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Philibert Tsiranana
Philibert Tsiranana , 1910-78, president of the Malagasy Republic (now Madagascar; 1960-72). He served in the legislature of Madagascar and represented the island in the French national assembly before becoming (1958) prime minister. When Madagascar gained its independence as the Malagasy Republic (...
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Antananarivo
Antananarivo or Tananarive , city (1993 pop. 675,669), capital of Madagascar. Antananarivo is Madagascar's largest city and is its administrative, communications, and economic center. It is the trade center for a productive agricultural region, whose main crop is rice. Railroads connect Antanana...
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rum
rum spirituous liquor made from fermented sugarcane products. Prepared by fermentation, distillation, and aging, it is made from the molasses and foam that rise to the top of boiled sugarcane juice. Rum, which is produced in Cuba, Brazil, Jamaica, Trinidad, Madagascar, Indonesia, Puerto Rico, and B...
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aquamarine
aquamarine [Lat.,=seawater], transparent beryl with a blue or bluish-green color. Sources of the gems include Brazil, Siberia, the Union of Myanmar, Madagascar, and parts of the United States. Oriental aquamarine is a transparent crystalline corundum with a bluish tinge. The emerald is similar in...
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Mascarene Islands
Mascarene Islands , in the Indian Ocean, E of Madagascar. They include Mauritius , Réunion , and Rodriguez . Apparently known to the Arabs, they were rediscovered by the Portuguese at the beginning of the 16th cent. The islands are named for Pedro Mascarenhas, who visited them c.1512.
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moonstone
moonstone an orthoclase feldspar , found in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Madagascar (and formerly in the St. Gotthard district of Switzerland). In spite of its pronounced cleavage, it is widely used as a gem . The refraction of light by its thin, paired internal layers causes its milky, bluish sheen. ...
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Madagascar
Madagascar , officially Republic of Madagascar, republic (2005 est. pop. 18,040,000), 226,658 sq mi (587,045 sq km), in the Indian Ocean, separated from E Africa by the Mozambique Channel. Madagascar is the world's fourth largest island. The country also claims several small islands including the Fr...
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William Ellis
William Ellis 1794-1872, English missionary, pioneer of printing in the Pacific. Sent in 1816 to Polynesia as a nonconformist missionary, he set up at Tahiti the first printing press in the South Seas. He developed a form of writing for the Hawaiian language, and included in his works valuable anti...
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elephant bird
elephant bird extinct, flightless bird of the family Aepyornithidae. Once native to the island of Madagascar, these gigantic birds may have survived until as late as 1649. Today, they are known only from bone specimens and a few well-preserved eggs. In appearance they are thought to have resembled ...
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Muhammad V
Muhammad V (Sidi Muhammad ibn Youssef), 1910-61, king of Morocco (1957-61). He succeeded his father, Moulay Youssef, as sultan in 1927. An ardent nationalist, he was deposed and exiled (1953) by the French. After strong nationalist pressure, the French brought (1955) Muhammad from exile in Madagasc...
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