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Japanese art

(Encyclopedia)Japanese art, works of art created in the islands that make up the nation of Japan. In the mid-19th cent. a few print designers attained distinction, but no masters appeared to equal their p...

dolphin, aquatic mammal

(Encyclopedia)dolphin, aquatic mammal, any of the small toothed whales of the family Delphinidae, numbering more than 50 species. These include the true, or beaked, dolphins, the killer whale, the pilot whale, and ...

State, United States Department of

(Encyclopedia)State, United States Department of, executive department of the federal government responsible, under the President's direction, for the making and execution of American foreign policy. Before and ...

water pollution

(Encyclopedia)water pollution, contamination of water resources by harmful wastes; see also sewerage, water supply, pollution, and environmentalism. The United States has enacted extensive federal legislation to ...

geography

(Encyclopedia)geography, the science of place, i.e., the study of the surface of the earth, the location and distribution of its physical and cultural features, the areal patterns or places that they form, and the ...

earthquake

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Worldwide pattern of earthquake activity: The dots indicate the epicenters of all earthquakes recorded during a recent 10-year period. CE5 earthquake, trembling or shaking movement of the ea...

missions

(Encyclopedia)missions, term generally applied to organizations formed for the purpose of extending religious teaching, whether at home or abroad. It also indicates the stations or the fields where such teaching is...

colleges and universities

(Encyclopedia)colleges and universities, institutions of higher education. Universities differ from colleges in that they are larger, have wider curricula, are involved in research activities, and grant graduate an...

French and Indian Wars

(Encyclopedia)French and Indian Wars, 1689–1763, the name given by American historians to the North American colonial wars between Great Britain and France in the late 17th and the 18th cent. They were really cam...

Jews

(Encyclopedia)Jews [from Judah], traditionally, descendants of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, whose tribe, with that of his half-brother Benjamin, made up the kingdom of Judah; historically, members of the worldwi...

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