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Gobat, Charles Albert

(Encyclopedia)Gobat, Charles Albert shärl älbĕrˈ gōbäˈ [key], 1843–1914, Swiss statesman. He took part in government affairs, wrote on international law, and helped found (1902) an international peace bure...

Linear Scripts

(Encyclopedia)Linear Scripts, forms of Minoan writing. The earliest Minoan writing consisted of pictographs, called Cretan hieroglyphs, which date from about 2000 b.c. The first linear script, Linear A, dates from ...

Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence

(Encyclopedia)Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence mĕkˈlənbûrgˌ [key], resolution alleged to have been proclaimed at Charlotte, N.C., by the citizens of Mecklenburg co. on May 20, 1775. Although North Carol...

mesta

(Encyclopedia)mesta māˈstä [key], association of Spanish sheep farmers, formed to regulate sheep raising and to prevent cultivation of pastureland. Its date of origin is uncertain, but by 1273 Alfonso X of Casti...

Saint Gall, former Benedictine abbey, Switzerland

(Encyclopedia)Saint Gall, former Benedictine abbey, at St. Gall, Switzerland. Originating in a cell built c.614 by St. Gall, an Irish missionary (see Columban, Saint), it became an abbey under Charles Martel (8th c...

San Juan Capistrano

(Encyclopedia)San Juan Capistrano săn wän kăpĭsträˈnō [key], city (1990 pop. 26,183), Orange co., S Calif.; inc. 1961. San Juan Capistrano has some manufactures, including aircraft parts, medical apparatus, ...

Shrirangapattana

(Encyclopedia)Shrirangapattana srēˌrŭngˌgəpŭtˈnə [key], town (1991 pop. 21,905), Karnataka state, S India, on an island in the Kaveri River. There are Hindu monuments, some built in the 13th cent. Most of t...

commercial paper

(Encyclopedia)commercial paper, type of short-term negotiable instrument, usually an unsecured promissory note, that calls for the payment of money at a specified date. Because it is not backed by collateral, comme...

Clovis culture

(Encyclopedia)Clovis culture, a group of Paleo-Indians (see Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the) known through artifacts first excavated in the early 1930s near Clovis, N.Mex. The artifacts, including chipped...

chalk

(Encyclopedia)chalk, mineral of calcium carbonate, similar in composition to limestone, but softer. It is characteristically a marine formation and sometimes occurs in great thickness; the chief constituents of the...