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Veracruz, state, Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Veracruz yäˈbā [key], state (1990 pop. 6,228,239), 27,759 sq mi (71,896 sq km), E central Mexico. The capital is Xalapa. Stretching c.430 mi (690 km) along the Gulf of Mexico and reaching from 30 t...

Victoria, state, Australia

(Encyclopedia)Victoria vĭktôˈrēə [key], state (2016 pop. 5,926,624), 87,884 sq mi (227,620 sq km), SE Australia. It is bounded on the S and E by the Indian Ocean, Bass Strait, and the Tasman Sea. Melbourne is ...

charter school

(Encyclopedia)charter school, alternative type of American public school that, while paid for by taxes, is independent of the public-school system and relatively free from state and local regulations. A charter sch...

minimum wage

(Encyclopedia)minimum wage, lowest wage legally permitted in an industry or in a government or other organization. The goal in establishing minimum wages has been to assure wage earners a standard of living above t...

Bowdoin, James

(Encyclopedia)Bowdoin, James bōˈdən [key], 1726–90, American political leader, b. Boston. He was elected to the Massachusetts General Court in 1753 and served until 1774. Illness prevented him (1774) from taki...

Grenada

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Grenada grĭnāˈdə [key], independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations (2015 est. pop. 107,000), 133 sq mi (344 sq km), in the Windward Islands, West Indies. The state includes the is...

Ordinance of 1787

(Encyclopedia)Ordinance of 1787, adopted by the Congress of Confederation for the government of the Western territories ceded to the United States by the states. It created the Northwest Territory and is frequently...

Sheldon, Edward Austin

(Encyclopedia)Sheldon, Edward Austin, 1823–97, American educator, b. Wyoming co., N.Y., studied at Hamilton College. After illness forced him to cut short his own education, he held a variety of positions in the ...

Gardiner, Silvester

(Encyclopedia)Gardiner, Silvester or Sylvester, 1708–86, American colonial physician and landowner, b. South Kingstown, R.I. He studied medicine in London and Paris, built up a large practice in Boston, and estab...

Weinberger, Caspar Willard

(Encyclopedia)Weinberger, Caspar Willard wīnˈbûrgər [key], 1917–2006, U.S. government official, U.S. secretary of defense (1981–87), b. San Francisco, grad. Harvard (1938), Harvard Law School (1941). After ...