(Encyclopedia) Mississippi Scheme, plan formulated by John Law for the colonization and commercial exploitation of the Mississippi valley and other French colonial areas. In 1717 the French merchant…
(Encyclopedia) bramble, name for plants of the genus Rubus [Lat.,=red, for the color of the juice]. This complex genus of the family Rosaceae (rose family), with representatives in many parts of the…
(Encyclopedia) Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, acute, sometimes fatal disease endemic in many parts of Eurasia and Africa, caused by a tick-borne virus. The virus, an RNA virus (Nairovirus) of the…
(Encyclopedia) fig, name for members of the genus Ficus of the family Moraceae (mulberry family). This large genus contains some 800 species of widely varied tropical vines (some of which are…
(Encyclopedia) James, Jesse (Woodson), 1847–82, American outlaw, b. Clay co., Mo. At the age of 15 he joined the Confederate guerrilla band led by William Quantrill and participated in the brutal and…
(Encyclopedia) hamster, Old World rodent, related to the voles, lemmings, and New World mice. There are many hamster species, classified in several genera. All are solitary, burrowing, nocturnal…
(Encyclopedia) woodpecker, common name for members of the Picidae, a large family of climbing birds found in most parts of the world. Woodpeckers typically have sharp, chisellike bills for pecking…
(Encyclopedia) Trent Affair, incident in the diplomatic relations between the United States and Great Britain, which occurred during the American Civil War. On Nov. 8, 1861, the British mail packet…
(Encyclopedia) Rousseau, HenriRousseau, HenriäNrēˈ r&oomacr;sōˈ [key], 1844–1910, French primitive painter, b. Laval. He was entirely self-taught, and his work remained consistently naive and…
(Encyclopedia) Tasaday, alleged band of 25 hunter-gatherers living in the Philippine rain forest, purportedly contacted by Westerners for the first time in 1971 in southern Mindanao (Cotabato…
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