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Kaministikwia

(Encyclopedia)Kaministikwia kəmĭnˌĭstĭkˈwēə [key], river, c.60 mi (100 km) long, rising in Dog Lake, W Ont., Canada, and flowing S, then E into Lake Superior at Thunder Bay. In fur trade days it was the chi...

Schimper, Karl Friedric

(Encyclopedia)Schimper, Karl Friedric shĭmˈpər [key], 1803–67, German botanist. He did important work in plant morphology and originated the theory, called phyllotaxis, that there is a fixed order to the arran...

Rhine Canals

(Encyclopedia)Rhine Canals. Among the chief canals linking the Rhine with other river systems are the Rhine-Rhône Canal, 217 mi (349 km) long (built 1784–1833, now unimportant), connecting with the Rhône River ...

cinquefoil

(Encyclopedia)cinquefoil sĭngkˈfoil [key] [O.Fr.,=five leaves], name for any plant of the widely distributed genus Potentilla of the family Rosaceae (rose family), chiefly herbs of north temperate and subarctic r...

Fens, the

(Encyclopedia)Fens, the, district, E England, a flat lowland, W and S of The Wash. Extending c.70 mi (110 km) from north to south and c.35 mi (60 km) from east to west, it is traversed by numerous streams. The area...

Fraser, Simon, Canadian explorer

(Encyclopedia)Fraser, Simon, 1776–1862, Canadian explorer and fur trader. Born in Bennington, Vt., he was taken to Canada as a child. He entered the service of the North West Company in 1792, and in 1801 he was m...

calumet, peace pipe

(Encyclopedia)calumet [Fr.,=reed], name given by the French to the peace pipe used by the indigenous people of North America for smoking tobacco; it consisted of a long, feathered stem, with or without a pipe bowl....

Overland Trail

(Encyclopedia)Overland Trail, any of several trails of westward migration in the United States. The term is sometimes used to mean all the trails westward from the Missouri to the Pacific and sometimes for the cent...

Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region

(Encyclopedia)Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, Mandarin Nei Monggol zizhiqu, autonomous region, c.455,000 sq mi (1,178,755 sq km), NE China. It is bounded on the no...

Gansu

(Encyclopedia)Gansu or Kansu both: gänˈso͞oˈ [key], province, 141,000 sq mi (365,284 sq km), NW China. The capital is ...