| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07. |
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| Tanega-shima |
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(tän ´gä-sh mä) (KEY) , island, 176 sq mi (456 sq km), off S Kyushu, Japan. Fishing and farming are important there. It is the site of Japan’s main rocket launch center and a space satellite tracking station. Mendez Pinto, a Portuguese voyager on his way to China, landed (1543) there and introduced firearms to Japan. The name of the island came to mean “firearms” to the Japanese. |
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| | | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press. |
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