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Gulf Stream

(Encyclopedia)Gulf Stream, warm ocean current of the N Atlantic Ocean, off E North America. It was first described (1513) by Spanish explorer Ponce de León. The Gulf Stream originates in the Gulf of Mexico and, as...

alder

(Encyclopedia)alder ôlˈdər [key], name for deciduous trees and shrubs of the genus Alnus of the family Betulaceae (birch family), widely distributed, especially in mountainous and moist areas of the north temper...

Avon, former county, England

(Encyclopedia)Avon, former county, SW England, bordering the Severn estuary and the Bristol Channel. Created in 1974 from S Gloucestershire, Bristol, and N Somerset. it was dissolved in 1996 into four unitary autho...

Henson, Matthew Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Henson, Matthew Alexander, 1866–1965, African-American arctic explorer, b. Charles County, Md. He accompanied Robert E. Peary as personal assistant, dog driver, and interpreter on numerous expeditio...

Den Helder

(Encyclopedia)Den Helder dŭn hĕlˈdər [key], city, North Holland prov., NW Netherlands, on the North Sea. It is ...

magnetic pole

(Encyclopedia)magnetic pole, the two roughly opposite ends of the planet where the earth's magnetic intensity is the greatest, as the north and south magnetic poles. For the magnetic north, it is the direction from...

Anderson, river, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Anderson, river, c.465 mi (750 km) long, rising in several lakes in N central Northwest Territories, Canada. It meanders north and west before receiving the Carnwath River and flowing north to Liverpo...

Chapel Hill

(Encyclopedia)Chapel Hill, town (2020 pop. 61,960), Orange co., central N.C., at the edge of the Piedmont; founded 1792, inc. 1851. Primarily residential, the town's ...

Lawson, John

(Encyclopedia)Lawson, John, d. 1711, English explorer of North Carolina. He came to the Carolinas in 1700 and within the next few years traveled approximately 1,000 mi (1,600 km) through its unexplored parts. His d...

Verrazzano, Giovanni da

(Encyclopedia)Verrazzano, Giovanni da jōvänˈnē dä vĕrˌrätsäˈnō; vĕrˌəzäˈnō [key], c.1480–1527?, Italian navigator and explorer, in the service of France, possibly the first European to enter New ...