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Darién Scheme

(Encyclopedia)Darién Scheme, Scottish project to establish a colony on the Isthmus of Panama (Darién). In 1695, the Scottish Parliament passed an act that chartered a company for trading with Africa and the Indie...

habeas corpus

(Encyclopedia)habeas corpus hāˈbēəs kôrˈpəs [key] [Lat.,=you should have the body], writ directed by a judge to some person who is detaining another, commanding him to bring the body of the person in his cus...

Evangelical and Reformed Church

(Encyclopedia)Evangelical and Reformed Church, Protestant denomination formed by the merger (1934) of the Reformed Church in the United States and the Evangelical Synod of North America. Both of these bodies had or...

Intolerable Acts

(Encyclopedia)Intolerable Acts, name given by American patriots to five laws (including the Quebec Act) adopted by Parliament in 1774, which limited the political and geographical freedom of the colonists. Four of ...

Yorkshire

(Encyclopedia)Yorkshire, former county, N England. From 1889 to 1974 it formed three counties, the East Riding, North Riding, and West Riding of Yorkshire. In 1974, Yorkshire was divided among the nonmetropolitan c...

Carboniferous period

(Encyclopedia)Carboniferous period kärbənĭfˈərəs [key], fifth period of the Paleozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), from 350 to 290 million years ago. The pl...

county

(Encyclopedia)county [Fr., comté,=domain of a count], division of local government in the United States, Great Britain, and many Commonwealth countries. The county developed in England from the shire, a unit of lo...

jumping mouse

(Encyclopedia)jumping mouse, rodent slightly larger than the common mouse, found in North America and N Asia, also called the kangaroo mouse. Its long hind legs and tail enable it to leap distances up to 12 ft (3.7...

Murray, James

(Encyclopedia)Murray, James, 1721?–94, British general, first civil governor of Canada, b. Scotland. He went to Canada as an army officer in 1757 and was prominent at the siege of Louisburg (1758) and in the cruc...

Gadsden, Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Gadsden, Christopher gădzˈdən [key], 1724–1805, American Revolutionary leader, b. Charleston, S.C., educated in England. He returned to Charleston (1746) and became a wealthy merchant. At the Sta...