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Kootenai, indigenous group of North America

(Encyclopedia)Kootenai ko͞otˈənāˌ [key], group of Native North Americans who in the 18th cent. occupied the so-called Kootenai country (i.e., N Montana, N Idaho, and SE British Columbia). Their language is tho...

Flores, island, Indonesia

(Encyclopedia)Flores flôrˈĕs [key], island, 6,627 sq mi (17,164 sq km), E Indonesia, one of the Lesser S...

yam

(Encyclopedia)yam, common name for some members of the Dioscoreaceae, a family of tropical and subtropical climbing herbs or shrubs with starchy rhizomes often cultivated for food. The largest genus, Dioscorea, is ...

Illinois, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Illinois ĭlˌənoiˈ, –noizˈ [key], confederation of Native North Americans, comprising the Cahokia, the Kaskaskia, the Michigamea, the Moingwena, the Peoria, and the Tamaroa tribes. They belong t...

Heckewelder, John Gottlieb Ernestus

(Encyclopedia)Heckewelder, John Gottlieb Ernestus hĕkˈəvĕldər [key], 1743–1823, Moravian missionary in the United States, b. Bedford, England. Settling (1754) in Bethlehem, Pa., with his parents, he later wa...

Wichita, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Wichita wĭchˈĭtô [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Caddoan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They formerly occupied central Kan...

Shawnee, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Shawnee shôˈwənō [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Their earliest known hom...

Penn, John, 1740?–1788, political leader in the American Revolution

(Encyclopedia)Penn, John, 1740?–1788, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Caroline co., Va. A lawyer, Penn moved (1774) to North Carolina and was (1775–77,...

Natchez, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Natchez năchˈĭz [key], indigenous North American people who lived along St. Catherine's Creek east of the present-day city of Natchez in Mississippi. At the time of contact with the French in 1682,...

Mandan, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Mandan mănˈdăn, –dən [key], indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). The Mandan were a...