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Ruyter, Michiel Adriaanszoon de

(Encyclopedia)Ruyter, Michiel Adriaanszoon de mēkhēlˈ äˈdrēänsōnˌ də roiˈtər [key], 1607–76, Dutch admiral. His life was spent in the Dutch mercantile and naval service. He fought under Maarten Tromp ...

Africa

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Africa ăfˈrĭkə [key], second largest continent (2015 est. pop. 1,194,370,000), c.11,677,240 sq mi (30,244,050 sq km) including adjacent islands. Broad to the north (c.4,600 mi/7,400 km wide...

MacArthur, Douglas

(Encyclopedia)MacArthur, Douglas, 1880–1964, American general, b. Little Rock, Ark.; son of Arthur MacArthur. At the beginning (1950) of the Korean War he was appointed commander of UN military forces in South ...

Volta

(Encyclopedia)Volta vólˈtə [key], river, c.290 mi (470 km) long, formed in central Ghana, W Africa, by the confluence of the Black Volta (or Mouhon, c.840 mi/1,350 km long) and the White Volta (or Nakambe, c.450...

marsupial

(Encyclopedia)marsupial märso͞oˈpēəl [key], member of the order Marsupialia, or pouched mammals. With the exception of the New World opossums and an obscure S American family (Caenolestidae), marsupials are no...

Abidjan

(Encyclopedia)Abidjan ăbĭjänˈ [key], city (2021 est. pop. 27,263,180 ), former capital of Côte d'Ivoire, a port on the Ébrié Lagoon (an arm of the Gulf of Guinea). Abidjan is Cô...

island

(Encyclopedia)island, relatively small body of land surrounded entirely by water. (As the oceans form a continuous mass of water on the earth's surface, all continents are islands in the strict sense of the word.) ...

Australia

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Australia ôstrālˈyə [key], smallest continent, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. With the island state of Tasmania to the south, the continent makes up th...

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

(Encyclopedia)Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), multinational organization (est. 1960, formally constituted 1961) that coordinates petroleum policies and economic aid among oil-producing nations...

Makeba, Miriam

(Encyclopedia)Makeba, Miriam məkāˈbə [key], 1932–2008, South African singer. She became the first black South African to achieve international fame and she played a fundamental role in introducing African mus...