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Samoa, island chain, SW Pacific Ocean

(Encyclopedia)Samoa, chain of volcanic islands in the South Pacific, comprising the independent nation of Samoa (formerly Western Samoa), and E of long. 171° W, the islands of American Samoa, under U.S. control. T...

Saisset, Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Saisset, Bernard bĕrnärˈ sĕsāˈ [key], d. 1314, French churchman. In 1295 he became bishop of Pamiers (near Foix, S France). He was sent (1301) by Pope Boniface VIII as papal legate to King Phili...

Fletcher v. Peck

(Encyclopedia)Fletcher v. Peck, case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1810, involving the Yazoo land fraud. The court ruled that an act of the Georgia legislature rescinding a land grant was unconstitutional be...

Interior, United States Department of the

(Encyclopedia)Interior, United States Department of the, federal executive department established in 1849, delegated custodian of U.S. natural resources, and whose head, the Secretary of the Interior, has cabinet r...

International Campaign to Ban Landmines

(Encyclopedia)International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), global network of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working toward the eradication of antipersonnel land mines. Established in 1992 by the Vietnam Ve...

ejido

(Encyclopedia)ejido āhēˈᵺō [key] [Span.,=common land], in Mexico, agricultural land expropriated from large private holdings and redistributed to communal farms. Communal ownership of land had been widely pra...

Polaroid

(Encyclopedia)Polaroid: see Land, Edwin H.

Bering Strait

(Encyclopedia)Bering Strait, c.55 mi (90 km) wide, between extreme NE Asia and extreme NW North America, connecting the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea. It is usually completely frozen over from October to June. Th...

Jackson, Frederick George

(Encyclopedia)Jackson, Frederick George, 1860–1938, British arctic explorer. He explored (1893–94) the tundra in arctic Russia and in Lapland, and he commanded (1894–97) the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition that...

typhoid fever

(Encyclopedia)typhoid fever acute, generalized infection caused by Salmonella typhi. The main sources of infection are contaminated water or milk and, especially in urban communities, food handlers who are carriers...