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Polish Corridor

(Encyclopedia)Polish Corridor, strip of German territory awarded to newly independent Poland by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The strip, 20 to 70 mi (32–112 km) wide, gave Poland access to the Baltic Sea. It ...

Stolypin, Piotr Arkadevich

(Encyclopedia)Stolypin, Piotr Arkadevich pyôˈtər ərkäˈdyĭvĭch stəlĭˈpĭn [key], 1862–1911, Russian premier and minister of the interior (1906–11) for Czar Nicholas II. He sought to fight the revoluti...

wire

(Encyclopedia)wire, metal filament, strand, or solid rod usually having a round cross section. Metals and alloys used for wiremaking are chosen for high tensile strength and ductility or for their electrical conduc...

Sierra Club

(Encyclopedia)Sierra Club, national organization in the United States dedicated to the preservation and expansion of the world's parks, wildlife, and wilderness areas. Founded (1892) in California by a group led by...

Costa Brava

(Encyclopedia)Costa Brava kōˈstä bräˈvä [key], a strip of coastline, Girona prov., NE Spain, in Catalonia, near the French border on the Mediterranean. One of the most agriculturally rich areas of Spain, it h...

Alert

(Encyclopedia)Alert əlûrtˈ [key], settlement, on Ellesmere Island, extreme N Nunavut Territory, Canada, on the Arctic Ocean. It is the most northerly permanent settlement in the world. The settlement has a radio...

raffia

(Encyclopedia)raffia rāˈfēə [key], fiber obtained from the raffia palm of Madagascar, exported for various uses, such as tying up plants that require support, binding together vegetables to be marketed, and wea...

net

(Encyclopedia)net, mesh fabric, known from prehistoric times. Nets have been made of many materials, including sinews, strips of hide, silk, vegetable and synthetic fibers, and metallic threads. Their earliest use ...

Hazlitt, William

(Encyclopedia)Hazlitt, William, 1778–1830, English essayist. The son of a reform-mindeed Unitarian minister, he abandoned the idea of entering the clergy and took up painting, philosophy, and later journalism. He...

Jonson, Ben

(Encyclopedia)Jonson, Ben, 1572–1637, English dramatist and poet, b. Westminster, London. The high-spirited buoyancy of Jonson's plays and the brilliance of his language have earned him a reputation as one of the...