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chess

(Encyclopedia)chess, game for two players played on a square board composed of 64 square spaces, alternately dark and light in color. London was the site of the first modern international chess tournament in 1851...

illiteracy

(Encyclopedia)illiteracy, inability to meet a certain minimum criterion of reading and writing skill. Throughout most of history most people have been illiterate. In feudal society, for example, the ability to re...

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

(Encyclopedia)United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), specialized agency of the United Nations, with headquarters in Paris. Its counterpart in the League of Nations was the Inter...

Vedanta

(Encyclopedia)Vedanta vĭdänˈtə, –dănˈ– [key], one of the six classical systems of Indian philosophy. The term “Vedanta” has the literal meaning “the end of the Veda” and refers both to the teachin...

Liberty, Statue of

(Encyclopedia)Liberty, Statue of, statue on Liberty Island in Upper New York Bay, commanding the entrance to New York City. Liberty Island, c.10 acres (4 hectares), formerly Bedloe's Island (renamed in 1956), was t...

sugarcane

(Encyclopedia)sugarcane, tall tropical perennials (species of Saccharum, chiefly S. officinarum) of the family Poaceae (grass family), probably cultivated in their native Asia from prehistoric times. Sugarcane some...

Merckx, Eddy

(Encyclopedia)Merckx, Eddy (Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx) mûrks [key], 1945–, Belgian bicycle racer. He won the world amateur cycling championship in 1964 and became world professional champion in 1967. H...

maya, in Hinduism

(Encyclopedia)maya mäˈyä [key], in Hinduism, term used in the Veda to mean magic or supernatural power. In Mahayana Buddhism it acquires the meaning of illusion or unreality. The term is pivotal in the Vedanta s...

Serengeti National Park

(Encyclopedia)Serengeti National Park, c.5,700 sq mi (14,800 sq km), NE Tanzania, est. 1941. The internationally famous park attracts large numbers of tourists to see the world's largest concentrations of wildebees...

Colón, city, Panama

(Encyclopedia)Colón, city, Panama, at the Caribbean end of the Panama Canal. Colón, the second largest city in Panama, was surrounded by, but not part of, the forme...