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Joachim of Fiore

(Encyclopedia)Joachim of Fiore jōˈəkĭm [key], c.1132–1202, Italian Cistercian monk. He was abbot of Corazzo, Italy, but withdrew into solitude. He left scriptural commentaries prophesying a new age. In his �...

Barentz, Willem

(Encyclopedia)Barentz or Barents, Willem both: vĭˈləm bäˈrənts [key], d. 1597, Dutch navigator. He made three voyages (1594, 1595, 1596–97) in search of the Northeast Passage to Asia. He reached Novaya Zeml...

act of God

(Encyclopedia)act of God, in law, an accident caused by the operation of extraordinary natural force. The effect of ordinary natural causes (e.g., that rain will leak through a defective roof) may be foreseen and a...

horseshoe

(Encyclopedia)horseshoe, narrow plate, commonly of iron or steel, shaped to fit a horse's hoof and attached to the hoof by nailing it to the inner edge of the horny wall of the hoof. Horseshoes vary from the light ...

Japan, Sea of

(Encyclopedia)Japan, Sea of, or East Sea, enclosed arm of the Pacific Ocean, c.405,000 sq mi (1,048,950 sq km), located between Japan and the Asian mainland, connecting with the East China Sea, the Pacific Ocean, a...

Kennebec

(Encyclopedia)Kennebec kĕnˈəbĕk [key], river, 164 mi (264 km) long, rising in Moosehead Lake, NW Maine, and flowing S to the Atlantic; the Androscoggin River is its chief tributary. Samuel de Champlain explored...

Ketchikan

(Encyclopedia)Ketchikan kĕˈchĭkănˌ [key], city (1990 pop. 8,263), SE Alaska, a port of entry on Revillagigedo Island in the Alexander Archipelago. A supply point for miners in the gold rush of the 1890s, it ha...

Skagway

(Encyclopedia)Skagway skăgˈwāˌ [key], city (1990 pop. 692), Skagway-Yakutat census div., SE Alaska, in the Panhandle, at the head of Lynn Canal; founded 1897. It is an ice-free port of entry; a trade and touris...

sequoia

(Encyclopedia)sequoia sĭkwoiˈə [key], name for the redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and for the big tree, or giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), both huge, coniferous evergreen trees of the bald cypress fami...

Aral Sea

(Encyclopedia)Aral Sea ărˈəl [key], salt lake, SW Kazakhstan and NW Uzbekistan, E of the Caspian Sea in an area of interior drainage. To the north and west are the edges of the arid Ustyurt Plateau; the Kyzyl Ku...