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Vanderbilt, Cornelius

(Encyclopedia)Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 1794–1877, American railroad magnate, b. Staten Island, N.Y. As a boy he ferried freight and passengers from Staten Island to Manhattan, and he soon gained control of most of ...

fisheries

(Encyclopedia)fisheries. From earliest times and in practically all countries, fisheries have been of industrial and commercial importance. In the large N Atlantic fishing grounds off Newfoundland and Labrador, for...

New Caledonia

(Encyclopedia)New Caledonia, Fr. Nouvelle Calédonie, officially Territory of New Caledonia and Dependencies, internally self-governing dependency of France (2015 est. pop. 269,000), land area 7,241 sq mi (18,760 s...

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...

Cartier, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Cartier, Jacques kärtyāˈ [key], 1491–1557, French navigator, first explorer of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and discoverer of the St. Lawrence River. He made three voyages to the region, the first t...

Saye and Sele, William Fiennes, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Saye and Sele, William Fiennes, 1st Viscount fīnz, sāˈənsēl [key], 1582–1662, English politician and promoter of colonization in America. He was a Puritan in religious sympathy and a leader in ...

Haida

(Encyclopedia)Haida hīˈdə [key], Native North Americans living primarily on the Queen Charlotte Islands, off British Columbia, and on the southern end of the Prince of Wales Island, off Alaska. They speak the Ha...

New Haven

(Encyclopedia)New Haven, city (1990 pop. 130,474), New Haven co., S Conn., a port of entry where the Quinnipiac and other small rivers enter Long Island Sound; inc. 1784. Firearms and ammunition, clocks and watches...

Bering Sea

(Encyclopedia)Bering Sea, c.878,000 sq mi (2,274,020 sq km), northward extension of the Pacific Ocean between Siberia and Alaska. It is screened from the Pacific proper by the Aleutian Islands. The Bering Strait co...

Dominica

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Dominica dŏmĭnēˈkə [key], officially Commonwealth of Dominica, republic (2015 est. pop. 73,000) consisting of the island of Dominica (290 sq mi/750 sq km), located in the Windward Islands,...