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zombi

(Encyclopedia)zombi or zombie both: zŏmˈbē [key], in voodoo, a person believed to have been raised from the grave by a houngan [sorcerer] for purposes of enslavement. The zombi is used by its master to perform h...

New Economic Policy

(Encyclopedia)New Economic Policy (NEP), official economic reconstruction program of the USSR from 1921 to 1928. It replaced the economic policies of “war Communism” (1918–21), an emergency program establishe...

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...

Mboya, Thomas Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Mboya, Thomas Joseph mboiˈə [key], 1930–69, Kenyan political leader. The son of a Luo farmer, he was born in the “white highlands” of Kenya and educated at Roman Catholic mission schools. Earl...

harvester

(Encyclopedia)harvester, farm machine that mechanically harvests a crop. Small-grain harvesting has been mechanized to a certain extent since early times. In the modern period the first harvester to gain general ac...

Bridges, Harry

(Encyclopedia)Bridges, Harry (Alfred Renton Bridges), 1901–90, American labor leader, b. Melbourne, Australia. Arriving (1920) as an immigrant seaman in San Francisco, he became a longshoreman and militant labor ...

O'Brien, William Shoney

(Encyclopedia)O'Brien, William Shoney, c.1826–1878, American silver magnate, b. Dublin, Ireland. He was brought to the United States as a child and worked in a New York grocery store before going to California in...

Medusa, in Greek mythology

(Encyclopedia)Medusa mədo͞oˈsə [key], in Greek mythology, most famous of the three monstrous Gorgon sisters. She was once a beautiful woman, but she offended Athena, who changed her hair into snakes and made he...

Moscheles, Ignaz

(Encyclopedia)Moscheles, Ignaz ĭgˈnäts mōshˈəlĕs [key], 1794–1870, Bohemian-German musician. Born in Prague, Moscheles was a child prodigy. He studied in Vienna with Johann Albrechtsberger and Antonio Sali...

Torrigiano, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Torrigiano, Pietro pyĕˈtrō tōr-rējäˈnō [key], 1472–1528, Florentine Renaissance sculptor. Upon leaving Florence in 1492, he worked in Rome and small Italian cities until his departure for th...