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Hawkins, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Hawkins or Hawkyns, Sir John, 1532–95, English admiral. In 1562–63 and in 1564–65 he led extremely profitable expeditions that captured slaves on the W African coast, shipped them across the Atl...

Southeast Asia

(Encyclopedia)Southeast Asia, region of Asia (1990 est. pop. 442,500,000), c.1,740,000 sq mi (4,506,600 sq km), bounded roughly by the Indian subcontinent on the west, China on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on t...

Abercromby, Sir Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Abercromby, Sir Ralph, 1734–1801, British general. After serving in the Seven Years War, he returned to service in 1793 against France, where he commanded a brilliant retreat in Flanders in the wint...

isinglass

(Encyclopedia)isinglass īˈzənglăsˌ [key], gelatinous semitransparent substance obtained by cleaning and drying the air bladders of the sturgeon, cod, hake, and other fishes. Isinglass is manufactured in Russia...

beggarweed

(Encyclopedia)beggarweed or tick trefoil, leguminous plant (Desmodium purpureum) native to the West Indies and sown in the S United States for green manure and for forage; it has high nutritive value and is palatab...

Saint-Pierre town, Martinique

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Pierre săN pyĕr [key], town (1990 est. pop. 5,550), Martinique, West Indies. Founded by Esnambuc in 1635 and once the chief commercial city of the island, it was engulfed by a mass of flame, l...

Roseau

(Encyclopedia)Roseau rōzōˈ [key], town (1991 pop. 15,853) capital and chief port of Dominica, in the Windward Islands in the West Indies. Located on the SW coast of the island. Roseau is on the small Roseau Rive...

Americana

(Encyclopedia)Americana, term used to describe material printed in or about the Americas, or written by Americans; usually restricted to the formative period in the history of the two continents. Thus the letter wr...

Jaja

(Encyclopedia)Jaja jäˈjə [key], fl. 1869–87, Nigerian merchant prince. A former slave, he became an important trader in Bonny in the 1860s as a middleman between the coastal markets and the Nigerian interior. ...

Bonaire

(Encyclopedia)Bonaire bônĕrˈ [key], island (1990 est. pop. 11,000), 112 sq mi (290 sq km), a special municipality of the Netherlands, in the West Indies off the coast of Venezuela. It was formerly part of the Ne...