Macdonald, Jacques, Duc De Tarente

The son of a Scottish adherent of the exiled British Stuart dynasty, who had served in a Scots regiment in France, he joined the French army and was a colonel when the wars of the French Revolution broke out. He was promoted to general in 1793 and to general of division

Tariff

Tariffs may be levied either to raise revenue or to protect domestic industries, but a tariff designed primarily to raise revenue may exercise a strong protective influence and a tariff

Pietersburg

Town and capital of Northern province, South Africa. It is located about midway between Pretoria and the Zimbabwe border, at an elevation of 4,199 feet (1,280 m). The town was founded by Voortrekkers (Afrikaans: “Pioneers”) in 1886 on land purchased in 1884 from a local farmer and was named after Petrus (Piet) Joubert, a Boer general. It was the temporary capital in 1900 of both the Transvaal and the Orange

Mufulira

Town, north-central Zambia. Mufulira is situated just southwest of the Congo (Kinshasa) frontier. One of the country's chief copper-mining centres, the rich local deposits have been exploited for many years. Smelting and refining of copper and an explosives-manufacturing plant are surface industries in the town. Pop. (1990) 152,944.

France, History Of, The abolition of feudalism

Of course the violence of peasant insurgency worried the deputies of the National Assembly; to some it seemed as if the countryside were being engulfed by anarchy that threatened all property. But the majority was unwilling to turn against the rebellious peasants. Instead of denouncing their violence, they tried to appease peasant opinion. Liberal nobles and

O Canada

The music, written by Calixa Lavallée (1842–91), a concert pianist and native of Verchères, Que., was commissioned in 1880 on the occasion of a visit to Quebec by Lord Lorne (later Duke of Argyll), then governor-general of Canada, and his wife, Queen Victoria's

Kildare

Irish  Cill Dara  market town, County Kildare, Ireland. The Protestant cathedral church (1229) is dedicated to St. Brigit of Ireland, who founded a community there in the 5th century. Restoration of the church was begun in 1875. Near the church are an ancient cross and round tower, and there are remains of a 13th-century castle and monastery. The town was incorporated by James II. Pop. (1986) 4,268.

Berezina River

River in Belarus, a tributary of the Dnieper, which it joins near Rechitsa. Its 381-mile (613-kilometre) length drains 9,450 square miles (24,500 square km). Rising north of the Minsk Elevation, it flows to the south-southeast in a meandering course through a swampy, forested basin. It is navigable only by small craft. During Napoleon's retreat from Moscow in 1812, a bitter engagement was fought on

Gaspé Current

Outflow from the St. Lawrence River, which moves around the Gaspé Peninsula and along the southern shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It merges with a cold branch of the Labrador (Cabot) Current before flowing through the Cabot Strait and into the North Atlantic Ocean. The current responds to the river's flow, being strong and warm in the summer and cold and weak in the winter.

Cohan, George M.

At an early age he performed with his parents and sister, subsequently taking comedy roles in vaudeville and on the legitimate stage. By 1893 he was writing vaudeville skits and popular songs. His

Demosthenes

Athenian statesman, recognized as the greatest of ancient Greek orators, who roused Athens to oppose Philip of Macedon and, later, his son Alexander the Great. His speeches provide valuable information on the political, social, and economic life of 4th-century Athens.

French Literature, Secular drama

The earliest comic plays extant date from the second half of the 13th century. Le Garçon et

Demosthenes

Any member of the egg-laying mammalian order Monotremata, which includes the amphibious platypus (family Ornithorhynchidae) and the terrestrial echidnas (family Tachyglossidae) of Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea.

Arabia, History Of, Oman

In the last decades of the 7th century the Ibadites (Ibadiyah), regarded as a moderate Kharijite sect, conquered southern Arabia, established a Kindite imam in Hadhramaut, occupied San'a', and took Mecca and Medina, before the Umayyads drove them back to Hadhramaut. Oman had early become Kharijite; the first Ibadite imam, al-Julanda ibn Mas'ud, was elected at about the beginning of the 'Abb