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Fort Dearborn

(Encyclopedia)Fort Dearborn, U.S. army post on the Chicago River, NE Ill.; est. 1803 and named for Secretary of War Henry Dearborn. Threatened by the indigenous population at the start of the War of 1812, the front...

Dias, Antônio Gonçalves

(Encyclopedia)Dias, Antônio Gonçalves əntôˈnyo͝o go͝onsälˈvəs dēˈəs [key], 1823–64, Brazilian poet and dramatist. A leading writer of the romantic school, he is noted for his strong nativist feeling ...

monsters and imaginary beasts

(Encyclopedia)monsters and imaginary beasts. The mythologies and legends of ancient and modern cultures teem with an enormous variety of monsters and imaginary beasts. A great number of these are composites of diff...

Oceanic languages

(Encyclopedia)Oceanic languages, aboriginal languages spoken in the region known as Oceania. If Oceania is restricted to the Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian islands, the indigenous tongues spoken on these i...

Šafařik, Pavel Josef

(Encyclopedia)Šafařik, Pavel Josef päˈvĕl yôˈzĕf shäˈfär-zhēk [key], 1795–1861, Czech philologist and archaeologist; his name is also spelled Schafarik and Schafřík. Šafařik advanced the theory th...

Arctic Council

(Encyclopedia)Arctic Council, intergovernmental forum established to promote cooperation, coordination, and interaction among the arctic nations, with the involvement of indigenous peoples and others inhabiting the...

sunfish

(Encyclopedia)sunfish, common name for members of the family Centrachidae, comprising numerous species of spiny-finned, freshwater fishes with deep, laterally flattened bodies found in temperate North America. All ...

Fredericksburg, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Fredericksburg, battle of, in the Civil War, fought Dec. 13, 1862, at Fredericksburg, Va. In Nov., 1862, the Union general Ambrose Burnside moved his three “grand divisions” under W. B. Franklin, ...

Pecos National Historical Park

(Encyclopedia)Pecos National Historical Park, 6,671 acres (2,702 hectares), N New Mexico; est. as a national monument 1965, designated a national historical park 1990. The park contains the remains of the Pecos pue...

Aztec Ruins National Monument

(Encyclopedia)Aztec Ruins National Monument, 318 acres (129 hectares), NW N.Mex., near Farmington; est. 1923. Ruins of a 12th-century Pueblo town contain interesting kivas, one of which has been completely restored...