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Malindi

(Encyclopedia)Malindi mälĭnˈdē [key], town, SE Kenya, on the Indian Ocean. It is a beach resort and a commercial center. Probably founded in the 10th cent. by Arab traders, Malindi became an important city-stat...

Thule , ancient name for extreme N Europe

(Encyclopedia)Thule tho͞oˈlē [key], name given by the ancients to the most northerly land of Europe. It was an island discovered and described (c.310 b.c.) by the Greek navigator Pytheas and variously identified...

Cartagena, city, Spain

(Encyclopedia)Cartagena, Lat. Carthago Nova, city, Murcia prov., SE Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. A major seaport and naval base, it has a fine natural harbor,...

Dias, Bartolomeu

(Encyclopedia)Dias, Bartolomeu bärˌto͝olo͝omāˈo͝o dēˈəsh [key], d. 1500, Portuguese navigator. He was the first European to round (1488) the Cape of Good Hope, which he called Cabo Tormentoso [cape of sto...

D'Entrecasteaux Islands

(Encyclopedia)D'Entrecasteaux Islands däNtrəkästōˈ [key], volcanic group, SW Pacific, SE of New Guinea, part of Papua New Guinea. Comprising the Fergusson, Goodenough, and Normanby islands, the group, with a t...

Duarte, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Duarte dwärˈtə [key], 1391–1438, king of Portugal (1433–38), eldest of the five sons of John I. He was a “philosopher-king,” notable for his legal reforms and as the author of O leal consel...

Queiros, Pedro Fernandes de

(Encyclopedia)Queiros, Pedro Fernandes de pĕˈdro͝o fərnəNˈdəsh dĭ kārôshˈ [key], c.1560–1614, Portuguese navigator. In Spanish service, he sailed (1595) as second in command of the expedition of Alvaro...

Society Islands

(Encyclopedia)Society Islands, island group (2002 pop. 214,445), South Pacific, a part of French Polynesia. The group comprises the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands (total land area c.650 sq mi/1,680 sq km)...

Krusenstern, Adam Johann von

(Encyclopedia)Krusenstern, Adam Johann von äˈdäm yōˈhän fən kro͞oˈzənshtĕrn [key], 1770–1846, Russian navigator. From 1803 to 1806 he circumnavigated the globe. Although the voyage was undertaken to st...

direction finder

(Encyclopedia)direction finder, electronic device used to determine the position of a ship or aircraft. In a simple direction finder a radio receiver is equipped with a revolving directional antenna. The antenna re...