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Marape, James

(Encyclopedia)Marape, James, 1971–, Papua New Guinea political leader. First elected to parliament in 2007 as a member of the National Alliance party, he served as education minister (2008–11) under Prime Minis...

Bissau

(Encyclopedia)Bissau bĭsouˈ [key], town (1991 est. pop. 197,610), capital of Guinea-Bissau, a port in the Geba estuary, off the Atlantic Ocean. It is the country's largest city, major port, and administrative and...

Oceanic art

(Encyclopedia)Oceanic art, works produced by the island peoples of the S and NW Pacific, including Melanesia (New Guinea and the islands to its north and east), Micronesia (Mariana, Caroline, Marshall, and Gilbert ...

Solomon Islands

(Encyclopedia)Solomon Islands, independent Commonwealth nation (2015 est. pop. 587,000), c.15,500 sq mi (40,150 sq km), SW Pacific, E of New Guinea. The islands that constitute the nation of the Solomon Islands—G...

French West Africa

(Encyclopedia)French West Africa, former federation of eight French overseas territories. The constituent territories were Dahomey (now Benin), French Guinea (now Guinea), French Sudan (now Mali), Côte d'Ivoire, M...

Papua, province, Indonesia

(Encyclopedia)Papua ĭrˈēän jīˈyə [key], province (2014 est pop. 3,486,000), 123,180 sq mi (319,036 sq km), Indonesia. Comprising most of the western half of New Guinea and a number of offshore islands, it is...

Aru Islands

(Encyclopedia)Aru Islands or Aroe Islands both: äˈro͞o [key], group of about 95 low-lying islands, 3,306 sq mi (8,563 sq km), E Indonesia, in the Moluccas, in the Arafura Sea, SW of New Guinea. The largest islan...

Senegal, river, Africa

(Encyclopedia)Senegal sĕnĭgôlˈ, sĕnˈĭgôl [key], river, c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) long, formed in SW Mali, W Africa, by the confluence of the Bafing and Bakoy rivers, both of which rise in the Fouta Djallon, N G...

Tasman, Abel Janszoon

(Encyclopedia)Tasman, Abel Janszoon äˈbəl yänˈsōn täˈsmän [key], 1603?–1659, Dutch navigator. In the service of the Dutch East India Company from c.1632 to 1653, he made several trading and exploring voy...

Badagri

(Encyclopedia)Badagri bädäˈgrē [key], town, SW Nigeria, on a lagoon off the Gulf of Guinea. Badagri was founded c.1730 and became an important shipping point for slaves. In the 1840s it became a center for Brit...