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Wallace, Alfred Russel

(Encyclopedia)Wallace, Alfred Russel, 1823–1913, English naturalist. From his study of comparative biology in Brazil and in the East Indies, he evolved a concept of evolution similar to that of Charles Darwin. Li...

Douglas, Denzil Llewellyn

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, Denzil Llewellyn, 1953–, Kittian political leader, grad. Univ. of the West Indies (B.S. 1977, M.D. 1984). A member of the Labour party, in 1989 he was elected to the Saint Kitts and Nevis n...

guano

(Encyclopedia)guano gwäˈnō [key], dried excrement of sea birds and bats found principally on the coastal islands of Peru, Africa, Chile, and the West Indies. It contains about 6% phosphorus, 9% nitrogen, 2% pota...

Rainey, Joseph Hayne

(Encyclopedia)Rainey, Joseph Hayne, 1832–87, first African American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, b. Georgetown, S.C. The son of a free man, he fled to the West Indies during the Civil War. Return...

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...

Gálvez, José de

(Encyclopedia)Gálvez, José de gälˈvāth [key], 1720–87, Spanish colonial administrator. Appointed as a governor in the Philippines in 1750, he later became visitor general to New Spain (1765–72), holding m...

Rowley, Keith Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Rowley, Keith Christopher, 1949–, Trinidadian political leader, b. Tobago, grad. Univ. of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. A volcanologist, he worked in academia and industry before entering politics...

Saint George's

(Encyclopedia)Saint George's or Saint George, town (1991 pop. 4,439), capital of Grenada, in the West Indies. A port town on a deep and beautiful harbor, it is the administrative headquarters of the country and a g...

George Town

(Encyclopedia)George Town, town (1989 pop. 12,921), capital and administrative center of the Cayman Islands, in the West Indies. A major offshore banking and business center, it is the site of several hundred banks...

Pointe-à-Pitre

(Encyclopedia)Pointe-à-Pitre pwăNtäpēˈtrə [key], city (1999 pop. 20,948), Guadeloupe, West Indies. It is on Grande-Terre island at the southern entrance of the Rivière Salée, the narrow, shallow ocean chann...