The second-largest continent in the world, comprising more than 20 percent of the world's land, Africa is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south, the Indian Ocean to the east and south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. It is connected to Asia by the Sinai Peninsula. Ec[000000]f[16]LFThe Nile, Congo, and Zambezi Rivers, the Sahara Desert, Lake Victoria, and Mount Kilimanjaro are all found in Africa. Africa contains less than 10 percent of the world's population.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBAsiaB
The largest continent, comprising nearly 30 percent of the world's land, Asia also is the most populous, containing nearly 60 percent of the world's people. Asia is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Indian Ocean to the south, and the Arctic Ocean to the north. Asia and Ec[000000]f[16]LFEurope are part of the same land mass, but Asia's western limit is considered to be the Ural Mountains, although the countries of the Middle East jut further to the west. Asia is home to the world's highest mountain range: the Himalayas.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBAtlantic OceanB
The second largest of the world's oceans, the Atlantic extends from the Antarctic to the Arctic and separates the Americas to the west--the New World--from Europe and Africa to the east. Its area is about 32 million square miles, covering one-sixth of the earth's total surface. The average Ec[000000]f[16]LFdepth is around 12,000 feet, with its deepest point north of Puerto Rico at 28,374 feet.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBAzoresB
A group of nine main islands in the North Atlantic Ocean that belong to, and lie about eight hundred miles west of, Portugal. The United States maintains NATO air bases on the islands.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBberiberiB
A disease resulting from a dietary deficiency of thiamine--vitamin B1. Beriberi--along with scurvy, a disease resulting from a dietary deficiency of vitamin C--was common among sailors on long voyages because of the lack of a variety of fresh foods.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBbuffaloB
The popular name for the American bison, but more correctly restricted to certain related Asian and African mammals of the cattle family. Bison have a huge low-slung head, a large hump, and may reach a weight of 2,500 pounds. Bison graze on prairie grasses, migrating south in winter Ec[000000]f[16]LFto forage. They roamed in vast herds over much of North America--and were hunted by Native Americans for their flesh and hides--but with the arrival of European settlers they were subjected to wholesale slaughter that resulted in their near extinction.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBCabeza de VacaB
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (1490-1560) was a Spanish explorer who, along with Estevanico and other companions, was shipwrecked in 1528 on an island off the coast of present-day Texas. Estevanico and Cabeza de Vaca spent eight years exploring the American Southwest. In Ec[000000]f[16]LF1539, Estevanico led an expedition to determine if legends he and Cabeza de Vaca heard about treasure-filled cities in the Southwest were true.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBCaliforniaB
A western state of the United States, bordered on the north by Oregon, on the east by Arizona and Nevada, on the south by the Mexican state of Baja California, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. California--the third-largest state, with an area of 156,537 square miles--was under Ec[000000]f[16]LFSpanish, and then Mexican control until the Mexican War (1846-1847), when it was ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848). California was admitted to the Union in 1850 as a free state under the Compromise Act. Its capital is Sacramento.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBCanadaB
Second only to Russia in size, Canada is a North American country bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the northwest by Alaska, on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south by the United States. Most of Canada's population of 27 Ec[000000]f[16]LFmillion--about one tenth the U.S.
population--is concentrated within a few hundred miles of the U.S. border. Its principal languages are English and French. Its capital is Ottawa.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBCanary IslandsB
The name for this group of seven volcanic main islands in the Atlantic Ocean off northwest Africa was derived from the ancient Roman name, ICanaria,I so called because of the many dogs--IcanesI in
Latin--that lived there. The canary, the popular cage bird, was named after these, Ec[000000]f[16]LFits native islands. The islands have belonged to Spain since 1479; Columbus provisioned his ships there during his voyages to the New World. General Francisco Franco (1892-1975) started the Spanish Civil War in 1936 when he used the islands as a base from which to begin his attack on the Spanish republic.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBcannonB
A large, heavy gun of at least an inch in caliber. Bronze cannon were first used in warfare about 1350; later cannon were cast of iron. Early cannon were muzzle-loaded--the gunpowder and the cannonball or other projectile were packed down the barrel. Breech-loaded, rifled, and shell-Ec[000000]f[16]LFfiring artillery weren't developed until the nineteenth century. The term IcannonI can apply to almost all heavy artillery. The word comes from the Latin word Icanna,I meaning ItubeI.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBcaravansB
Groups of travelers, such as merchants, who sought safety in numbers by journeying together through central and southern Asia, often across deserts or other hostile environments.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBCaribbean SeaB
A tropical sea of 970,000 square miles, bordered on the north and east by the West Indies, on the south by South America, and on the west by Central America. The Caribbean's deepest point--24,720 feet--lies between Cuba and Jamaica. After the Caribbean was visited Ec[000000]f[16]LFby Columbus, Spain claimed the area and its ships searched for treasure. With the Spanish discovery of the Pacific Ocean in 1513, the Caribbean became a main route of their expeditions.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBCarolinaB
This early American colony south of the Virginia colony was chartered by the English king Charles II to eight Lords Proprietors in 1663. This charter was nullified in 1729 when separate royal governments were established in North and South Carolina. Less than fifty years Ec[000000]f[16]LFlater, they were to become two of the thirteen colonies that sought independence from England.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBChesapeake BayB
A 193-mile-long inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, running north to south, with its upper section in Maryland and its lower section in Virginia. Its width varies from three to twenty-five miles and it has an area of about 3,200 square miles. Rivers emptying into Chesapeake Bay include the Ec[000000]f[16]LFSusquehanna from the north, the Potomac and the Patuxent from the west, the Chester, Choptank, and Nanticoke from the east, and the Rappahannock, York, and James from the southwest.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBChurch of EnglandB
Established by Henry VIII in 1534 as a result of the pope's refusal to grant Henry's request for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, the Church of England steered a middle course between Roman Catholicism and Calvinism. The Puritans clashed with the Ec[000000]f[16]LFchurch because they felt that it was too political, too compromising, and too Catholic. This clash led to their persecution, resulting in many seeking religious freedom in the New World.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBConnecticutB
An eastern state of the United States, bordered on the north by Massachusetts, on the east by Rhode Island, on the south by Long Island Sound, and on the west by New York. With an area of about 5,000 square miles, it is the third-smallest state. Its first permanent settlements were made Ec[000000]f[16]LFby colonists from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who founded the three river towns of Windsor, Wet
