134 résultats pour "railroads"
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Railroads.
III GAUGES The gauge of track is the distance between the inner edges of the rails at points 1.59 cm (0.626 in) below the top of the heads. In the United States, Canada, theUnited Kingdom, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, and much of continental Europe, the standard gauge is 143.51 cm (56.5 in). Why this measurement became the standard isa matter of speculation. Probably the tradition is inherited from early tramroads built to accommodate wagons with axles 1.5 m (5 ft) long; some of the early edge rail...
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History of United States Business.
their lives. But the rewards were worth it; a few lucrative voyages and a merchant could buy a townhouse, a carriage, perhaps a summer retreat. The merchant couldclimb the social ladder and circulate among the powerful in this highly materialistic society. This prospect of riches and the honor that accompanied them made Americancolonists willing to engage in highly speculative enterprises, such as shipping flour to the West Indies or importing goods from England by the thousands without beingcer...
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Houston - geography.
Prominent historical and cultural institutions include the Civic Center Complex, located in the central business district. The complex is composed of the George R. BrownConvention Center; the Wortham Center, which is the home of the Houston Grand Opera and the Houston Ballet; and the Jesse H. Jones Hall for Performing Arts, whichis the home of the Houston Symphony. The nearby Alley Theatre houses a professional repertory acting company. Among other local professional performance groupsare the Ma...
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Chicago (city, Illinois) - geography.
VI EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS Chicago has one of the largest public school systems in the United States. The Chicago Board of Education administers the system in a centralized fashion; in recentyears it has been experimenting with local school councils as a means of partial devolution of authority. These councils, established in 1989, have authority in severalareas, including the ability to approve budgets and curriculum. In addition, Chicago has many private schools, including larg...
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Cincinnati - geography.
and managed the Reds. The University of Cincinnati men’s basketball team enjoyed considerable success in the 1990s. IV ECONOMY Cincinnati, from its earliest beginnings, has functioned as a major port on the Ohio River. Distribution of raw materials as well as manufactured goods is one of the city’schief economic activities. Although Cincinnati remains one of the world’s leading centers for the distribution of bituminous (soft) coal, this trade is gradually declining. Coal from Kentucky and W...
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Salt Lake City - geography.
adding a runway to the city’s airport. V GOVERNMENT Salt Lake City is governed by a mayor and a seven-member council, which is presided over by a chair. Voters elect each of these officials to four-year terms. Salt LakeCounty is governed by a county mayor elected to a four-year term and a nine-member county council. Council members—six elected from districts and three elected at-large—serve terms ranging from two to six years. The Utah Transit Authority, located in Salt Lake City, oversees publ...
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Atlanta - geography.
Prominent cultural and historical institutions in the city include the High Museum of Art (1983), designed by the noted postmodern American architect Richard Meier; theAtlanta Symphony; the Atlanta History Center, which maintains a history museum, historic houses and gardens, and extensive library and archives; NexusContemporary Art Center; the Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center; the Apex Museum; the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University; the Clark Atlanta University ArtGallery; Fernbank Scie...
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Canadian Pacific Railway - Canadian History.
roads constructed inland from the lakeshore. However, this changed with the outbreak in Saskatchewan of the Northwest Rebellion by Louis Riel and his supportersagainst the authority of the Canadian government in March 1885. Despite the fact that the railway was not completed, a contingent of troops was able to reachWinnipeg from Montréal in only seven days, much faster than they could have gone overland, and get from there to Saskatchewan in time to successfully put down therebellion. This actio...
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Confederation of Canada - Canadian History.
Québec conference seemed in many ways to give Macdonald the centralized union he wanted. The federal government would control banking, finance, defense,transportation, and commerce among the provinces. It would also have far greater powers of taxation than the provincial governments would have. In private,Macdonald predicted that the central government would be so strong that it would soon swallow up the provinces completely. Yet the Québec resolutions were vague or contradictory enough to give...
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Panama Canal - Geography.
The size of ships using the Panama Canal has steadily increased. About 27 percent of the vessels that use the canal are built to the maximum dimensions that can passthrough it (a category called “Panamax”). This has prompted further widening of Gaillard Cut, so that the larger Panamax vessels may transit safely. However, some ofthe world’s commercial and military ships are too large for the canal. Since the 1940s, new U.S. battleships and aircraft carriers have been built exceeding the canal’sdi...
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Labor Unions in the United States - U.
National Guard troops were used against the strikers, with the result that the strike was lost and the union that conducted it virtually destroyed. In 1894 a strike by theAmerican Railway Union against the Pullman Palace Car Company was defeated by an injunction issued under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which made acombination or contract in restraint of trade illegal. Thereafter employers used injunctions with increasing frequency and effectiveness as an antistrike weapon. See also Hours...
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Pittsburgh - geography.
College of Allegheny County (1966), with branches in the city and suburbs. Pittsburgh has many outstanding cultural institutions. The Oakland district is where Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh are located. The CarnegieMuseums of Pittsburgh include The Carnegie Museum of Art (including the Scaife Galleries), which holds a distinguished motion-picture and video collection and a uniquestudy of architecture; the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, which displays an extensi...
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World War II .
the Nazi-Soviet Pact was signed. In the part published the next day, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed not to go to war against each other. A secret protocol gaveStalin a free hand in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, eastern Poland, and eastern Romania. See also German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. III MILITARY OPERATIONS In the early morning hours of September 1, 1939, the German armies marched into Poland. On September 3 the British and French surprised Hitler by declaring war onGermany, but they...
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São Paulo (city) - geography.
universities include the State University Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (1976), and the even larger University of São Paulo (1934), which incorporates the city’s famousand influential Faculty of Law. Important private universities are Mackenzie University, originally founded by Presbyterian missionaries from the United States (1870);the Paulista University (1972); the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (1946); and the University São Judas Tadeu (1971). The city is home to the São Pau...
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Harry S.
B2 Presiding Judge Political machines, such as the Pendergast organization, were common to both parties in the 1920s. They were based on the spoils system, in which winning politiciansgave government jobs to those loyal party members who had helped them get elected. Using government jobs as rewards, politicians created efficient (and oftenalmost unstoppable) vote-getting “machines,” in which party loyalty was often more important than doing any work. Without local machine support a political ca...
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Harry S.
B2 Presiding Judge Political machines, such as the Pendergast organization, were common to both parties in the 1920s. They were based on the spoils system, in which winning politiciansgave government jobs to those loyal party members who had helped them get elected. Using government jobs as rewards, politicians created efficient (and oftenalmost unstoppable) vote-getting “machines,” in which party loyalty was often more important than doing any work. Without local machine support a political ca...
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Grover Cleveland.
Americans, Roman Catholics, and Southerners, who all generally supported the Democratic Party. The statement lost Blaine any chance of getting the Irish Americanvote in New York City. The Mugwumps supported Cleveland because of Blaine’s political past. Even the Prohibition Party candidate received 25,000 votes that normallywould have gone to the Republican candidate. New York’s 36 electoral votes swung the election to Cleveland. He won the state’s vote by only about 1000 in a total vote of more...
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Grover Cleveland
Americans, Roman Catholics, and Southerners, who all generally supported the Democratic Party. The statement lost Blaine any chance of getting the Irish Americanvote in New York City. The Mugwumps supported Cleveland because of Blaine’s political past. Even the Prohibition Party candidate received 25,000 votes that normallywould have gone to the Republican candidate. New York’s 36 electoral votes swung the election to Cleveland. He won the state’s vote by only about 1000 in a total vote of more...
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Industrial Revolution
I
INTRODUCTION
Industrial Revolution, widespread replacement of manual labor by machines that began in Britain in the 18th century and is still continuing in some parts of the world.
The most important advance in iron production occurred in 1784 when Englishman Henry Cort invented new techniques for rolling raw iron, a finishing process thatshapes iron into the desired size and form. These advances in metalworking were an important part of industrialization. They enabled iron, which was relativelyinexpensive and abundant, to be used in many new ways, such as building heavy machinery. Iron was well suited for heavy machinery because of its strength anddurability. Because of t...
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Industrial Revolution .
The most important advance in iron production occurred in 1784 when Englishman Henry Cort invented new techniques for rolling raw iron, a finishing process thatshapes iron into the desired size and form. These advances in metalworking were an important part of industrialization. They enabled iron, which was relativelyinexpensive and abundant, to be used in many new ways, such as building heavy machinery. Iron was well suited for heavy machinery because of its strength anddurability. Because of t...
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William Howard Taft.
considered him an ideal successor. Because Roosevelt himself was satisfied that Taft's election would ensure that his reform programs were continued, he used hisinfluence with each state's Republican Party to get Taft the nomination. As a result, Taft became the Republican candidate on the first ballot. He was elected president in1908 with a popular vote of 7,675,320 to 6,412,294 for Nebraska editor and Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan, and an electoral vote of 321 to Bryan's 162.Alth...
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William Howard Taft
considered him an ideal successor. Because Roosevelt himself was satisfied that Taft's election would ensure that his reform programs were continued, he used hisinfluence with each state's Republican Party to get Taft the nomination. As a result, Taft became the Republican candidate on the first ballot. He was elected president in1908 with a popular vote of 7,675,320 to 6,412,294 for Nebraska editor and Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan, and an electoral vote of 321 to Bryan's 162.Alth...
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Detroit - geography.
of German and Irish immigrants. In the first half of the 20th century, the percentage of foreign-born residents declined, even though many immigrants arrived fromeastern Europe. During World War II (1939-1945), both whites and blacks were attracted from the South to work in the city’s defense industries. In 1950 foreign-bornand black residents each made up about 16 percent of the total population. In the five decades after 1950, the city lost almost half of its population, as many white resident...
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Vancouver (British Columbia) - Geography.
The Fraser Delta—Burrard Inlet area that is now Vancouver was occupied by Coast Salish people of the Musqueam, Kwantlen, Tsawwassen, and Capilano bands whenthe Spanish explorer José Maria Narvaez and the British naval officer George Vancouver visited the area in the early 1790s. The first permanent white settlement, established around the Hastings sawmill in the 1860s, was colloquially known as Gastown (after a talkative leading citizen, “Gassy”Jack Deighton). This settlement was renamed Granvil...
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Zambia - country.
The Livingstone Museum, at Livingstone, has a collection relating to the archaeology and natural history of southern Africa. The Institute for African Studies of theUniversity of Zambia publishes studies relating to central Africa. IV ECONOMY The wealth of Zambia is based largely on mining in the rich copper belt, and downturns in copper prices have severely damaging economic consequences. Someprocessing and manufacturing has been started since independence, and during the 1970s attempts were...
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Camel - biology.
of water in the stomach or hump as was once commonly believed. Unlike other mammals, however, the camel can survive as long as three weeks without drinking,depending on the water content of its food. It can survive a water loss of about 40 percent of its normal body weight. In comparison, a loss of 15 percent is usually fatalfor humans. Camels can go without water due to several unique adaptations to their environment. The camel conserves more water in its body than any other mammal. It excretes...
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Yangtze - Geography.
A Agriculture and Industry Today about 400 million people, or about one-third of the population of China, live in the Yangtze Basin. Many are engaged in agriculture. The basin contributes nearlyhalf of China’s crop production, although only one-quarter of the basin is arable. The most fertile areas for farming are the Sichuan Basin, the plains between theYangtze and its tributary the Han, and the plains of the lower basin. In all about 40 percent of the cereals, more than 30 percent of the cott...
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Cleveland (Ohio) - geography.
Cleveland Children’s Museum. Also located in University Circle is Severance Hall, the home of the world-acclaimed Cleveland Orchestra. Nearby is the Cleveland PlayHouse, with three large, restored theaters and one of the largest non-profit professional theaters in the country. Downtown is Playhouse Square Center, with fourrecently restored theaters, home to the Cleveland Opera and the Great Lakes Theater Festival. On the waterfront is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum,opened in 1995 and...
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Mumbai - geography.
number of people employed by them increased from 7,000 in the 1860s to 73,000 in 1900. Mumbai also prospered as an international port with the 1869 opening ofthe Suez Canal, which shortened the shipping route to Europe. Today most of India’s cotton continues to be grown in the Mumbai hinterland on a fertile, lava-based soilknown as black cotton soil. Textiles remain the dominant industry, employing more than half the workforce. Other important products of Mumbai include refined oil,petrochemical...
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Nashville - geography.
May event has grown into a major festival. In September the city hosts the Tennessee State Fair. One of Nashville's principle attractions is Opryland, a complex of entertainment and broadcasting facilities that offers live music shows, a resort and convention center,and shopping outlets. Since 1974 it has been the home to the Grand Ole Opry radio show, a country-music production that has not missed a broadcast since 1925. Percy Park and Edwin Warner Park provide open space, trails, playing field...
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Denver - geography.
Denver is the center of professional sports in the Rocky Mountain region. Major league teams are the Denver Broncos (football), Colorado Rockies (baseball), DenverNuggets (basketball), and Colorado Avalanche (ice hockey). Coors Field (opened in 1995) is the home of the Colorado Rockies. The Broncos began play at the newlyconstructed Invesco Field at Mile High in 2001, and the Nuggets and Avalanche play at the Pepsi Center. The National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, one of thelargest such shows i...
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Gabon - country.
government is engaged in preservation and reforestation programs. The fish catch in 2005 was 43,941 metric tons. C Mining Mining has developed rapidly since Gabon’s independence in 1960. Annual production of extremely high-grade manganese ore, from Moanda in the southeast, was1,090,000 metric tons in 2004. The rich deposits of iron ore located at Mekambo and Bélinga in the northeast have reserves estimated at more than 500 million metrictons. Exploitation of the iron ore has been hampered by th...
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Ulysses S.
In the autumn of 1862, Grant began planning the drive on Vicksburg, Mississippi, the Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, which was to yield one of hisgreatest military successes. After several unsuccessful attempts on Vicksburg during the winter, Grant devised a new strategy of attack. In April 1863 he marched hisarmy south along the west side of the river to a point well below the heavily defended city. There, with the aid of the Union river fleet, he crossed the river and began as...
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Ulysses S.
In the autumn of 1862, Grant began planning the drive on Vicksburg, Mississippi, the Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, which was to yield one of hisgreatest military successes. After several unsuccessful attempts on Vicksburg during the winter, Grant devised a new strategy of attack. In April 1863 he marched hisarmy south along the west side of the river to a point well below the heavily defended city. There, with the aid of the Union river fleet, he crossed the river and began as...
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Pennsylvania - geography.
B Rivers and Lakes There are three major river basins in Pennsylvania: the Susquehanna, the Ohio, and the Delaware. Together they drain more than 90 percent of Pennsylvania’s landarea. Most of eastern and central Pennsylvania is drained by the Susquehanna and Delaware systems. The western part of the state is drained by the Allegheny andMonongahela rivers, which join at Pittsburgh to form the Ohio. In addition to the three major river basins, short streams flowing into Lake Erie drain the north...
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Pennsylvania - USA History.
B Rivers and Lakes There are three major river basins in Pennsylvania: the Susquehanna, the Ohio, and the Delaware. Together they drain more than 90 percent of Pennsylvania’s landarea. Most of eastern and central Pennsylvania is drained by the Susquehanna and Delaware systems. The western part of the state is drained by the Allegheny andMonongahela rivers, which join at Pittsburgh to form the Ohio. In addition to the three major river basins, short streams flowing into Lake Erie drain the north...
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Segregation in the United States - U.
acts of discrimination. Writing for the court, Justice Joseph Bradley declared: “When a man has emerged from slavery, and by the aid of beneficent legislation ... theremust be some stage in the progress of his elevation when he takes the rank of a mere citizen, and ceases to be the special favorite of the laws, and when his rights as acitizen, or a man, are to be protected in the ordinary modes by which other men’s rights are protected.” Rather than being the “special favorites” of the law, blac...
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Idaho - geography.
Idaho-Montana state line in the southern part of the Bitterroot Mountains. Consequently, nearly all the rivers in the state drain toward the Pacific. Most of Idaho lieswithin the drainage basin of the Columbia River system. The Snake River, which is the chief river in southern and central Idaho, follows a crescent-shaped course forabout 790 km (about 490 mi) across southern Idaho. It then swings northward along the Idaho state line and joins the Columbia River in Washington. Major tributariesof...
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Idaho - USA History.
Idaho-Montana state line in the southern part of the Bitterroot Mountains. Consequently, nearly all the rivers in the state drain toward the Pacific. Most of Idaho lieswithin the drainage basin of the Columbia River system. The Snake River, which is the chief river in southern and central Idaho, follows a crescent-shaped course forabout 790 km (about 490 mi) across southern Idaho. It then swings northward along the Idaho state line and joins the Columbia River in Washington. Major tributariesof...
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Saskatchewan (province) - Geography.
The length of the frost-free season varies within the province. In the southwest, particularly in the valley lands along the South Saskatchewan River, the frost-freeperiod ranges from 150 to 160 days. Regina enjoys about 123 frost-free days, and Saskatoon has about 111. The far north has only from 85 to 95 frost-free days. One important characteristic of Saskatchewan’s climate is the great variability in temperature and precipitation from year to year, which is often critical for agriculture.The...
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Saskatchewan (province) - Canadian History.
The length of the frost-free season varies within the province. In the southwest, particularly in the valley lands along the South Saskatchewan River, the frost-freeperiod ranges from 150 to 160 days. Regina enjoys about 123 frost-free days, and Saskatoon has about 111. The far north has only from 85 to 95 frost-free days. One important characteristic of Saskatchewan’s climate is the great variability in temperature and precipitation from year to year, which is often critical for agriculture.The...
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From Plessy v.
We consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff's argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with abadge of inferiority. If this be so, it is not by reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it. Theargument necessarily assumes that if, as has been more than once the case and is not unlikely to be so again, the colored race should become the dominant power inth...
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Madrid - geography.
stores and offices on the first one or two levels. While many people rent their apartments, most own them and participate in cooperatives that maintain the building.Because living spaces are small by American standards, madrileños do most of their socializing in the streets, bars, restaurants, and parks of their neighborhoods. Onlya few very wealthy areas north of the city have single family houses with gardens and yards similar to those in American suburbs. Many of the newest neighborhoodsare c...
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Québec - Geography.
facilities. Tributaries south of the St. Lawrence include the Richelieu, the Saint-François, and the Chaudière rivers, which are only a few hundred kilometers long. TheRimouski and Matane rivers, also south of the St. Lawrence, are popular areas for recreation and salmon fishing. In the Canadian Shield, the longest rivers are theRupert, Eastmain, Grande Baleine, and La Grand-Rivière, which is the site of a huge hydroelectric complex. C Coastlines Québec has two systems of saltwater coastline. O...
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Québec - Canadian History.
facilities. Tributaries south of the St. Lawrence include the Richelieu, the Saint-François, and the Chaudière rivers, which are only a few hundred kilometers long. TheRimouski and Matane rivers, also south of the St. Lawrence, are popular areas for recreation and salmon fishing. In the Canadian Shield, the longest rivers are theRupert, Eastmain, Grande Baleine, and La Grand-Rivière, which is the site of a huge hydroelectric complex. C Coastlines Québec has two systems of saltwater coastline. O...
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Thomas Edison.
While Edison was working on the electric light, he made a scientific discovery that would become important to future generations. Edison noticed that particles of carbonfrom the filament blackened the insides of his light bulbs. This effect was caused by the emission of electrons from the filament, although Edison made the discoverybefore he and other scientists knew the electron existed. Not until 1897 did British physicist J. J. Thomson prove that the blackening observed by Edison was caused b...
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Thomas Edison - USA History.
While Edison was working on the electric light, he made a scientific discovery that would become important to future generations. Edison noticed that particles of carbonfrom the filament blackened the insides of his light bulbs. This effect was caused by the emission of electrons from the filament, although Edison made the discoverybefore he and other scientists knew the electron existed. Not until 1897 did British physicist J. J. Thomson prove that the blackening observed by Edison was caused b...
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Prince Edward Island - Geography.
hectares (109 acres) each. In 2006 there were 1,700 farms, of which the average size was 148 hectares (366 acres). In 2005 the total farm cash receipts were C$510million. The most important agricultural products in terms of value include potatoes, milk and cream, cattle and calves, hogs, tobacco, vegetables, eggs, hens andchickens, and furs. For the most part the island’s agriculture is diversified, rather than specialized, because of the lack of a large urban industrial population within easy r...
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Prince Edward Island - Canadian History.
hectares (109 acres) each. In 2006 there were 1,700 farms, of which the average size was 148 hectares (366 acres). In 2005 the total farm cash receipts were C$510million. The most important agricultural products in terms of value include potatoes, milk and cream, cattle and calves, hogs, tobacco, vegetables, eggs, hens andchickens, and furs. For the most part the island’s agriculture is diversified, rather than specialized, because of the lack of a large urban industrial population within easy r...
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St. Louis (city) - geography.
I
INTRODUCTION
St. Louis (city) or Saint Louis,
Between 1940 and 1990 the black population in metropolitan St. Louis nearly tripled. Blacks are most heavily concentrated in three areas in the St. Louis metropolitanregion: East Saint Louis, the North Side close to downtown, and an east-west belt extending from the waterfront to beyond Forest Park. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, areas to the north and south of the central business district were settled by immigrant working families from Germany, Ireland,and many Eastern European countrie...