A-Z Browse

  • East Africa Coastal Current (ocean current)
    ...north equatorial current is taken by the Monsoon Current. There is, however, an Indian South Equatorial Current. Flowing westerly with the trades north of latitude 22° S, it divides to form the East Africa Coastal Current, moving northward, and a south-flowing stream. The latter passes by Madagascar as the Mozambique (west) and Mascarene currents, which become the Agulhas Current. At the...
  • East Africa High Commission (African organization)
    ...to recover gradually. Recovery efforts were aided in 2006, when significant debt relief was granted by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and in 2007, when Rwanda joined the East African Community, a regional trade and development bloc....
  • East Africa Protectorate (British-East African history)
    The East Africa Protectorate...
  • East African Common Services Organization (African organization)
    ...to recover gradually. Recovery efforts were aided in 2006, when significant debt relief was granted by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and in 2007, when Rwanda joined the East African Community, a regional trade and development bloc....
  • East African Community (African organization)
    ...to recover gradually. Recovery efforts were aided in 2006, when significant debt relief was granted by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and in 2007, when Rwanda joined the East African Community, a regional trade and development bloc....
  • East African Community Customs Union (African organization)
    ...impending threat. During Mkapa’s second term, the government continued to focus on improving the country’s economy. After more than a decade of preparation, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya launched the East African Community Customs Union in 2005, in an effort to stimulate economic activity in the region....
  • East African green mamba (snake)
    The three green mamba species are smaller (1.5–2 metres, maximum 2.7 metres) and are usually found in trees. The East African green mamba (D. angusticeps) of East and South Africa, Jameson’s mamba (D. jamesoni) of Central Africa, and the West African green mamba (D. viridis) are all more timid than the black mamba and have no...
  • East African gundi (rodent)
    ...extending from southeastern Algeria through southwestern Libya to northern Mali, Niger, and Chad. The Felou gundi (Felovia vae) is confined to Senegal, Mali, and Mauritania. The East African gundi, or Speke’s pectinator (Pectinator spekei), is geographically isolated from all other gundi species and lives in Ethiopia and Somalia....
  • East African High Commission (African organization)
    ...to recover gradually. Recovery efforts were aided in 2006, when significant debt relief was granted by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and in 2007, when Rwanda joined the East African Community, a regional trade and development bloc....
  • East African Highlands (region, Africa)
    ...to cultivate the arts of agriculture and to use the plow. The basin is bordered on the north by the Mediterranean; on the east by the Red Sea Hills and the Ethiopian Plateau; on the south by the East African Highlands, which include Lake Victoria, a Nile source; and on the west by the less well-defined watershed between the Nile, Chad, and Congo basins, extending northwest to include the......
  • East African lakes (lake system, East Africa)
    group of lakes in East Africa. The majority of the East African lakes lie within the East African Rift System, which forms a part of a series of gigantic fissures in the Earth’s crust extending northward from the Zambezi River valley through eastern and northeastern Africa and the Red Sea to the Jordan River valley in southwestern Asia. In East Africa i...
  • East African mountains (mountains, East Africa)
    mountain region of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Congo (Kinshasa), Rwanda, and Burundi. The mountains are intimately related to the East African Rift System, the fractures of which extend discontinuously between the Zambezi River valley and the Red Sea ...
  • East African Plateau (plateau, East Africa)
    ...surface. If the uplifted surface had originally been low and without prominent relief, it is likely to remain relatively flat when uplifted to a relatively uniform elevation. The high plateaus of East Africa and Ethiopia were formed this way. As in parts of Africa, plateaus of this sort can be associated with volcanism and with rift valleys, but these features are not universal. Most of the......
  • East African Rift System (geological feature, Africa-Asia)
    one of the most extensive rifts on the Earth’s surface, extending from Jordan in southwestern Asia southward through eastern Africa to Mozambique. The system is some 4,000 miles (6,400 km) long and averages 30–40 miles (48–64 km) wide....
  • East African sleeping sickness (pathology)
    ...brucei is responsible for African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness (q.v.), which occurs in equatorial Africa in two forms, both transmitted by the tse-tse fly (Glossina). East African, or Rhodesian, sleeping sickness is an acute form of the disease caused by the subspecies T. brucei rhodesiense. West African, or Gambian, trypanosomiasis is a slower-developing......
  • “East African Standard” (Kenyan newspaper)
    English-language daily newspaper published in Nairobi, Kenya. It was established in Mombasa in 1902 as a weekly, the African Standard, by A.M. Jeevanjee, an Indian merchant. Jeevanjee hired an English editor-reporter, W.H. Tiller, to oversee the newspaper’s operations. In 1910 the paper became a daily, changed its name to the East African Sta...
  • East Alabama Male College (university, Alabama, United States)
    public, coeducational institution of higher education located in Auburn, Alabama, U.S. The university offers a broad range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs and is noted for its colleges of engineering and business. Degrees in nursing, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine are also available. A branch campus in Montgomery offers undergraduate and gradu...
  • East Alligator River (river, Northern Territory, Australia)
    ...are not indigenous to Australia). The South Alligator rises in the hills near El Sherana, a now-abandoned mining base for uranium, and follows a northerly course for about 100 miles (160 km). The East Alligator rises in Arnhem Land and flows northwesterly for nearly 100 miles; the West Alligator (50 miles [80 km]) generally parallels the course of the South Alligator. The region includes......
  • East Anglia (region, England, United Kingdom)
    traditional region of eastern England, comprising the historic counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and, more loosely, Cambridgeshire and Essex. The traditional central town is the cathedral city of Norwich, which since 1961 has been the site of the University of East Anglia and its Centre of East Anglian Stu...
  • East Anglia, University of (university, Norwich, England, United Kingdom)
    The University of East Anglia, founded in 1964, includes the Centre of East Anglian Studies and is situated at Earlham Hall, long associated with the Gurney family. The city also has a central library and the little Maddermarket Theatre....
  • East Antarctic Ice Sheet (ice sheet, Antarctica)
    ...in winter to form an ice pack, which reduces solar energy input by increasing reflectivity and makes interior continental regions even more remote from sources of open oceanic heat and moisture. The East Antarctic Ice Sheet has grown to such great elevation and extent that little atmospheric moisture now nourishes its central part....
  • East Antarctica (region, Antarctica)
    From results mainly of British expeditions early in the 20th century, the concept arose that Antarctica is made up of two structural provinces—a long, stable Precambrian shield in East Antarctica and a much younger Mesozoic and Cenozoic mobile belt in West Antarctica—separated by the fault-block belt, or horst, of the Transantarctic Mountains. East and West Antarctica have come to......
  • East Aramaic (language)
    ...language belonging to the Northern Central, or Northwestern, group; it was an important Christian literary and liturgical language from the 3rd through the 7th century ad. Syriac was based on the East Aramaic dialect of Edessa, Osroëne (present-day Şanlıurfa, in southeastern Turkey), which became one of the chief centres of Christianity in the Middle East at t...
  • East Asia
    Like the early agriculturists of the Middle East, the people of East Asia discovered the technology of manufacturing alcoholic beverages in prehistoric times. Barley and rice were the chief crops and the raw materials for producing the beverages that, as in the Middle East, were incorporated into religious ceremonies, both as drink and libation, with festivals featuring divine states of......
  • East Asian arts
    music and visual and performing arts of China, Korea, and Japan. The literatures of these countries are covered in the articles Chinese literature, Korean literature, and Japanese literature....
  • East Asian people
    ...lord) ruled over the many more popular gods and was even closely related to the representatives of the imperial household. Deification of the celestial emperor is a cultic practice that extends from Korea to Annam (part of Vietnam). The roots of the worship of heaven in Asia are probably the beliefs of central and northern Asian nomads in a solitary god of heaven. Gods of heaven, above or behin...
  • East Asian region (biogeography)
    The East Asian, or Sino-Japanese, region, which has about 300 endemic genera, extends from the slopes of the eastern Himalayas into northeastern China and the Russian Far East, including Taiwan, Japan, and Sakhalin Island (Figure 1). In this region, tropical rainforest to the south merges into deciduous forest to the north. Characteristic plant families are Lauraceae (laurel), Magnoliaceae......
  • East Aurora (New York, United States)
    village, Erie county, western New York, U.S. It lies 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Buffalo and, oddly enough, 90 miles (145 km) west of Aurora. Settled in 1804, it was incorporated as Willink in 1849 and as East Aurora in 1874. Inspired by the English designer William Morris and his communal Kelmscott Press, the editor and...
  • East Australian Current (ocean current)
    surface oceanic current, a section of the counterclockwise flow in the Tasman Sea, southwestern Pacific Ocean. It is formed by water masses from the Coral Sea—equatorial water driven by monsoonal winds from January to March and eastward subtropical flow from April to December—which pass southeast between the Great Barrier and Chesterfield reefs (20° S latitu...
  • East Avon (river, southern England, United Kingdom)
    river that rises 3 miles (5 km) east of Devizes, Wiltshire, England, on the north side of the Vale of Pewsey and flows generally southward for 48 miles (77 km) to the English Channel. The river shares the name Avon (derived from a Celtic word meaning “river”) with several other rivers in Great Britain, including the Avon of Bristol (or Lower Avon) and the ...
  • East Ayrshire (council area, Scotland, United Kingdom)
    council area, southwestern Scotland. It covers an undulating lowland in the north and west that rises to forested and moor-covered uplands in the east and south, where Blackcraig Hill reaches an elevation of 2,298 feet (700 metres). East Ayrshire forms part of the historic county of Ayrshire. Dairy farming is important in the lowlands, while cattle and sheep r...
  • East Bank (historical region, Jordan)
    ...The desert’s northern part is composed of volcanic lava and basalt, and its southern part of outcrops of sandstone and granite. The landscape is much eroded, primarily by wind. The uplands east of the Jordan River, an escarpment overlooking the rift valley, have an average elevation of 2,000–3,000 feet (600–900 metres) and rise to about 5,755 feet (1,754 metres) at Mount......
  • East Berlin (historical division, Berlin, Germany)
    eastern part of the city of Berlin that served as the capital of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) until the reunification of the German state in 1990....
  • East Black Sea Mountains (mountains, Turkey)
    mountains rising out of the northern side of the Anatolia peninsula, northern Turkey, in an area once occupied by the ancient country of Pontus. The range reaches a height of 12,900 feet (3,932 m) and makes a gentle double bend, reflected in the outline of the southern shore of the Black Sea. Dense pine forests cover the hills. On the cultivated land near the sea, tobacco, hazelnuts, tea, and cit...
  • East Cambridgeshire (district, England, United Kingdom)
    district, administrative and historic county of Cambridgeshire, east-central England, occupying an area northeast of the city of Cambridge. Situated predominantly within the Fens, an expanse of reclaimed marshland, the district has a slightly elevated chalk upland (which is covered by unstratified glacial drift) in the southeast....
  • East Cape (cape, Russia)
    cape, extreme eastern Russia. Cape Dezhnyov is the easternmost point of the Chukchi Peninsula and of the entire Eurasian landmass. It is separated from Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska by the Bering Strait. The Russian name was given in 1879 in honour of a Russian explorer S.I. Dezhnyov, who with F.A. Popov first rounded it in 1648....
  • East Caribbean States, Organization of (international organization)
    ...Finally, on November 1, 1981, Antigua and Barbuda achieved independence, with Vere Bird as the first prime minister. The state obtained United Nations and Commonwealth membership and joined the Organization of East Caribbean States. Bird’s party won again in 1984 and 1989 by overwhelming margins, giving the prime minister firm control of the islands’ government....
  • East Carolina University (university, Greenville, North Carolina, United States)
    ...Finally, on November 1, 1981, Antigua and Barbuda achieved independence, with Vere Bird as the first prime minister. The state obtained United Nations and Commonwealth membership and joined the Organization of East Caribbean States. Bird’s party won again in 1984 and 1989 by overwhelming margins, giving the prime minister firm control of the islands’ government.......
  • East, Catherine (American feminist and public official)
    American feminist and public official, a major formative influence on the women’s movement of the mid-20th century....
  • East Caucasian languages
    group of languages spoken in the northeastern part of the Caucasus and including the Avar-Andi-Dido, the Lak-Dargin (Lak-Dargwa), and the Lezgian groups. One of the distinctive characteristics of a majority of these languages is the contrast of strong and weak voiceless consonants. The Dagestanian languages are often classified together with the Nakh languages as the Nakho-Dages...
  • East Chelmsford (Massachusetts, United States)
    city, Middlesex county, northeastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies at the junction of the Concord and Merrimack rivers, 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Boston. It was the nation’s first planned industrial town. The site was originally settled in 1653 as a farming community known as East Chelmsford. Beginning in the early 19th century, thi...
  • East Chicago (Indiana, United States)
    industrial city and port, Lake county, northwestern Indiana, U.S., adjoining Gary, Hammond, and Whiting. It is a part of the Chicago-Calumet industrialized metropolitan complex. Laid out in 1887, its industrial development was stimulated by construction of Indiana Harbor, connected with the Grand Calumet River by a 3-mile (5-km) ship canal and including an extensive system of docks. Its industries...
  • East China Sea (sea, Pacific Ocean)
    arm of the Pacific Ocean bordering the East Asian mainland and extending northeastward from the South China Sea, to which it is connected by the shallow Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and mainland China. The East China Sea and the South China Sea together form the China Sea. The East Chi...
  • East, Church of the (Christian sect)
    member of a Christian sect originating in Asia Minor and Syria out of the condemnation of Nestorius and his teachings by the councils of Ephesus (ad 431) and Chalcedon (ad 451). Nestorians stressed the independence of the divine and human natures of Christ and, in effect, suggested that they were two persons loosely united. In modern times they are re...
  • East Circassian language
    language spoken in Kabardino-Balkaria republic, in southwestern Russia, in the northern Caucasus. It is related to the Abkhaz, Abaza, Adyghian, and Ubykh languages, which constitute the Abkhazo-Adyghian, or Northwest Caucasian, language group. These languages are noted for the great number of consonant distinctions and the small number of vowel distinctions in their sound systems. Since the Octobe...
  • East Cleveland (Ohio, United States)
    city, suburb of Cleveland, Cuyahoga county, northeastern Ohio, U.S., just southeast of Lake Erie. The site was settled in 1801 by farmers, and East Cleveland township was organized in 1805. The boundaries were reduced because of annexations by the city of Cleveland, and the village, which was incorporated in 1895, became a city in 1911. Suburban growth was aided by the advent of...
  • East Coast fever (livestock disease)
    any of a group of livestock diseases caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Theileria (Gonderia), transmitted by tick bites. The most serious is East Coast fever of cattle, caused by T. parva; it has 90–100 percent mortality in Africa. Tropical theileriasis, from T. annulata (T. dispar), is a milder disease of cattle along the Mediterranean and in......
  • East Coker (poem by Eliot)
    ...Collected Poems of 1936. It is a subtle meditation on the nature of time and its relation to eternity. On the model of this Eliot wrote three more poems, East Coker (1940), The Dry Salvages (1941), and Little Gidding (1942), in which he explored through images of great beauty and haunting power.....
  • East Cuvette (region, Republic of the Congo)
    former région of northern Congo (Brazzaville), west-central Africa. Since 1997 it has been divided into two régions: East Cuvette (Cuvette Est), bordered by Congo (Kinshasa) to the southeast; and West Cuvette (Cuvette Oueste), bordered by Gabon to the west. The capital of East Cuvette is Owando, while the capital of West Cuvette is Ewo....
  • East Dereham (England, United Kingdom)
    town, Breckland district, administrative and historic county of Norfolk, England, 16 miles (26 km) west-northwest of Norwich. The site of a 7th-century Christian convent, it was destroyed by invading Danes. The parish church, dating from the 12th century, contains painted Perpendicular-style ceilings, the former tomb of the church’s presumed 7th-century...
  • East Detroit (Michigan, United States)
    city, Macomb county, Michigan, U.S., adjacent to the northeast corner of the Detroit city limits. It is primarily a residential suburb of Detroit with a large retail sector but does have some light manufacturing (metal fabrication, meat products). First settled in 1837, it was on a military road (now Gratiot Avenue) connecting Fort Wayne (Detroit) with Fort Gr...
  • East Devon (district, England, United Kingdom)
    district, administrative and historic county of Devon, southwestern England, in the southeastern part of the county and bordering Lyme Bay of the English Channel to the south. East Devon is historically known for its handmade lace and carpet-making industries in the eastern interior market towns of Honiton and Axminster. High-quality limestone has been quarrie...
  • East Dorset (district, England, United Kingdom)
    district, administrative county of Dorset, southern England, in the northeastern corner of the county directly north of the English Channel resorts of Bournemouth and Poole. Most of the district is part of the historic county of Dorset, but its easternmost section, including St. Leonards, is in the historic county of ...
  • East Dunbartonshire (council area, Scotland, United Kingdom)
    council area, west-central Scotland. East Dunbartonshire’s largest towns, Bearsden and Milngavie in the southwest and Kirkintilloch in the southeast, lie within the historic county of Dunbartonshire. The council area also includes a small area in the south around the town of Bishopbriggs in the historic county of Lanarkshire and a mor...
  • East Durham Plateau (plateau, England, United Kingdom)
    ...Burnhope Seat—dip gently eastward and are dissected by the valleys of the Rivers Wear and Tees. Basaltic rocks are exposed at High Force waterfall and near Stanhope. In the east the limestone East Durham Plateau—which reaches an elevation of more than 700 feet (213 metres) at its southwestern edge—forms a gently rolling landscape. Separating these upland areas are the glaci...
  • East, Edward Murray (American scientist)
    American plant geneticist, botanist, agronomist, and chemist, whose experiments, along with those of others, led to the development of hybrid corn (maize). He was particularly interested in determining and controlling the protein and fat content of corn, both of which have significant influence upon that grain’s value as animal feed....
  • East End (district, London, United Kingdom)
    traditional area of London, lying east of Shoreditch High Street, Houndsditch, Aldgate High Street, and Tower Bridge Approach. It extends eastward to the River Lea and lies mainly in the Inner London borough of Tower Hamlets, part of the historic county of Middlesex. In the Middle Ages the East End was part of the great parish of Stepney. It began to take on a...
  • East European Plain (region, Eastern Europe)
    plain and series of broad river basins in eastern Europe (including western Russia). It extends over nearly 1,500,000 square miles (4,000,000 square km) and averages about 560 feet (170 m) in height. The plain is subdivided into a number of distinct regions, including the Valday Hills; the Central Russian Uplands; the Volga Uplands; and the Dnieper River, Black Sea, and Caspian Sea lowlands....
  • East European Platform (geology)
    Underlying rocks reflect a regional diversity of both type and age. The ancient Precambrian rocks of the southern tip of the structural block known as the Russian (or East European) Platform, dating from at least 540 million years ago, appear in the northwest. A second, related platform has a deep cover of sedimentary rocks that were laid later. The deepwater depression,......
  • East Falkland (island, Atlantic Ocean)
    one of the two major islands of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is 90 miles (140 km) long and 55 miles (88 km) wide and rises to 2,312 feet (705 metres) at Mount Usborne. The coastline is deeply indented, particularly at the midsection, where only a narrow bridge of land connects the island’s northern and southern regions. The town of Stanley...
  • East Flanders (province, Belgium)
    ...and Flemings, a Flemish- (Netherlandic-) speaking people (more than one-half of the total population), who are concentrated in the five northern and northeastern provinces (West Flanders, East Flanders [West-Vlaanderen, Oost-Vlaanderen], Flemish Brabant, Antwerp, and Limburg). Just north of the boundary between Walloon Brabant (Brabant Walloon) and Flemish (Vlaams) Brabant lies the......
  • East Flevoland Polder (region, The Netherlands)
    ...following the plans of engineer-statesman Cornelis Lely. The Wieringermeer Polder (75 square miles [193 square km]), the Northeast (Noordoost) Polder (181 square miles [469 square km]), and the East (Oostelijk) Flevoland Polder (204 square miles [528 square km]) were completed in 1930, 1942, and 1957, respectively. The South (Zuidelijk) Flevoland Polder (166 square miles [430 square km])......
  • East Fork White River (river, Indiana, United States)
    ...southwestward northeast of Indianapolis, it flows through the city and for another 175 miles (280 km) before entering the Wabash River, opposite Mount Carmel, Illinois. Its largest tributary is the East Fork White River (sometimes called the Driftwood Fork), which rises from a combination of streams that join near Columbus in Bartholomew county and flows generally southwestward for about 280......
  • East Francia (historical region, Europe)
    Charlemagne’s kingdoms, but not the imperial title, were divided after the death of his son Louis I (the Pious) in 840 into the regions of West Francia, the Middle Kingdom, and East Francia. The last of these regions gradually assumed control over the Middle Kingdom north of the Alps. In addition, an independent kingdom of Italy survived into the late 10th century. The imperial title went t...
  • East Franconian (language)
    ...and the Thuringian dialect helped to form the basis of modern standard German. The present-day influence of Thuringian is of greatest significance in Thuringia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt states. East Franconian is spoken in northern Bavaria, South Franconian in northern Baden-Württemberg. The Rhenish Franconian dialect extends northwest from approximately Metz, in French Lorraine,......
  • East Friesland (cultural region, Germany)
    cultural region bordering the North Sea and encompassing the coastal marshlands and East Frisian Islands (Ostfriesische Inseln) of northwestern Lower Saxony Land (state), north-central Germany. The region includes the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park. East Friesland has close cultural ties with West Friesland in The Netherlands and North Friesland on the west coast o...
  • East Frisian Islands (islands, Germany)
    The East Frisian Islands (German: Ostfriesische Inseln) belong to Germany and extend from the Ems River estuary eastward to Jade Channel, the outer part of Jade Bay, with two small islands, Scharhörn and Neuwerk, lying near the estuary of the Elbe River. Smaller than most of the West Frisian group, the main islands from west to east are Borkum, Juist, Norderney, Baltrum, Langeoog,......
  • East Frisian language (language)
    East Frisian survives today only in the German Saterland, consisting of the three parishes of Ramsloh, Strücklingen, and Scharrel, each with a slightly different dialect. The area to the north is called East Frisia (German Ostfriesland), and the local dialect East Frisian (German Ostfriesisch), although it is actually not Frisian but the local variety of Low German....
  • East Galloway (former county, Scotland, United Kingdom)
    historic county, southwestern Scotland. It lies entirely within Dumfries and Galloway council area. Kirkcudbrightshire forms the eastern portion of the historic province of Galloway. It encompasses the shores of the Solway Firth and Irish Sea between the Rivers Nith and Cree and extends inland across an undulating landscape of hills and vall...
  • East Germanic languages
    group of long extinct Germanic languages once spoken by Germanic tribes located between the middle Oder and the Vistula....
  • East Ghor Canal (canal, Jordan)
    After the Six-Day War of 1967, the government of Israel opened the lower Yarmūk River valley, with its fine scenery, hot springs, and interesting Roman ruins, to tourist traffic. The Ghawr ash-Sharqiyah (East Ghor) Canal, completed in 1966, diverts water from the Yarmūk to irrigate the eastern Jordan River valley in Jordan....
  • East Greenland Current (current, Arctic Ocean)
    cold flow of water originating in the Arctic Ocean and flowing southward and southwestward along the east coast of Greenland. See Greenland Current....
  • East Greenland Geosyncline (geology)
    a linear orogenic (mountain) belt that developed from late Precambrian time to the middle of the Paleozoic Era (roughly 650 million to 350 million years ago) along a portion of the eastern coast of Greenland. Deformation occurred during several phases of the Caledonian orogeny (mountain-building episode)...
  • East Greenland orogen (geology)
    a linear orogenic (mountain) belt that developed from late Precambrian time to the middle of the Paleozoic Era (roughly 650 million to 350 million years ago) along a portion of the eastern coast of Greenland. Deformation occurred during several phases of the Caledonian orogeny (mountain-building episode)...
  • East Greenwich (Rhode Island, United States)
    town (township), Kent county, central Rhode Island, U.S., on Greenwich Bay, south of Providence city. It was settled and incorporated as a town in 1677, following King Philip’s (Indian) War. Called Dedford in 1686–89, it was renamed for Greenwich in London. Farming, fishing, pottery making, and tanning were early industries. Du...
  • East Grinstead (England, United Kingdom)
    town (parish), Mid Sussex district, administrative county of West Sussex, historic county of Sussex, England, lying south of London in the wooded countryside of the Weald within easy commuting range of the metropolis. Its market charter dates to 1121, and the town centre contains old buildings, as well as modern shops that serve an extensive residential distri...
  • East Hampshire (district, England, United Kingdom)
    district, administrative and historic county of Hampshire, southern England. The district, a rural area of chalk uplands, is where the most westerly extensions of the North Downs, Weald, and South Downs generally merge. The terrain, at elevations of 600 to 800 feet (180 to 240 m), is undulating with interspersed scarps and valleys....
  • East Hampton (New York, United States)
    town (township), Suffolk county, southeastern New York, U.S. It lies on the southern shore of Long Island, 100 miles (161 km) east of New York City, and includes East Hampton village and Gardiners Island. Settled in 1648 by English yeomen from Kent and first called Maidstone, the town prospered as a whaling and fishing cen...
  • East Hartford (Connecticut, United States)
    urban town (township), Hartford county, central Connecticut, U.S., across the Connecticut River from Hartford. The area, called Podunk by the Indians, was first settled in 1639 by John Crow. Organized as a parish in 1746 and originally part of Hartford, it was incorporated as a separate town in 1783 and experienced early industrial developme...
  • East Haven (Connecticut, United States)
    urban town (township), New Haven county, southern Connecticut, U.S., on Long Island Sound just east of New Haven and separated from Branford (east) by Lake Saltonstall (about 3 miles [5 km] long). Originally a part of New Haven called Iron Works Village (because of the furnace established there in 1655 to process bog iron ...
  • East Hertfordshire (district, England, United Kingdom)
    district, administrative and historic county of Hertfordshire, southeastern England, at the northern edge of the Greater London Green Belt....
  • East Hoosuck (Massachusetts, United States)
    town (township), Berkshire county, northwestern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies at the foot of Mount Greylock (3,491 feet [1,064 metres]), on the Hoosic River, 15 miles (24 km) north of Pittsfield. The town of North Adams is 5 miles north. Founded by Quakers in 1766, it was known as East Hoosuck until 1778, when it was incorpo...
  • East Huntington Bridge (bridge, Ohio-West Virginia, United States)
    ...in collaboration with the German firm of Leonhardt and Andra, its cost was not significantly different from those of other proposals with more conventional designs. The same designers produced the East End Bridge across the Ohio River between Proctorville, Ohio, and Huntington, West Virginia, in 1985. The East End has a major span of 270 metres (900 feet) and a minor span of 182 metres (608......
  • East India Bill (Great Britain [1783])
    ...company’s privileges ran out, but this was during the crisis of the American Revolution, so a decision was delayed until 1784. Charles James Fox’s radical measure to transfer the control of British India to seven commissioners was defeated by the influence of King George III in the House of Lords, but the next year the matter was settled for more than 70 years by Prime Minister Wi...
  • East India Company (English trading company)
    English company formed for the exploitation of trade with East and Southeast Asia and India, incorporated by royal charter on Dec. 31, 1600. Starting as a monopolistic trading body, the company became involved in politics and acted as an agent of British imperialism in India from the early 18th century to the mid-19th century. In addition, the activities of the company in China in the 19th century...
  • East India Company Acts (United Kingdom)
    succession of measures passed by the British Parliament between 1773 and 1935 to regulate the government of India. The first several acts—passed in 1773, 1780, 1784, 1786, 1793, and 1830—were generally known as East India Company acts. Subsequent measures—chiefly in 1833, 1853, 1858, 1919, and 1935—were entitled Government of India acts. The act of 1773, also known as ...
  • East Indiaman (sailing craft)
    large sailing vessel of the type built from the 16th to the 19th century for the trade between Europe and southern Asia. The first were Portuguese and Dutch; English Indiamen appeared late in the 16th century and eventually came to dominate the trade. The ships varied in size from about 400 to 1,500 tons and more; often they were larger than contemporary men-of-war. They were three-masted and inv...
  • East Indian pitcher plant family (plant family)
    ...which traps water in its crowns, provides a habitat for salamanders, frogs, and many aquatic insects and larvae. The animal inhabitants of the water-filled, insectivorous pitcher-plant leaves (Nepenthaceae) have adapted to the hostile environment of the leaves’ digestive fluids....
  • East Indian Ridge (aseismic ridge, Indian Ocean)
    ...Ridge south of Africa, and the Southeast Indian Ridge trends to the east until it joins the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge south of Tasmania. Most striking is the aseismic (virtually earthquake-free) Ninetyeast Ridge, which is the longest and straightest in the world ocean. First discovered in 1962, it runs northward along the 90° E meridian (hence its name) for 2,800 miles (4,500 km) from......
  • East Indies (islands, Southeast Asia)
    the islands that extend in a wide belt along both sides of the Equator for more than 3,800 miles (6,100 km) between the Asian mainland to the north and west and Australia to the south. Historically, the term East Indies is loosely applied to any of three contexts. The most restrictive and best-known use is as a synonym for the islands that now constitute the Republic of Indonesia (formerly known ...
  • East Indonesia (historical state, Indonesia)
    ...Japanese occupied Celebes during World War II. The states of southern Celebes supported the newly proclaimed Republic of Indonesia in 1945. The Dutch, meanwhile, included Celebes in the new state of East Indonesia that they had created. Clashes occurred between Dutch and Republican troops in Makasar in 1950, and, with the defeat of the Dutch, Celebes became part of the Republic of Indonesia....
  • East Japan Volcanic Belt (region, Japan)
    ...of a basement complex overlain by thick accumulations of young rocks that have been subjected to mild folding. The Ōu Range, capped with towering volcanoes that form the main part of the East Japan Volcanic Belt, is separated from the coastal ranges by the Kitakami-Abukuma lowlands to the east and by a row of basins in the west....
  • East Java (province, Indonesia)
    provinsi (province), eastern Java, Indonesia. It is bounded by the province of Jawa Tengah (Central Java) on the west, the Java Sea on the north, the Indian Ocean on the south, and the Bali Strait on the east. It includes the Madura, Kangean, Sapudi, Raas, Sepanjang, Bawean, and Masalembo-Besar islands in the Java Sea....
  • East Jersey (historical region, New Jersey, United States)
    ...sold his half interest in the colony to two Quakers, who in turn placed the management of the colony in the hands of three trustees, one of whom was William Penn. The area was then divided into East Jersey, controlled by Carteret, and West Jersey, controlled by Penn and the other Quaker trustees. In 1682 the Quakers bought East Jersey. A multiplicity of owners and an uncertainty of......
  • East Kalimantan (province, Indonesia)
    provinsi (“province”), east-central Borneo, Indonesia, fronting the Celebes Sea to the northeast and the Makassar Strait to the southeast. It is bounded on the north and northwest by the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak and by the Indonesian provinces of Kalimantan Barat on the west and Kalimantan Tengah and Kalimantan Selatan on the southwest. Kalimantan Timur cover...
  • East Kilbride (Scotland, United Kingdom)
    burgh (town), South Lanarkshire council area, historic county of Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was Scotland’s first post-World War II planned new town, built around the old pastoral village of East Kilbride to accommodate residential and commercial growth from nearby Glasgow. The name suggests early Celtic association with St. Bride (Brigit...
  • East Lansing (Michigan, United States)
    residential and university city, Ingham county, south-central Michigan, U.S., adjoining Lansing on the Red Cedar River. The site was a remote area east of Lansing when Michigan State University, a pioneer land-grant school, was founded there as Michigan Agricultural College in 1855. First known as Collegeville, the city was redesignated East...
  • East Lapp language
    ...are sometimes considered dialects of one language. The largest language, North Sami, spoken by about two-thirds of all Sami, is distributed over northernmost Finland, Sweden, and Norway. East Sami is spoken in Russia on the Kola Peninsula and by two groups in eastern Finland: Inari and Skolt. South Sami is used by a few persons in central Norway and north-central Sweden....
  • East Lindsey (district, England, United Kingdom)
    district, administrative and historic county of Lincolnshire, east-central England, along the North Sea in the eastern part of the county. East Lindsey’s most significant physiographic component is the chalk upland of the Wolds, about 10 miles (16 km) wide and 500 feet (150 metres) high, in the north and centre of the district. To the west lies a fertile clay valley, and ...
  • East Liverpool (Ohio, United States)
    city, Columbiana county, eastern Ohio, U.S., some 45 miles (70 km) south of Youngstown. It lies along the Ohio River (there bridged to Newell and Chester, W.Va.), at a point where Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia meet. Founded in 1798 by Thomas Fawcett, an Irish Quaker, it was originally called St. Clair and then Fawcettstown. After it became a village in 1834, it was renam...

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