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illiteracy

(Encyclopedia)illiteracy, inability to meet a certain minimum criterion of reading and writing skill. Throughout most of history most people have been illiterate. In feudal society, for example, the ability to re...

Johnson, Emily Pauline

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Emily Pauline, 1862–1913, Canadian poet, b. near Brantford, Ont.; daughter of an indigenous chief and his English wife. Although she had little formal training, Johnson's early poems praisi...

Hiawatha

(Encyclopedia)Hiawatha hīˈəwäˈthə [key], fl. c.1550, legendary chief of the Onondaga of North America. He is credited with founding the Iroquois Confederacy. He is the hero of the well-known poem by Henry Wad...

calycanthus

(Encyclopedia)calycanthus kălˌĭkănˈthəs [key], any plant of the genus Calycanthus, aromatic shrubs of N North America, Asia, and Australia. An American type, the Carolina allspice, is cultivated for the aroma...

Carnarvon, Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Carnarvon, Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th earl of, 1831–90, British statesman. As colonial secretary (1866–67) under the earl of Derby he introduced the British North America Act, which made C...

Eocene epoch

(Encyclopedia)Eocene epoch ēˈəsēnˌ [key], second epoch of the Tertiary period in the Cenozoic era of geologic time, from approximately 54.9 to 38 million years ago. The Eocene in North America was marked by th...

Sioux

(Encyclopedia)Sioux or Dakota, confederation of Native North American tribes, the dominant group of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock, which is divided into several separate branches (see Native American languages)...

lotus-eaters

(Encyclopedia)lotus-eaters or Lotophagi lətŏfˈəjīˌ [key], a fabulous people who occupied the north coast of Africa and lived on the lotus, which brought forgetfulness and happy indolence. They appear in the O...

Igorot

(Encyclopedia)Igorot ĭgərōtˈ, ēgə– [key], general name for the people of N central Luzon island, the Philippines. The Igorot form two subgroups: the largest group lives in the south, central, and western ar...

Roraima

(Encyclopedia)Roraima ro͝orīˈmə [key], state (1996 pop. 247,724), 88,843 sq mi (230,103 sq km), NW Brazil, on the border of Venezuela and Guyana. Boa Vista is the capital. Located almost entirely in the Guiana ...