Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

443 results found

National Forest System

(Encyclopedia)National Forest System, federally owned reserves, c.191 million acres (77.4 million hectares), administered by the Forest Service of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. The system is made up of 155 nationa...

Dinwiddie, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Dinwiddie, Robert, 1693–1770, colonial governor of Virginia (1751–58), b. near Glasgow, Scotland. He was collector of customs (1727–38) for Bermuda and surveyor general (1738–51) for the Baham...

Yellowstone National Park

(Encyclopedia)Yellowstone National Park, 2,219,791 acres (899,015 hectares), the world's first national park (est. 1872), NW Wyo., extending into Montana and Idaho. It lies mainly on a broad plateau in the Rocky Mt...

Nakhon Ratchasima

(Encyclopedia)Nakhon Ratchasima kōrätˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 204,121), capital of Nakhon Ratchasima prov., S central Thailand, on the Mun River. Strategically located near the mountain pass leading from the cen...

Asheville

(Encyclopedia)Asheville ăshˈvəl, –vĭl [key], city (2020 pop. 94,589), seat of Buncombe co., W N.C., on the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers and on a plateau in the Blue Ridge Mts...

Seine

(Encyclopedia)Seine sān, Fr. sĕn [key], Lat. Sequana, river, c.480 mi (770 km) long, rising in the Langres Plateau and flowing generally NW through N France. It passes Troyes, Melun, and Paris, whence it meanders...

Vatnajökull

(Encyclopedia)Vatnajökull vätˈnäyöˈko͝ol [key], glacier, c.3,150 sq mi (8,160 sq km), SE Iceland; largest glacier in Europe. At an elevation of from 4,200 to 6,100 ft (1,280–1,860 m), it covers a huge volc...

Ordos

(Encyclopedia)Ordos ôrˈdōs [key], Mandarin Erdesi, sandy desert plateau region, c.35,000 sq mi (90,650 sq km), Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, N China; almost encircled by the great northern bend of the Huang...

pantanal

(Encyclopedia)pantanal pəntənälˈ [key], lowland region of SW Mato Grosso state, Brazil, bordering the Paraguay River and extending to the the western edge of the Brazilian Plateau. Parts of the pantanal extend ...

Helvetia

(Encyclopedia)Helvetia hĕlvĕˈshə [key], region of central Europe, occupying the plateau between the Alps and the Jura mts. The name is derived from the Roman term for its inhabitants, the predominantly Celtic H...