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Vinland

(Encyclopedia)Vinland or Wineland, section of North America discovered by Leif Ericsson in the 11th cent. The sources for the knowledge of Leif Ericsson's exploration differ as to whether it was planned or accident...

Pliocene epoch

(Encyclopedia)Pliocene epoch plīˈəsēn [key], fifth epoch of the Cenozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), from 5.1 to 2 million years ago. By the beginning of the P...

Columbia Plateau

(Encyclopedia)Columbia Plateau, physiographic region of North America, c.100,000 sq mi (259,000 sq km), NW United States, between the Rocky Mts. and the Cascade Range in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Most of the p...

Congaree National Park

(Encyclopedia)Congaree National Park, 21,888 acres (8,862 hectares), central S.C., est. as Congaree Swamp National Monument 1976, designated a national park and renamed 2003. Located along the north bank of the mea...

creeper

(Encyclopedia)creeper, common name for members of a family of small, inconspicuous birds related to wrens and nuthatches. They are found in wooded regions of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. A creeper spirals up ...

Great Slave Lake

(Encyclopedia)Great Slave Lake, second largest lake of Canada, c.10,980 sq mi (28,400 sq km), Northwest Territories, named for the Slave (Dogrib), a tribe of Native Americans. It is c.300 mi (480 km) long and from ...

Russian American Company

(Encyclopedia)Russian American Company, colonial trading company, chartered by Czar Paul I in 1799. The charter granted the merchant-dominated company monopoly trading privileges in Russian America, which included ...

Shelekhov, Grigori Ivanovich

(Encyclopedia)Shelekhov, Grigori Ivanovich grĭgôˈrē ēväˈnəvĭch shĕˈlyĭkhəf [key], 1747–95, Russian fur trader in North America, b. Rylsk, Ukraine. He had built up a large fur business in Siberia when...

Shirley, William

(Encyclopedia)Shirley, William, 1694–1771, colonial governor in British North America, b. England. He became a lawyer and in 1731 emigrated to Massachusetts. In 1741 he became governor of Massachusetts. He oppose...

Waldseemüller, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Waldseemüller, Martin märˈtĭn vältˌzāmülˈər [key], Gr. Ilacomilus, 1470?–1522?, German cosmographer. A member of a society of humanists known as the Gymnasium Vosagense, he lived at Saint-...