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Sun Belt

(Encyclopedia)Sun Belt or Sunbelt, southern tier of the United States, focused on Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California, and extending as far north as Virginia. The term gained wide use in the 1970s, when the eco...

Nkoli, Simon Tseko

(Encyclopedia)Nkoli, Simon 1957–1998, anti-apartheid and LGBTQ rights activist. Born in Soweto, Nkoli (sometimes referred to as Nkodi) was an influential South Afri...

Ramaphosa, Cyril

(Encyclopedia)Ramaphosa, Cyril (Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa), 1952–, South African political leader, b. Johannesburg. A lawyer, he became involved in the antiapartheid Black Consciousness Movement while a university...

equator

(Encyclopedia)equator, imaginary great circle around the earth, everywhere equidistant from the two geographical poles and forming the base line from which latitude is reckoned. The equator, which measures c.24,902...

pyrrhotite

(Encyclopedia)pyrrhotite pĭrˈətīt [key] or magnetic pyrites, bronze-yellow to bronze-red mineral, a sulfide of iron sometimes containing nickel. It tarnishes easily and is somewhat magnetic. It crystallizes in ...

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

(Encyclopedia)African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Methodist denomination. It was founded in 1796 by black members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City and was organized as a national body in 1821...

Maracaibo

(Encyclopedia)Maracaibo märäkīˈbō [key], city (1990 pop. 1,249,670), capital of Zulia state, NW Venezuela, at the outlet of Lake Maracaibo. It is Venezuela's second largest city, a commercial and industrial ce...

Izard, Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Izard, Ralph ĭzˈərd [key], 1742–1804, American diplomat and legislator, b. near Charleston, S.C. After an education in England, he returned (1764) to South Carolina but in 1771 again went to Lond...

Korea

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Korea kôrēˈə, kə– [key], Korean Hanguk or Choson, region and historic country (85,049 sq mi/220,277 sq km), E Asia. A peninsula, 600 mi (966 km) long, Korea separates the Sea of Japan (c...

Fiordland National Park

(Encyclopedia)Fiordland National Park, 4,868 sq mi (12,601 sq km), on the Tasman Sea, SW South Island, New Zealand. New Zealand's largest national park, it was established as a reserve in 1904 and designated a nati...