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democracy

(Encyclopedia)democracy [Gr.,=rule of the people], term originating in ancient Greece to designate a government where the people share in directing the activities of the state, as distinct from governments controll...

Boys and Girls Clubs of America

(Encyclopedia)Boys and Girls Clubs of America, federation of more than 1,006 organizations established (1906) in Boston as the Federated Boys' Clubs to help young people, especially those who are disadvantaged. Lat...

Las Casas, Bartolomé de

(Encyclopedia)Las Casas, Bartolomé de bärtōlōmāˈ dā läs käˈsäs [key], 1474–1566, Spanish missionary and historian, called the apostle of the Indies. He went to Hispaniola with his father in 1502, and e...

Ammon, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Ammon ămˈən [key], in the Bible, people living E of the Dead Sea. Their capital was Rabbath-Ammon, the present-day Amman (Jordan). Their god was Milcom, to whom Solomon built an altar. A Semitic pe...

Media

(Encyclopedia)Media mēˈdēə [key], ancient country of W Asia whose actual boundaries cannot be defined, occupying generally what is now W Iran and S Azerbaijan. It extended from the Caspian Sea to the Zagros Mts...

Corregidor

(Encyclopedia)Corregidor kərĕˈgĭdôrˌ [key], historic fortified island (c.2 sq mi/5 sq km), at the entrance to Manila Bay, just off Bataan peninsula of Luzon island, the Philippines. From the days of the Spani...

swift

(Encyclopedia)swift, common name for small, swallowlike birds related to the hummingbird and found all over the world, chiefly in the tropics. They range in size from 6 to 12 in. (15–30 cm) in length. Swifts have...

oriole

(Encyclopedia)oriole, common name applied to various perching birds of the Old (family Oriolidae) and New (family Icteridae) Worlds. The European orioles are allied to the crows, while the American orioles, of the ...

Vianney, Saint Jean-Baptiste

(Encyclopedia)Vianney, Saint Jean-Baptiste zhäN-bätēstˈ vyänāˈ [key], 1786–1859, French parish priest, popularly known as the Curé d'Ars, b. Dardilly, near Lyons. He came of poor, peasant stock and receiv...

Miles, Nelson Appleton

(Encyclopedia)Miles, Nelson Appleton, 1839–1925, American army officer, b. near Westminster, Mass. In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, he left his job in a Boston store and organized a company of volunteer...
 

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