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Nootka

(Encyclopedia)Nootka no͝otˈkə [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Wakashan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). The Nootka proper are a smal...

Nootka Sound

(Encyclopedia)Nootka Sound, inlet of the Pacific Ocean and natural harbor on the west coast of Vancouver Island, SW British Columbia, Canada, lying between the mainland and Nootka Island (206 sq mi/534 sq km). The ...

Chinook jargon

(Encyclopedia)Chinook jargon, lingua franca of early traders on the Northwest Coast of the United States and Canada. It included Chinook, Nootka, English, and French words, with various borrowings. ...

Meares, John

(Encyclopedia)Meares, John mērz [key], 1756?–1809, British naval officer, explorer, and trader. He served in the navy, in which he attained the rank of lieutenant, until after the Peace of Paris (1783), when he ...

Kendrick, John

(Encyclopedia)Kendrick, John, c.1740–1794, American sea captain, b. Massachusetts. During part of the American Revolution he commanded privateers. As commander of an expedition composed of the Columbia and Washin...

Vancouver, George

(Encyclopedia)Vancouver, George, 1757–98, English navigator and explorer. He sailed on Capt. James Cook's second and third voyages. After 1780 he served under Admiral George Rodney in the West Indies, taking part...

Pérez, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Pérez, Juan hwän pāˈrāth [key], d. 1774, Spanish colonial naval officer, explorer on the coast of the Pacific Northwest. In 1774 he commanded a fleet sent by the Spanish viceroy to investigate Ru...

Kwakiutl

(Encyclopedia)Kwakiutl kwäˈkēo͞oˌtəl [key], group of closely related Native North Americans who inhabit N Vancouver Island and the adjacent mainland of British Columbia, Canada. They, together with the Nootka...

Sapir, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Sapir, Edward səpērˈ [key], 1884–1939, American linguist and anthropologist, b. Pomerania. Sapir was brought to the United States in 1889. After teaching at the Univ. of California and the Univ. ...

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