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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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George Vancouver
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(1757–98) Explorer who joined the navy at 13 and whose first journeys were with Captain *Cook (1772–5, 1776–80). In 1791 he was put in command of an expedition to explore the northwest coast of America and to discover whether there was a channel leading through from the Pacific to Hudson Bay. In a four-year voyage he made detailed surveys of the entire Pacific coast of the United States and Canada, proving that any northwest passage between the Atlantic and Pacific must pass north of Alaska. He was the first to circumnavigate the large Canadian island now named after him.
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