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continent
continent largest unit of landmasses on the earth . The continents include Eurasia (conventionally regarded as two continents, Europe and Asia ), Africa , North America , South America , Australia , and Antarctica .
Geographic Distribution of the Continents
More than two thirds o...
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plate tectonics
plate tectonics theory that unifies many of the features and characteristics of continental drift and seafloor spreading into a coherent model and has revolutionized geologists' understanding of continents, ocean basins, mountains, and earth history.
Development of Plate Tectonics Theory
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Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxons name given to the Germanic-speaking peoples who settled in England after the decline of Roman rule there. They were first invited by the Celtic King Vortigern , who needed help fighting the Picts and Scots. The Angles (Lat. Angli ), who are mentioned in Tacitus' Germania, seem to h...
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Balkan Peninsula
Balkan Peninsula southeasternmost peninsula of Europe, c.200,000 sq mi (518,000 sq km), bounded by the Black Sea, Sea of Marmara, Aegean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Ionian Sea, and Adriatic Sea. Although there is no sharp physiographic separation between the peninsula and Central Europe, the line of th...
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Philip John Schuyler
Philip John Schuyler , 1733-1804, American Revolutionary general, b. Albany, N.Y. He was a member of one of the wealthiest colonial New York families. After serving in the French and Indian Wars he was a member of the New York assembly (1768-75) and of the Second Continental Congress (1775). He wa...
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ocean
ocean interconnected mass of saltwater covering 70.78% of the surface of the earth, often called the world ocean. It is subdivided into four (or five) major units that are separated from each other in most cases by the continental masses. See also oceanography .
The World Ocean
Of the ma...
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taiga
taiga , northern coniferous-forest belt of Eurasia, bordered on the north by the treeless tundra and on the south by the steppe. This vast belt, comprising about one third of the forest land of the world, extends south from the tundra to about lat. 62°N in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, but dips s...
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Continental Congress
Continental Congress 1774-89, federal legislature of the Thirteen Colonies and later of the United States in the American Revolution and under the Articles of Confederation (see Confederation, Articles of ).
First Continental Congress
Indignation against England's colonial policy reach...
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Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean largest and deepest ocean, c.70,000,000 sq mi (181,300,000 sq km), occupying about one third of the earth's surface; named by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan ; the southern part is also known as the South Sea.
Physical Geography
Extent and Seas
The Pacific Ocean extend...
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continental shelf
con·ti·nen·tal shelf
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n.
the area of seabed around a large landmass where the sea is relatively shallow compared with the open ocean.
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