Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

73 results found

Alay

(Encyclopedia)Alay or Alai both: älīˈ [key], mountain range, SW Kyrgyzstan. A western branch of the Tian Shan system, it extends c.200 mi (320 km) W from the Chinese border and rises to c.19,280 ft (5,880 m) in ...

Champ-de-Mars

(Encyclopedia)Champ-de-Mars shäN-də-märs [key], former parade ground of Paris, France, between the École militaire and the Seine River. There, at the Fête de la Fédération (July 14, 1790), Louis XVI took an ...

Tangshan

(Encyclopedia)Tangshan täng-shän [key], city (1994 est. pop. 1,110,200), NE Hebei prov., China. A coal-mining center in the Kailan basin, Tangshan is a major industrial hub with iron- and steelworks that make it ...

Shanhaiguan

(Encyclopedia)Shanhaiguan or Shanhaikwan both: shän-hī-gwän [key] [Chin.,=mountain sea door], city, NE Hebei prov., China, on the Bohai. Strategically situated where the Great Wall meets the sea and on the narro...

Naryn

(Encyclopedia)Naryn nərĭnˈ [key], river, c.450 mi (720 km) long, rising in several branches in the Tian Shan mountain system, SW Kyrgyzstan and SE Uzbekistan. The longest river in Kyrgyzstan, it flows generally ...

Ili

(Encyclopedia)Ili ēˈlā [key], river of China and Kazakhstan, 590 mi (950 km) long, rising in the Tian Shan, NW Xinjiang, and flowing W across the China-Kazakhstan border, through the sandy Sary Ishikotrau Desert...

Jiujiang

(Encyclopedia)Jiujiang jyo͞o-jyäng [key] or Kiukiang, city (1994 est. pop. 322,300), N Jiangxi prov., China, on the Chang River, near Poyang Lake. A major river port, it is connected by rail with Nanchang. In a m...

Taklimakan

(Encyclopedia)Taklimakan or Takla Makan täˌkləməkänˈ [key], vast sandy desert, c.125,000 sq mi (323,750 sq km), central Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, NW China, between the Kunlun Mts. on the south and the...

Przhevalsky, Nikolai Mikhailovich

(Encyclopedia)Przhevalsky, Nikolai Mikhailovich nyĭkəlīˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch pərzhĭvälˈskē [key], 1839–88, Russian geographer and explorer in central and E Asia. He made five major expeditions—one to the...

Shantou

(Encyclopedia)Shantou swäˈtouˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 718,800), SE Guangdong prov., China, a port on the South China Sea, in the Han River delta. When it was opened to foreign trade after the second Opium W...

Browse by Subject