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Purchas, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Purchas, Samuel pûrˈkəs, –chəs [key], 1577?–1626, English clergyman and compiler of travel literature, b. Essex. Chaplain to the archbishop of Canterbury, he later was rector of St. Martin's C...

Johnson, Jimmie Kenneth

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Jimmie Kenneth, 1975–, American auto racer, b. El Cajon, Calif. Johnson began racing at five on motorcycles, progressed to off-road buggies and trucks as a teenager, and then to stock cars ...

King Ranch

(Encyclopedia)King Ranch, c.1,000,000 acres (404,700 hectares), S Tex., SW of Corpus Christi with headquarters at Kingsville, Tex.; one of the largest ranches in the world. It has several divisions, of which the be...

Perrers, Alice

(Encyclopedia)Perrers, Alice pĕrˈərz [key], d. 1400, mistress of Edward III of England. She entered the service of Edward's queen, Philippa of Hainaut, and married a courtier, Sir William de Windsor. Becoming th...

Cameron, Verney Lovett

(Encyclopedia)Cameron, Verney Lovett kămˈərən [key], 1844–94, English traveler in Africa. A naval officer, he served (1868) in the British expedition against Ethiopia and assisted in the suppression of the Ea...

Carlisle Indian School

(Encyclopedia)Carlisle Indian School, in Carlisle, Pa., the first federally supported school for Native Americans to be established off a reservation; it was founded in 1879 by Richard Henry Pratt. Its football tea...

Cavendish, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Cavendish, Thomas, 1560–92, English navigator. He commanded a ship in the flotilla under Sir Richard Grenville sent (1585) by Sir Walter Raleigh to establish the first colony in Virginia. In 1586, i...

Norfolk, John Howard, 1st duke of

(Encyclopedia)Norfolk, John Howard, 1st duke of nôrˈfək [key], 1430?–1485, English nobleman. The grandson of Thomas Mowbray, 1st duke of Norfolk, he held considerable estates in Norfolk. A faithful adherent of...

nuclear winter

(Encyclopedia)nuclear winter, theory holding that the smoke and dust produced by a large nuclear war would result in a prolonged period of cold on the earth. The earliest version of the theory, which was put forwar...

Ludlow, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Ludlow, Edmund, 1617?–1692, English parliamentarian and regicide. He commanded a regiment of cavalry in the English civil war and served on the court that condemned King Charles I, signing his death...