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shell money

(Encyclopedia)shell money, medium of exchange consisting of shells, the most widely distributed type of ancient currency. Shells are particularly useful as money because they may be strung in long strips of proport...

Shirley, William

(Encyclopedia)Shirley, William, 1694–1771, colonial governor in British North America, b. England. He became a lawyer and in 1731 emigrated to Massachusetts. In 1741 he became governor of Massachusetts. He oppose...

Russian American Company

(Encyclopedia)Russian American Company, colonial trading company, chartered by Czar Paul I in 1799. The charter granted the merchant-dominated company monopoly trading privileges in Russian America, which included ...

Punta del Este

(Encyclopedia)Punta del Este po͞onˈtä ᵺĕl āsˈtā [key], city (1996 pop. 8,252), E Uruguay, on the Atlantic Ocean. Located on a narrow peninsula surrounded by excellent beaches, Punta del Este is one of the ...

Permian period

(Encyclopedia)Permian period pûrˈmēən [key] [from Perm, Russia], sixth and last period of the Paleozoic era (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table) from 250 to 290 million years ago. Many ma...

Bank for International Settlements

(Encyclopedia)Bank for International Settlements (BIS), international financial institution est. (1930) in Basel, Switzerland, by bankers and diplomats from Europe, the United States, and Japan. It was originally s...

Graves, William Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Graves, William Sidney, 1865–1940, American army officer, b. Hill co., Tex., grad. West Point, 1889. He served (1899–1901) in the Philippines and commanded (1918–20) American forces in Siberia. ...

Smith, Samuel Francis

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Samuel Francis, 1808–95, American Baptist clergyman and poet, b. Boston. He is remembered as the author of the national hymn “America,” written while he was a student at Andover Theologic...

Devonian period

(Encyclopedia)Devonian period dĭvōˈnēən [key], fourth period of the Paleozoic era of geologic time between 408 and 360 million years ago (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table). It was named (...

isolationism

(Encyclopedia)isolationism, a national policy of abstaining from political, military, or economic alliances or agreements with other countries. Isolationism may be adopted in order to devote a country's energies to...