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Arafat

(Encyclopedia)Arafat äräfäˈ [key], granite hill, Saudi Arabia, near Mecca. The hill was an ancient pagan sanctuary and is shrouded in many legends. It is a site for prayers during the hajj, the annual Muslim pi...

Seram

(Encyclopedia)Seram, formerly Ceram both: sāˈräm [key], island, c.6,600 sq mi (17,100 sq km), E Indonesia, W of New Guinea, second largest of the Moluccas; also called Seran or Serang. Its chief port and town is...

sky

(Encyclopedia)sky, apparent dome over the earth, background of the clouds, sun, moon, and stars. The blue color of the clear daytime sky results from the selective scattering of light rays by the minute particles o...

Polk, Leonidas

(Encyclopedia)Polk, Leonidas, 1806–64, American Episcopal bishop and Confederate general in the Civil War, b. Raleigh, N.C. He left the army to study for the ministry and was ordained in 1831. He served as missio...

Baguio

(Encyclopedia)Baguio băˈgēō, Sp. bägyōˈ [key], city, Benguet prov., NW Luzon, the Philippine...

Tsvetayeva, Marina Ivanovna

(Encyclopedia)Tsvetayeva or Tsvetaeva, Marina Ivanovna tsvyĭtäˈyəvə [key], 1892–1941, Russian poet. She was a major Russian poet, who survived the civil war, emigrated to Prague and Paris, and returned to Ru...

Escalante, Silvestre Vélez de

(Encyclopedia)Escalante, Silvestre Vélez de sēlvāˈstrā vāˈlāth dā āskälänˈtā [key], fl. 1769–79, Spanish explorer in the American Southwest and Far West, a Franciscan missionary. He was in charge of...

Gerizim

(Encyclopedia)Gerizim gĕrˈəzĭm, gērīˈ– [key], Arabic Jabal at Tur, mountain, 2,890 ft (881 m) high, in the Samaritan Hills, in the West Bank. Nablus, near the ancient Shechem, lies in the valley between Ge...

Gajdusek, Daniel Carleton

(Encyclopedia)Gajdusek, Daniel Carleton gīdˈəshĕkˌ [key], 1923–2008, American virologist, b. Yonkers, N.Y., grad. Univ. of Rochester; M.D. Harvard, 1945. He worked in the United States, Iran, Australia, and ...

Vergniaud, Pierre Victurnien

(Encyclopedia)Vergniaud, Pierre Victurnien pyĕr vēktürnyăNˈ vĕrnyōˈ [key], 1753–93, French revolutionary. A brilliant lawyer, he gained attention (1790) when defending peasants who had burned a castle. El...
 

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