the first to reach the top. Since then
there have been a number of successful
climbs.
#More to explore
Hillary, Edmund • Himalayas
• Mountain
Everglades
The Everglades is a huge marsh, or wetland,
that covers much of southern
Florida. It borders the Gulf of Mexico
on the west and the Florida Bay on the
south. A narrow belt of sandy land lies
to the east. The Everglades National
Park covers the southwestern part of the
Snow and ice surround the peak of Mount
Everest, the highest point on Earth.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Everglades 167
marsh. The Everglades is popular with
fishers, boaters, and tourists.
Saw grass, which may grow 10 to 15 feet
(3 to 5 meters) tall, covers much of the
watery land. Islands called hammocks sit
in between stretches of open water.
These hammocks are home to trees and
shrubs, including palms, pines,
cypresses, oaks, and saw palmettos.
The water and the warm climate attract
many birds and animals to the Everglades.
These include herons, egrets,
alligators, snakes, and turtles. The hammocks
shelter such animals as deer, wildcats,
pumas, bears, and many reptiles.
In the past, people drained parts of the
Everglades to create farmland. They also
built levees (ridges) to prevent flooding
in the region. These human activities
destroyed much of the Everglades. Today
laws protect the marsh from further
damage.
Native Americans called the Everglades
Pa-Hay-Okee, meaning “grassy water.”
They traveled through the marsh in
canoes and hunted and fished there. The
area’s Calusa Indians disappeared by
about 1800. The Seminole Indians
moved into the region in the late 1700s.
The Seminole fought a series of wars to
keep white settlers from taking over the
land. The Seminole finally surrendered
to the United States in 1858. Most of
them moved west to the Indian Territory,
which is now Oklahoma. A small
community of Seminole remains in the
Everglades.
#More to explore
Florida • Marsh • Seminole
Evers, Medgar
Medgar Evers was devoted to the
struggle for equal rights for African
Americans. In the end he gave his life
for it. His assassination called attention
to racial hatred in the southern United
States.
MedgarWiley Evers was born in Decatur,
Mississippi, on July 2, 1925. He
The Everglades covers more than 4,300
square miles (11,100 square kilometers).
168 Evers, Medgar BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
served in the U.S. Army duringWorld
War II. After the war he studied at
Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical
College in Mississippi. At the time African
Americans were not allowed to go to
the state university in Mississippi.
In the southern United States blacks and
whites were kept apart in many ways.
This policy was known as segregation.
African Americans had fewer opportunities
than whites and were usually kept
from voting.
Evers wanted to end these injustices. In
1952 he joined the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP). In 1962 he helped James
Meredith enroll at the University of
Mississippi as its first African American
student. Evers also campaigned for voting
rights for blacks.
On the night of June 12, 1963, Evers
was shot to death. The murder shocked
the entire country. Afterward, civil rights
workers strengthened their efforts.
Medgar Evers’ work was carried on by
his older brother, James Evers.
Byron de La Beckwith, a white segregationist,
was tried three times for Evers’
murder. He was found guilty in 1994.
#More to explore
African Americans • Civil Rights
Movement • National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People
Evolution
Evolution is the theory that all the kinds
of living things that exist today developed
from earlier types. The differences
between them resulted from changes
that happened over many years. The
simplest forms of life arose at least 3.5
billion years ago. Over time they evolved
into the more than 2 million species, or
types, of living things alive today.
Some people do not accept evolution
because of their religious beliefs. The
people who are opposed to evolution
believe that God or another being created
each species in more or less its
present form. Instead of evolution, they
accept ideas called creationism or intelligent
design.
Nearly all scientists accept evolution.
This theory is central to the modern
science of biology. As a scientific theory,
evolution is testable. Scientists have performed
many experiments and examined
Medgar Evers
Evers was buried
in Arlington
National
Cemetery near
Washington,
D.C.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Evolution 169
huge amounts of evidence from a variety
of scientific fields. The evidence very
strongly supports evolution.
Evidence
One type of evidence comes from fossils,
or the remains of living things preserved
in the ground or underwater. Fossils
show that many species that once existed
were quite different from any kinds alive
today. Dinosaurs are an example of this.
Many fossils also show how certain living
things changed over time. For
example, the bones of horses from more
than 50 million years ago show that
early horses were about the size of modern
dogs. Bones from several later stages
of the horse show that they got bigger
