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Ionian Sea

(Encyclopedia)Ionian Sea, part of the Mediterranean Sea, S Europe, between Greece and S Italy. It is connected with the Adriatic Sea by the Strait of Otranto. The Gulf of Taranto and the Gulf of Corinth are its chi...

Pillars of Hercules

(Encyclopedia)Pillars of Hercules, ancient mythological name for promontories flanking the east entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. They are usually identified with Gibraltar in Europe and with Mt. Acha at Ceuta i...

Bobadilla, Francisco de

(Encyclopedia)Bobadilla, Francisco de fränthēsˈkō dā bōbädēˈlyä [key], d. 1502, Spanish colonial governor. He superseded Columbus in the West Indies (1500) and sent him home as a prisoner. Recalled in 150...

lentil

(Encyclopedia)lentil, leguminous Old World annual plant (Lens culinaris) with whitish or pale blue flowers. Its pods contain two greenish-brown or dark-colored seeds, also called lentils, which when fully ripe are ...

Dohnányi, Ernst von

(Encyclopedia)Dohnányi, Ernst von ĕrˈnö [key], 1877–1960, Hungarian composer, pianist, and conductor. He studied at the Royal Academy, Budapest (1894–97), and later became its director. As a pianist he tour...

turnip

(Encyclopedia)turnip, garden vegetable of the same genus of the family Cruciferae (or Brassicaceae; mustard family) as the cabbage; native to Europe, where it has been long cultivated. The two principal kinds are t...

Tagus

(Encyclopedia)Tagus tāˈgəs [key], Span. Tajo, Port. Tejo, river, c.585 mi (940 km) long, rising in the mountains E of Madrid, E Spain, and draining the central part of the Iberian Peninsula. The Tagus flows nort...

Lérins

(Encyclopedia)Lérins lārăNsˈ [key], group of four small islands, Alpes-Maritimes dept., SE France, in the Mediterranean Sea SE of Cannes. Sainte-Marguerite is the largest island. On Saint-Honorat is the oldest ...

Aa, in European place names

(Encyclopedia)Aa ä [key] [from a word for “water” of the same Indo-European root as Lat. aqua], name of many small streams of N Europe and Switzerland. Aa, or a derivative of it, is a component part of hundred...

Kerkrade

(Encyclopedia)Kerkrade kĕrkˈräˌdə [key], city (1994 pop. 52,848), Limburg prov., SE Netherlands, on the German border. It is one of Europe's oldest coal-mining centers. The activity began there in the 12th cen...