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Cabot, John

(Encyclopedia)Cabot, John, fl. 1461–98, English explorer, probably b. Genoa, Italy. He became a citizen of Venice in 1476 and engaged in the Eastern trade of that city. This experience, it is assumed, was the sti...

arborvitae

(Encyclopedia)arborvitae ärˌbərvīˈtē [key] [Lat.,=tree of life], aromatic evergreen tree of the genus Thuja of the family Cupressaceae (cypress family), with scalelike leaves borne on flattened branchlets of ...

Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the

(Encyclopedia)Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the, study of the origins of the aboriginal peoples of the Americas. Archaeologists believe humans had entered and occupied much of the Americas by the end of the...

Ronaldinho

(Encyclopedia)Ronaldinho (Ronaldo Assis de Moreira), 1980–, Brazilian soccer player. Also nicknamed “El Gaucho,” the agile attacking forward was a footballer from childhood. Known almost as much for his sunny...

cichlid

(Encyclopedia)cichlid sĭkˈlĭd [key], common name for members of the family Cichlidae, more that 1,600 species of spiny-finned freshwater fishes of moderate or small size, native to Africa, S Asia, Mexico, and Ce...

Pablos, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Pablos, Juan hwän päˈblōs [key], d. 1561?, printer in Spanish America. Pablos printed in Mexico City the first book known to have been printed in the Western Hemisphere. It was a religious manual,...

snuff

(Encyclopedia)snuff, preparation of pulverized tobacco used by sniffing it into the nostrils, chewing it, or placing it between the gums and the cheek. The blended tobacco from which it is made is often aged for tw...

Bird, Robert Montgomery

(Encyclopedia)Bird, Robert Montgomery, 1806–54, American playwright and novelist, b. New Castle, Del., M.D. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1827. He wrote several prizewinning verse plays for the actor Edwin Forrest, nota...

hickory, in botany

(Encyclopedia)hickory, any plant of the genus Carya of the family Juglandaceae (walnut family); deciduous nut-bearing trees native to E North America and south to Central America except for a few species found in S...

Salinas de Gortari, Carlos

(Encyclopedia)Salinas de Gortari, Carlos, 1948–, president of Mexico (1988–94). A Harvard-educated political economist, he became minister of planning and the budget (1982–87) and succeeded Miguel de la Madri...