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Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

(Encyclopedia)Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON or MEA), international organization active between 1956 and 1991 for the coordination of economic policy among certain nations then under Communist domi...

Adams, Will

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Will (William Adams), 1564?–1620, first Englishman to visit Japan. As pilot of a Dutch ship searching for gold and trade, he reached Japan in 1600. At first imprisoned and sentenced to death,...

Keynes, John Maynard, Baron Keynes of Tilton

(Encyclopedia)Keynes, John Maynard, Baron Keynes of Tilton kānz [key], 1883–1946, English economist and monetary expert, studied at Eton and Cambridge. Keynesian economics stands as the most influential eco...

Mun, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Mun, Thomas mŭn [key], 1571–1641, English writer on economics. A merchant in Italy and the Levant, he became (1615) a director in the East India Company. In his Discourse of Trade from England unto...

caravan

(Encyclopedia)caravan, group of travelers or merchants banded together and organized for mutual assistance and defense while traveling through unsettled or hostile country. Caravan trade is associated with the hist...

dumping

(Encyclopedia)dumping, selling goods at less than the normal price, usually as exports in international trade. It may be done by a producer, a group of producers, or a nation. Dumping is usually done to drive compe...

Healy, Timothy Michael

(Encyclopedia)Healy, Timothy Michael, 1855–1931, Irish statesman, first governor-general of the Irish Free State (1922–27). Elected to Parliament in 1880, he worked closely with Charles Stewart Parnell until th...

American Fur Company

(Encyclopedia)American Fur Company, chartered by John Jacob Astor (1763–1848) in 1808 to compete with the great fur-trading companies in Canada—the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company. Astor's most ...

Steyn, Martinus Theunis

(Encyclopedia)Steyn, Martinus Theunis märtēˈnəs töˈnĭs stīn [key], 1857–1916, last president (1896–1900) of the Orange Free State (see Free State), educated in the Netherlands and in England. He was adm...

Commonwealth of Nations

(Encyclopedia)Commonwealth of Nations, voluntary association of Great Britain and its dependencies, certain former British dependencies that are now sovereign states and their dependencies, and the associated state...