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San Salvador, island, Bahamas

(Encyclopedia)San Salvador, island of the Bahamas, West Indies. Many historians believe that it was the first land sighted by Columbus in the New World in 1492. The indigenous population called it Guanahani, and it...

Rhode Island, University of

(Encyclopedia)Rhode Island, University of, at Kingston; coeducational; land-grant and state-supported; chartered 1888, opened as a school 1890, as an agricultural and mechanical college 1892. From 1909 to 1951 it w...

Rhode Island Red chicken

(Encyclopedia)Rhode Island Red chicken, American breed of poultry, no longer raised commercially, but still maintained for use in breeding programs. See Red Rock chicken. ...

Washington Island, United States

(Encyclopedia)Washington Island, c.20 sq mi (50 sq km), NE Wis., in NW Lake Michigan, just off the northern tip of the Door Peninsula. The island was visited by the French explorers Pierre Radisson (1657) and Rober...

Tangier, island, United States

(Encyclopedia)Tangier, island, E Va., in S Chesapeake Bay. Capt. John Smith first visited the island in 1608, and in 1620 settlers arrived from Cornwall, England. Isolated from the mainland, the people of Tangier d...

Lancaster, house of

(Encyclopedia)Lancaster, house of lăngˈkəstər [key], royal family of England. The line was founded by the second son of Henry III, Edmund Crouchback, 1245–96, who was created earl of Lancaster in 1267. Earlie...

Ross, Sir James Clark

(Encyclopedia)Ross, Sir James Clark, 1800–1862, British polar explorer and rear admiral. In 1818 he accompanied his uncle, Sir John Ross, in search of the Northwest Passage and commanded the Erebus. He later stud...

Robert I, king of Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Robert I or Robert the Bruce, 1274–1329, king of Scotland (1306–29). He belonged to the illustrious Bruce family and was the grandson of that Robert the Bruce who in 1290 was an unsuccessful claim...

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