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Persian Wars

(Encyclopedia)Persian Wars, 500 b.c.–449 b.c., series of conflicts fought between Greek states and the Persian Empire. The writings of Herodotus, who was born c.484 b.c., are the great source of knowledge of the ...

harbor seal

(Encyclopedia)harbor seal, most commonly seen seal of the Northern Hemisphere, Phoca vitulina. Harbor seals are found along coasts and in sheltered bays and harbors of North America, Europe, and NE Asia. They range...

Santa Fe Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Santa Fe Railroad, former U.S. railroad, chartered in 1863 as the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe RR; opened to traffic in 1864. Construction continued, and in 1880 it reached Santa Fe, N.Mex.; the fol...

Salton Sea

(Encyclopedia)Salton Sea sôlˈtən [key], saline lake, 370 sq mi (958 sq km), northern part of the Imperial Valley, SE Calif.; 232 ft (71 m) below sea level. The area was anciently the northern part of the Gulf of...

Simpson, Sir George

(Encyclopedia)Simpson, Sir George, 1792?–1860, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada (1821–56), b. Scotland. In 1820 he was sent by the Hudson's Bay Company to Canada, where he took charge of the impor...

exploration

(Encyclopedia)exploration, travel to a part of the earth that is relatively unknown to the traveler's culture, historically often motivated by a desire for colonization, conquest, or trade. See also space explorati...

Arnhem Land

(Encyclopedia)Arnhem Land, 37,100 sq mi (96,089 sq km), N Northern Territory, Australia, on a wide peninsula W of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The great majority of the region belongs to the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Rese...

Kholmogory

(Encyclopedia)Kholmogory khŭlˌməgôˈrē [key], village, NW European Russia, SE of Arkhangelsk and at the mouth of the Northern Dvina River. Known since 1355, Kholmogory was a major trade center for Novgorod mer...

Haute-Savoie

(Encyclopedia)Haute-Savoie ōt-sävwäˈ [key] department, E France, in the northern part of the old duchy of ...

Grande Prairie

(Encyclopedia)Grande Prairie Fr. gräNd prâˌrēˈ [key], city, W Alta., Canada, NW of Edmonton. It is the chief business ...