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Uralic and Altaic languages

(Encyclopedia)Uralic and Altaic languages yo͝orălˈĭk, ăltāˈĭk [key], two groups of related languages thought by many scholars to form a single Ural-Altaic linguistic family. However, other authorities hold ...

Xinjiang

(Encyclopedia)Xinjiang shĭnˈjyängˈ, sĭnˈkyăng [key] [Chinese,=new frontier], officially Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Mandarin Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu), autonomous region (2010 pop. 21,813,334), c.637,000...

Alexander I, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Alexander I, 1777–1825, czar of Russia (1801–25), son of Paul I (in whose murder he may have taken an indirect part). In the first years of his reign the liberalism of his Swiss tutor, Frédéric ...

Humboldt, Alexander, Freiherr von

(Encyclopedia)Humboldt, Alexander, Freiherr von hŭmˈbōlt, Ger. älĕksänˈdər frīˈhĕr fən ho͝omˈbôlt [key], 1769–1859, German naturalist, inventor, explorer, and author, the most eminent scientist of ...

pyramid, structure

(Encyclopedia)pyramid. The true pyramid exists only in Egypt and Sudan, though the term has also been applied to similar structures in other countries. Egyptian pyramids are square in plan and their triangular side...

Arctic Ocean

(Encyclopedia)Arctic Ocean, the smallest ocean, c.5,400,000 sq mi (13,986,000 sq km), located entirely within the Arctic Circle and occupying the region around the North Pole. The Arctic basin was almost wholly u...

fossil

(Encyclopedia)fossil, remains or imprints of plants or animals preserved from prehistoric times by the operation of natural conditions. Fossils are found in sedimentary rock, asphalt deposits, and coal and sometime...

Ivan IV

(Encyclopedia)Ivan IV or Ivan the Terrible, 1530–84, grand duke of Moscow (1533–84), the first Russian ruler to assume formally the title of czar. In his later years, Ivan's character, always stern, grew tyra...

Mongolia, region, Asia

(Encyclopedia)Mongolia mŏn-gōˈlēə, mŏng– [key], Asian region (c.906,000 sq mi/2,346,540 sq km), bordered roughly by Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, on the west; the Manchurian provinces of China on...

Precambrian

(Encyclopedia)Precambrian, name of a major division of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), from c.5 billion to 570 million years ago. It is now usually divided into the Archean a...