Search Definitions
Browse Content (p. 2)
Definition
Battle of Fort Sumter - The First Shots Fired of the American Civil War
The Battle of Fort Sumter (12-13 April 1861), also known as the Attack on Fort Sumter and the Fall of Fort Sumter, was the opening engagement of the American Civil War. It began when...
Definition
Homestead Act - Settling the American West
The Homestead Act was a policy enacted by the United States government on 20 May 1862 to encourage westward expansion. Passed during the American Civil War (1861-1865), the act offered 160 acres (65 ha) of...
Definition
Charvaka - The Ancient Indian Philosophy of Hedonism
Charvaka (also given as Carvaka) was a philosophical school of thought developed in ancient India circa 600 BCE, stressing materialism as the means by which one understands life and lives in the world...
Definition
Eridu Genesis - The Oldest Mesopotamian Text on the Great Flood
The Eridu Genesis (also known as the Sumerian Flood Story, The Flood Story, Sumerian creation myth, Sumerian deluge myth) is the oldest Mesopotamian text relating the tale of the Great Flood...
Definition
Miklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy (1868-1957) was a Hungarian admiral and statesman who served as regent for the Kingdom of Hungary from 1920 until his forced abdication in 1944. During the interwar period and for most of World War II, Horthy played...
Definition
North American P-51 Mustang - The Fighter that Changed Aerial Warfare
The North American P-51 Mustang was a long-range fighter aircraft used by the air forces of the United States and Great Britain during the Second World War (1939-45). Widely considered...
Definition
Calypso - The Nymph Who Kept Odysseus Prisoner
In Greek mythology, Calypso, whose name means "to hide" or "to conceal," is a nymph best known from Homer's (c.750 BCE) epic The Odyssey for falling in love with Odysseus and imprisoning him on her island...
Definition
Winfield Scott - The General Who Mapped the Union Victory
Winfield Scott (1786-1866) was an American military leader famous for his brilliant tactics in battle, for his insistence on the value of a highly trained, disciplined army, and for being the general...
Definition
Battle of Philippi (Philippi Races) - The First Organized Land Battle of the American Civil War
The Battle of Philippi (3 June 1861) was the first organized land engagement of the American Civil War, fought in Philippi, Virginia (present-day West Virginia) over...
Definition
Early Dynastic Period In Egypt - Unification and the Rise of the First Egyptian Kings
The Early Dynastic Period in Egypt (circa 3150 to circa 2613 BCE) is the beginning of the historical era of the country during which the regions of Upper Egypt (south) and...