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Umnak

(Encyclopedia)Umnak o͞omˈnăk [key], island, c.83 mi (134 km) long, off SW Alaska, one of the largest of the Aleutian Islands. Its two lobes, connected by an isthmus, are marked by volcanic features. The volcanic...

Selkirk, Thomas Douglas, 5th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Selkirk, Thomas Douglas, 5th earl of, 1771–1820, Scottish philanthropist, founder of the Red River Settlement. Emigration to America seemed to him the best solution for the poverty of his countrymen...

Shackleton, Sir Ernest Henry

(Encyclopedia)Shackleton, Sir Ernest Henry, 1874–1922, British antarctic explorer, b. Ireland. The first of his voyages to Antarctica was made as a member of the expedition (1901–4) of Robert F. Scott. Shacklet...

Borneo

(Encyclopedia)Borneo bôrˈnēōˌ [key], island, c.287,000 sq mi (743,330 sq km), largest of the Malay Arc...

Klallam

(Encyclopedia)Klallam klălˈəm [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They formerly occupied the s...

Fort Pillow

(Encyclopedia)Fort Pillow, fortification on the Mississippi River, N of Memphis, Tenn.; built by Confederate Gen. Gideon Pillow in 1862. Evacuated by the Confederates after the fall of Island No. 10 to the north, t...

Sakhalin

(Encyclopedia)Sakhalin sägälyĕnˈ [key], island (c.29,500 sq mi/76,400 sq km), off the coast of Asian Russia, between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan; separated from the Russian mainland on the west by t...

Cabot, John

(Encyclopedia)Cabot, John, fl. 1461–98, English explorer, probably b. Genoa, Italy. He became a citizen of Venice in 1476 and engaged in the Eastern trade of that city. This experience, it is assumed, was the sti...

Mi'kmaq

(Encyclopedia)Mi'kmaq or Micmac, Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They inhabit Nova Scotia, Cape Br...

Stefansson, Vilhjalmur

(Encyclopedia)Stefansson, Vilhjalmur vĭlˈhyoulmər stĕfˈənsən [key], 1879–1962, Arctic explorer, b. Canada, of Icelandic parents, educated at the Univ. of North Dakota, the State Univ. of Iowa, and Harvard....