Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Younghusband, Sir Francis Edward

(Encyclopedia)Younghusband, Sir Francis Edward, 1863–1942, British explorer, b. India. He explored Manchuria in 1886. The following year he journeyed from China to India, crossing the Gobi desert and the Mustagh ...

Abbey, Edward Paul

(Encyclopedia)Abbey, Edward Paul, 1927–1989, American writer and environmentalist, b. Indiana, Pa., grad. Univ. of New Mexico (B.A. 1951, M.A. 1956). An ardent, sometimes abrasive advocate for the wilderness of t...

pheromones

(Encyclopedia)pheromones, any of a variety of substances, secreted by many animal species, that alter the behavior of individuals of the same species. Sex attractant pheromones, secreted by a male or female to attr...

phlox

(Encyclopedia)phlox, common name for plants of the genus Phlox and for members of the Polemoniaceae, a family of herbs (and some shrubs and vines) found chiefly in the W United States. The family includes many popu...

Piura

(Encyclopedia)Piura pyo͞oˈrä [key], city (1993 pop. 199,484), capital of Piura dept., NW Peru, in the irrigated Piura valley of the Peruvian coastal desert. It is the commercial center for the region's cotton, s...

Daman and Diu

(Encyclopedia)Daman and Diu dəmänˈ, dēˈo͞o [key], union territory (2001 provisional pop. 158,059), 50 sq mi (130 sq km), W India, on the Arabian Sea, composed of two former Portuguese colonies seized by India...

light horse

(Encyclopedia)light horse, any breed of horse that is used primarily for riding or for light work such as pulling buggies. Light horses have their origin in the Middle East and N Africa. All modern breeds of light ...

Pasolini, Pier Paolo

(Encyclopedia)Pasolini, Pier Paolo pyĕr päˈōlō päsōlēˈnē [key], 1922–75, Italian writer and film director. A former Roman Catholic and a Marxist, Pasolini brought to his work a combination of religious ...

Rajasthan

(Encyclopedia)Rajasthan räˈjəstän [key], state (2001 provisional pop. 56,473,122), 132,150 sq mi (342,269 sq km), NW India, bordered on the west by Pakistan. The capital is Jaipur; other large cities are Ajmer,...

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...