Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

217 results found

Töpffer, Rodolphe

(Encyclopedia)Töpffer, Rodolphe rôdôlfˈ töpˈfər [key], 1799–1846, Swiss artist and writer, b. Geneva. Often called the father of the comic strip (or the graphic novel), he wanted to be a painter but found ...

Po, river, Italy

(Encyclopedia)Po pō, It. pô [key], Latin Padus, longest river of Italy, c.405 mi (650 km) long, rising in the Cottian Alps of Piedmont, NW Italy. It winds generally east in a wide valley, past Turin, Pavia, Piace...

dolomite

(Encyclopedia)dolomite dōˈləmītˌ, dŏlˈə– [key]. 1 Mineral, calcium magnesium carbonate, CaMg (CO3)2. It is commonly crystalline and is white, gray, brown, or reddish in color with a vitreous to pearly lus...

Alboin

(Encyclopedia)Alboin ălˈboin [key], d. 572?, first Lombard king in Italy (569–572?). With the Avars he defeated the Gepidae (see Germans). He then led (568) an army across the Alps into Italy, took (569) Milan,...

Crişana-Maramureş

(Encyclopedia)Crişana-Maramureş krĭshäˈnä-märämo͞oˈrĭsh [key], historic province, NW Romania, between Transylvania and Hungary. It covers approximately the present-day regions of Crişana (4,725 sq mi/12...

Aare

(Encyclopedia)Aare är [key], longest river entirely in Switzerland, 183 mi (295 km) long, rising in the Bernese Alps and fed by several glaciers. The upper Aare emerges from dam-impounded Grimsel Lake and flows ge...

Geneva, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Geneva, Lake, Fr. Lac Léman läk lāmäNˈ [key], crescent-shaped lake, 224 sq mi (580 sq km), c.45 mi (70 km) long, on the Swiss-French border, between the Alps and the Jura mts. About 134 sq. mi. a...

Kosciuszko, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Kosciuszko, Mount kŏzēŭˈskō, kŏsho͝oshˈkō [key], 7,310 ft (2,228 m) high, SE New South Wales, Australia, in the Australian Alps; highest peak on the continent of Australia. Located in Koscius...

Adrian I, pope

(Encyclopedia)Adrian I, d. 795, pope (772–95), a Roman; successor of Stephen IV. At Adrian's urging, Charlemagne crossed the Alps and defeated the Lombard king, Desiderius, who had annexed papal territory. That d...

Pinerolo

(Encyclopedia)Pinerolo pēnārôˈlō [key], Fr. Pignerol, city (1991 pop. 35,331), Piedmont, NW Italy, at the foot of the Alps. It is an agricultural and industrial center. Manufactures include paper, textiles, ma...