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chartered companies

(Encyclopedia)chartered companies, associations for foreign trade, exploration, and colonization that came into existence with the formation of the European nation states and their overseas expansion. An associatio...

Chopin, Frédéric François

(Encyclopedia)Chopin, Frédéric François frādārēkˈ fräNswäˈ shôpăNˈ [key], 1810–49, composer for the piano, b. near Warsaw, of French and Polish parentage. His lyrical, often melancholy, compositions ...

Vandenberg, Arthur Hendrick

(Encyclopedia)Vandenberg, Arthur Hendrick, 1884–1951, American politician, b. Grand Rapids, Mich. He was editor and publisher of the Grand Rapids Herald from 1906 to 1928, when he was appointed to fill a U.S. Sen...

Fontainebleau

(Encyclopedia)Fontainebleau fôNtĕnblōˈ [key], town, Seine-et-Marne dept., N France, SE of Paris. It is a favorite ...

Paris Pacts

(Encyclopedia)Paris Pacts, four international agreements signed in Paris on Oct. 23, 1954, to establish a new international status for West Germany. Since the end of World War II, West Germany had been occupied by ...

Kraków

(Encyclopedia)Kraków krăˈkou, Pol. kräˈko͞of [key], Ger. Krakau, city (1994 est. pop. 751,500), capital of Małopolskie prov., S Poland, on the Vistula. A river port and industrial center, it has varied manuf...

American Indian Movement

(Encyclopedia)American Indian Movement (AIM), Native American civil-rights activist organization, founded in 1968 to encourage self-determination among Native Americans and to establish international re...

Iliescu, Ion

(Encyclopedia)Iliescu, Ion, 1930–, Romanian political leader, president of Romania (1990–96, 2000–2004). A member of the Communist party from 1953, he held a series of party posts before he was elected a memb...

Miaskovsky, Nikolai Yakovlevich

(Encyclopedia)Miaskovsky, Nikolai Yakovlevich nyĭkəlīˈ yäˈkəvlyĭvĭch myəskôfˈskē [key], 1881–1950, Russian composer, b. near Warsaw, grad. St. Petersburg Conservatory, 1911. Professor of composition ...

Narew

(Encyclopedia)Narew näˈrĕf [key], Rus. Narev, river, c.275 mi (440 km) long, rising in the Białowieża Forest, W Belarus, near the border with Poland. It flows generally NW through NE Poland past Łomża, the h...