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East India Company, British

(Encyclopedia)East India Company, British, 1600–1874, company chartered by Queen Elizabeth I for trade with Asia. The original object of the group of merchants involved was to break the Dutch monopoly of the spic...

Channel Islands, British dependency

(Encyclopedia)Channel Islands, archipelago (2015 est. pop. 164,000), 75 sq mi (194 sq km), 10 mi (16 km) off the coast of Normandy, France, in the English Channel. The main islands are Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, a...

Smith, John, British politician

(Encyclopedia)Smith, John, 1938–94, British politician. A barrister, he was first elected to Parliament in 1970 as a Labour party member from Scotland. He served as secretary for trade in 1970 and subsequently as...

Paterson, William, British financier

(Encyclopedia)Paterson, William, 1658–1719, British financier. By the time of the Glorious Revolution (1688–89, which he supported), he had acquired considerable wealth and influence through foreign trade. In 1...

Windsor, British royal house

(Encyclopedia)Windsor wĭnˈzər [key], name of the royal house of Great Britain. The name Wettin, family name of Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, consort of Queen Victoria, as well as Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the name of th...

Bounty, British naval vessel

(Encyclopedia)Bounty, British naval vessel, a 220-ton (200-metric-ton), 85-ft (26-m) cutter, commanded by William Bligh. She set sail for the Pacific in Dec., 1787, to transport breadfruit trees from the Society Is...

Stuart, British royal family

(Encyclopedia)Stuart or Stewart, royal family that ruled Scotland and England. The Stuart lineage began in a family of hereditary stewards of Scotland, the earliest of whom was Walter (d. 1177), grandson of a Norma...

British Columbia, University of

(Encyclopedia)British Columbia, University of, at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; provincially supported; coeducational; chartered 1908, opened 1915. It has faculties of arts, science, graduate studies, applie...

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