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Aga Muhammad Khan

(Encyclopedia) Aga Muhammad Khan or Agha Muhammad KhanAgha Muhammad Khanboth: äˈgäm&oomacr;hämˈmäd khän [key], 1742–97, shah of Persia, founder of the Qajar dynasty. He was emasculated by family…

Butler, Walter

(Encyclopedia) Butler, Walter, 1752?–1781, Loyalist officer in the American Revolution, b. New York State; son of John Butler. He was an officer in his father's Loyalist troop, Butler's Rangers. He…

Widukind, Saxon leader

(Encyclopedia) WidukindWidukindwĭdˈ&oomacr;kĭnd [key] or WittekindWidukindwĭtˈə– [key], d. 807?, leader of the Saxons against the Frankish king Charlemagne (later emperor of the West). In 782,…

Bailly, Jean Sylvain

(Encyclopedia) Bailly, Jean SylvainBailly, Jean SylvainzhäN sēlvăNˈ bäyēˈ [key], 1736–93, French astronomer and politician. His works on astronomy and on the history of science (notably the Essai sur…

Paine, Robert Treat

(Encyclopedia) Paine, Robert Treat, 1731–1814, political figure in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Boston, Mass. He served briefly as a chaplain in the French…

Palawan

(Encyclopedia) PalawanPalawanpäläˈwän [key], island (1990 pop. 528,287), 4,550 sq mi (11,785 sq km), 5th largest of the Philippines, N of Borneo and between the Sulu Archipelago and the South China…

Jury Still Out on Gun Control

1999 News of the Nation Despite the encouraging FBI report that the murder rate continues to plummet—it is now at its lowest level since 1967—a spate of isolated killing sprees in 1999 traumatized…

Cresap, Michael

(Encyclopedia) Cresap, MichaelCresap, Michaelkrēˈsăp [key], 1742–75, American frontiersman and soldier, b. Allegany co., Md. A Native American fighter, he was accused by Thomas Jefferson and others…

Ghost Dance

(Encyclopedia) Ghost Dance, central ritual of the messianic religion instituted in the late 19th cent. by a Paiute named Wovoka. The religion prophesied the peaceful end of the westward expansion of…

Abd ar-Rahman I, emir of Córdoba

(Encyclopedia) Abd ar-Rahman I, d. 788, first Umayyad emir of Córdoba (756–88). The only survivor of the Abbasid massacre (750) of his family in Damascus, he fled from Syria and eventually went to…