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Turks and Caicos Islands

(Encyclopedia)Turks and Caicos Islands kīˈkōs [key], dependency of Great Britain (2015 est. pop. 34,000), 166 sq mi (430 sq km), West Indies. There are more than 30 cays and islands, of which eight are inhabited...

Virgin Islands National Park

(Encyclopedia)Virgin Islands National Park, 14,689 acres (5,949 hectares), St. John, Virgin Islands; est. 1956. The park, with beaches, coves, and headlands, is rich in tropical-plant, animal, and marine life. Bord...

Wallis and Futuna Islands

(Encyclopedia)Wallis and Futuna Islands wŏlˈĭs, fo͞oto͞oˈnä [key], officially Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands, French overseas territory (2015 est. pop. 12,000), 106 sq mi (274 sq km), S Pacific, ...

Trevelyan, Sir George Otto

(Encyclopedia)Trevelyan, Sir George Otto, 1838–1928, British historian and politician. He served as a Whig member of the House of Commons from 1865 to 1897. He held posts under W. E. Gladstone as civil lord of th...

Floyd, William

(Encyclopedia)Floyd, William, 1734–1821, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Brookhaven, N.Y. His career in the Continental Congress (1774–77, 1778–83) was marked by conscientious service on the a...

maritime law

(Encyclopedia)maritime law, system of law concerning navigation and overseas commerce. Because ships sail from nation to nation over seas no nation owns, nations need to seek agreement over customs related to shipp...

Peters, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Peters, Richard, 1744–1828, American jurist, b. Philadelphia. After serving as secretary of the board of war (1776–81), he was briefly in the Continental Congress (1782–83) and then in the state...

White, William Hale

(Encyclopedia)White, William Hale, pseud. Mark Rutherford, 1831–1913, English novelist. He studied to become a clergyman, but instead became (1854) a clerk in the admiralty, rising in 1879 to assistant director o...

Fisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Fisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron ärbŭthˈnət [key], 1841–1920, British admiral. Entering the navy in 1854, he specialized in gunnery and in 1872 was responsible for instituting the develo...

Oceanic art

(Encyclopedia)Oceanic art, works produced by the island peoples of the S and NW Pacific, including Melanesia (New Guinea and the islands to its north and east), Micronesia (Mariana, Caroline, Marshall, and Gilbert ...