raiding and assault unit or soldier. Although the word was coined in the Boer War (1899–1902), the role is as old as battles themselves. In 1940, when the British org...

Murray, John

(Encyclopedia)Murray, John, 1741–1815, founder of the Universalist denomination in America, b. England. He was excommunicated by the Methodists after he had openly accepted Universalism as taught by James Relly (...

Bonpland, Aimé Jacques Alexandre

(Encyclopedia)Bonpland, Aimé Jacques Alexandre āmāˈ zhäkˈ älĕksäNˈdrə bôNpläNˈ [key], 1773–1858, French surgeon and naturalist who accompanied Alexander von Humboldt on his expedition in Latin Ameri...

Cooke, Alistair

(Encyclopedia)Cooke, Alistair, 1908–2004, Anglo-American journalist, b. Salford, England, as Alfred Cooke; grad. Cambridge, 1930, where he officially adopted the name Alistair. Cooke became famous in Britain for ...

Inglis, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Inglis, Charles ĭngˈglĭs, ĭngˈgəlz [key], 1734–1816, Anglican clergyman in America, b. Ireland. He emigrated to America in 1755. While assistant rector (1765–77) of Trinity Church, New York ...

Eleanor of Aquitaine

(Encyclopedia)Eleanor of Aquitaine ăkwĭtānˈ, ăkˈwĭtān [key], 1122?–1204, queen consort first of Louis VII of France and then of Henry II of England. Daughter and heiress of William X, duke of Aquitaine, s...

Eleanor of Castile

(Encyclopedia)Eleanor of Castile kăstēlˈ [key], d.1290, queen consort of Edward I of England and daughter of Ferdinand III of Castile. At her marriage (1254) she brought to Prince Edward the territories of Ponth...

Eleanor of Provence

(Encyclopedia)Eleanor of Provence prôväNsˈ [key], d. 1291, queen consort of Henry III of England. The daughter of Raymond Berengar, count of Provence, she was married to Henry in 1236. She was a vigorous and inc...

Diagoras of Rhodes

(Encyclopedia)Diagoras of Rhodes, ancient Greek athlete, fl. 5th cent. b.c. A boxer and wrester, he won an Olympic championship in 464 b.c. and won numerous times at the Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean games. Pindar ...