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land tax

(Encyclopedia)land tax, impost levied upon real property. It is sometimes called a real estate tax, especially when assessed against both improved and unimproved land. Probably the earliest direct tax and formerly ...

cabildo

(Encyclopedia)cabildo käbēlˈdō [key], autonomous municipal council, the lowest administrative unit in the Spanish government. The institution was especially influential in Spanish America, where it was set up i...

charter

(Encyclopedia)charter, document granting certain rights, powers, or functions. It may be issued by the sovereign body of a state to a local governing body, university, or other corporation or by the constituted aut...

Bedford, Gunning, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Bedford, Gunning, Jr., 1747–1812, American political leader, b. Philadelphia. Settling in Delaware, Bedford became a member of the local legislature, attorney general (1784–89), and a delegate to ...

Caernarvonshire

(Encyclopedia)Caernarvonshire, former county, NW Wales. In 1974, Caernarvonshire became part of the nonmetropolitan county of Gwynedd; when Welsh local government was again reorganized (1996), the former territory ...

Duane, William, American journalist

(Encyclopedia)Duane, William, 1760–1835, American journalist, b. near Lake Champlain, N.Y., of Irish parentage. He learned the printer's trade in Ireland and in 1787 went to Calcutta (now Kolkata), where he edite...

Swains Island

(Encyclopedia)Swains Island, island, 1 sq mi (2.59 sq km), district of American Samoa, c.200 mi (320 km) N of Tutuila. It is a ring of sand and coral with luxuriant vegetation. Swains Island has been privately owne...

Cleveland, former county, England

(Encyclopedia)Cleveland, former county, NE England, created under the Local Government Act of 1972 (effective 1974). It was composed of the county boroughs of Hartlepool and Teesside and parts of the former countie...

West Glamorgan

(Encyclopedia)West Glamorgan gləmôrˈgən [key], former county, S Wales. Created in the 1974 reorganization of Welsh local government from portions of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, in the 1996 reorganization West ...

Moreton Bay Region

(Encyclopedia)Moreton Bay Region, local government area (2016 pop. 425,302), SE Queensland, Australia, on Moreton Bay N of Brisbane. Encompasing 787 sq mi (2,037 sq km), the region was formed in 2008 by the amalgam...