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San Salvador, island, Bahamas

(Encyclopedia)San Salvador, island of the Bahamas, West Indies. Many historians believe that it was the first land sighted by Columbus in the New World in 1492. The indigenous population called it Guanahani, and it...

Rhode Island, University of

(Encyclopedia)Rhode Island, University of, at Kingston; coeducational; land-grant and state-supported; chartered 1888, opened as a school 1890, as an agricultural and mechanical college 1892. From 1909 to 1951 it w...

Rhode Island Red chicken

(Encyclopedia)Rhode Island Red chicken, American breed of poultry, no longer raised commercially, but still maintained for use in breeding programs. See Red Rock chicken. ...

Louisburg

(Encyclopedia)Louisburg lo͞oˈĭsbərgˌ [key], town (1991 pop. 1,261), E Cape Breton Island, N.S., Canada. The town, an ice-free port, is near the site of the great fortress of Louisbourg, built (1720–40) by Fr...

central bank

(Encyclopedia)central bank, financial institution designed to regulate and control the money supply of a nation, with the goal of fostering economic growth without inflation. Although central banking systems have v...

Bank for International Settlements

(Encyclopedia)Bank for International Settlements (BIS), international financial institution est. (1930) in Basel, Switzerland, by bankers and diplomats from Europe, the United States, and Japan. It was originally s...

discount

(Encyclopedia)discount, in banking and investment, fee for lending money, which the banker deducts from the loan when it is given. Thus, with a $1,000 loan at a 6% discount, the borrower receives $940 and repays $1...

Saint Pierre and Miquelon

(Encyclopedia)Saint Pierre and Miquelon săN pyĕr, mēkəlôNˈ [key], French territorial collectivity (2015 est. pop. 6,000), 93 sq mi (241 sq km), consisting of nine small islands S of Newfoundland, Canada, in t...

banking

(Encyclopedia)banking, primarily the business of dealing in money and instruments of credit. Banks were traditionally differentiated from other financial institutions by their principal functions of accepting depos...

clearing

(Encyclopedia)clearing, in banking, the periodic settling of bankers' claims against each other, for which local banks establish clearinghouse associations. Clearinghouses are said to have existed in Florence by a....