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Bassas da India

(Encyclopedia)Bassas da India bäˌsäs də ēndyäˈ [key], uninhabited atoll, 0.1 sq mi (0.2 sq km), in the S Mozambique Channel, W Indian Ocean, about midway between Madagascar and Mozambique, part of the Scatte...

Salem, city, India

(Encyclopedia)Salem, city (1991 pop. 578,291), Tamil Nadu state, SE India. There are manufactures in chemicals, electrical products, tools, and brass goods; handloom weaving remains a significant industry. Iron and...

Indian Mutiny

(Encyclopedia)Indian Mutiny, 1857–58, revolt that began with Indian soldiers in the Bengal army of the British East India Company but developed into a widespread uprising against British rule in India. It is also...

Bahadur Shah II

(Encyclopedia)Bahadur Shah II bähäˈdo͝or shä [key], 1775–1862, last Mughal emperor of India (1837–57). A political figurehead, he was completely controlled by the British East India Company, who found it c...

Lakshmi Bai

(Encyclopedia)Lakshmi Bai or Laxmibai, c.1828–58, maharani of Jhansi. Born into a Brahmin family of Benares (now Varanasi) and named Manakarnika, she had an unconventional childhood, receiving an education and ma...

Hastings, Warren

(Encyclopedia)Hastings, Warren, 1732–1818, first governor-general of British India. Employed (1750) as a clerk by the East India Company, he soon became manager of a trading post in Bengal. When Calcutta (now Kol...

Flushing, part of Queens, New York City, United States

(Encyclopedia)Flushing, former village, now in N Queens borough of New York City, SE N.Y.; chartered 1645, inc. into Greater New York City with Queens in 1898. Although chiefly residential, Flushing has gained impo...

Emigrant Aid Company

(Encyclopedia)Emigrant Aid Company, organization formed in 1854 to promote organized antislavery immigration to the Kansas territory from the Northeast. Eli Thayer conceived the plan as early as Feb., 1854, even be...

Hudson's Bay Company

(Encyclopedia)Hudson's Bay Company, corporation chartered (1670) by Charles II of England for the purpose of trade and settlement in the Hudson Bay region of North America and for exploration toward the discovery o...

American Fur Company

(Encyclopedia)American Fur Company, chartered by John Jacob Astor (1763–1848) in 1808 to compete with the great fur-trading companies in Canada—the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company. Astor's most ...