Lion, Gulf of, Fr. Golfe du Lion, arm of the Mediterranean Sea, S France, extending from the French-Spanish border to Toulon. Its coastline includes many lagoons and the Rhône delta. Marseille...

Provence, region and former province, SE France. It now encompasses Var, Vaucluse, and Bouches-du-Rhône depts. and (in part) Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Alpes-Maritimes depts. Nice, Marseilles...

Hawke of Towton, Edward Hawke, 1st Baron, 1705–81, British admiral. He entered the navy in 1720 and first saw fighting as commander of a ship in the battle of Toulon (1744). He was promoted (1...

Puget, Pierre, 1622–94, French painter and sculptor. At 17 he went on foot to Italy, where he worked for Pietro da Cortona on the ceilings of the Barberini and Pitti palaces. Much of his work ...

Hood, Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount, 1724–1816, British admiral. Entering the navy in 1741, he served with distinction in the Seven Years War. In 1781 he was sent to the West Indies as second in c...

Shovell, Sir Clowdisley, or Sir Cloudesley Shovel, 1650–1707, English admiral. In the War of the Grand Alliance he burned enemy ships at the battle of La Hogue in 1692 and was joint commander ...

Courcelle, Daniel Rémy, sieur de, d.1698, governor of New France (1665–72). He arrived with the intendant Jean Talon, and together they inaugurated a period of peace and prosperity. Courcelle ...

Barras, Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de, 1755–1829, French revolutionary. Although of a noble family, he joined the Jacobins in the Revolution and was a member of the Convention. He par...

Nelson, Horatio Nelson, Viscount, 1758–1805, British admiral. The most famous of Britain's naval heroes, he is commemorated by the celebrated Nelson Column in Trafalgar Square, London. He ente...

European Space Agency (ESA), multinational agency dedicated to the promotion, for exclusively peaceful purposes, of cooperation among European states in space research and technology. Member s...