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The Tahiti apple or Otaheite apple (Spondias dulcis) is a tree of the family Anacardiaceae native to the Society Islands, Friendly Islands and Fiji. The leaves are divided into elliptic leaflets arranged featherwise with rounded teeth. The flowers are small, yellow-green coloured clustered flowers followed by an edible fruit which tastes like pineapple, and looks like a large, golden-yellow coloured plum containing a stone covered with hooked bristles.
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Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch explorer. He was born in 1602 near Groningen and died in 1659. He became a sailor while still a child and made several voyages in eastern waters before being given command of his own expedition in 1642. Circumnavigating Australia he discovered the land he named Van Diemen's Land in 1642, which was later renamed Tasmania in 1853. He also discovered New Zealand, the Friendly Islands and the Fiji islands. In 1644 he made another voyage and discovered the Gulf of Carpentaria. After other expeditions in 1647 and 1648 he retired and settled in Batavia.
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John Williams was an american clergyman. He was born in 1644 and died in 1739. He became pastor at Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1686. He was carried away captive to Montreal by Indians with his family in 1704. He wrote 'The Redeemed Captive', a very popular account of his
experiences.
John Williams was an English missionary. He was born in 1791 at Tottenham, near London and died in 1839. In 1816 he was accepted by the London Missionary Society as a missionary to the Society Islands in the Pacific. Here Williams introduced a code of laws, encouraged the cultivation of the sugar cane and tobacco, and instructed the natives in printing and in house building. This missionary work was also extended to the Cook Islands, to Rarotonga (Harvey Island), to Samoa, and to the Friendly Islands. He was killed on the cannibal island of Enomanga (New Hebrides). He wrote 'Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands' in 1837.
John Williams is an American Oscar-winning composer and pianist. He was born in 1932. His best known for composing the music for the film 'Jaws' and also the 'Star Wars' films.
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Friendly Islands is another name for Tonga.
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The Kingdom of Tonga is a miniature Kingdom in the heart of Polynesia (South Pacific Ocean), is one of the world' s few remaining constitutional monarchies. Ruled by His Majesty King Taufa' ahau Tupou IV. The country comprises some 170 small islands in three groups, which are divided from each other by two narrow channels, with a combined land area of 699 sq km and sea area of 700,000 sq km. The largest island is Tongatabu, in the southern group, with an area of 128 square miles, The climate is tropical; modified by trade winds with a warm season from December to May and a cool season from May to December. The terrain of most of the islands is limestone based formed from uplifted coral formations; other islands have limestone overlying a volcanic base. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are frequent; during one of which, in Octocber 1885, a new island two miles in circumference suddenly appeared. Natural resources are fish and the fertile soil of the islands. The religion is Christian. The language is Tongan and English.
Tonga was first settled by Polynesians around 1500 BC and were discovered for Europe in 1643 by Tasman, but were first visited by Europeans in 1773 by Captain James Cook who called the islands the 'Friendly Islands'. During the 19th century Christian missionaries settled and converted the chief Taufa'ahau Tupou to Christianity in 1831. In 1900 Tonga was made a British protectorate and in 1970 became independent.
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The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
©1993 - 2009 The Probert Encyclopaedia
Southampton, United Kingdom
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