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delta

(Encyclopedia)delta [from triangular shape of the Nile delta, like the Greek letter delta], a deposit of clay, silt, and sand formed at the mouth of a river where the stream loses velocity and drops part of its sed...

Xigazê

(Encyclopedia)Xigazê or Shigatse both: shēgäˈtsĕ [key], town, S central Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is in the center of a small, heavily populated alluvial plain near the Yarlung Zangbo (Brahmaputra) Ri...

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 ...

Bengal, Bay of

(Encyclopedia)Bengal, Bay of, arm of the Indian Ocean, c.1,300 mi (2,090 km) long and 1,000 mi (1,610 km) wide, bordered on the W by Sri Lanka and India, on the N by Bangladesh, and on the E by Myanmar and Thailand...

Ganges

(Encyclopedia)Ganges gŭngˈgä [key], river, c.1,560 mi (2,510 km) long, rising in the Gangotri glacier in the Himalayas in Uttarakhand state, India, and flowing generally southeast through NE India across a vast ...

Orléans, Henri Philippe Marie, prince d'

(Encyclopedia)Orléans, Henri Philippe Marie, prince d' dôrlāäNˈ [key], 1867–1901, French explorer and author, b. England; son of Robert, duke of Chartres. After a journey (1889) from Siberia to Siam, by way...

Assam

(Encyclopedia)Assam ăsămˈ [key], state (2001 provisional pop. 26,638,407), c.30,000 sq mi (77,700 sq km), extreme NE India. Dispur is the capital. Almost completely separated from India by Bangladesh, Assam is b...

Hedin, Sven Anders

(Encyclopedia)Hedin, Sven Anders svĕn änˈdərs hĕdēnˈ [key], 1865–1952, Swedish explorer in central Asia. Following soon after Przhevalsky, Hedin explored Tibet, Xinjiang, and the Kunlun and Trans-Himalaya ...

jute

(Encyclopedia)jute jo͞ot [key], name for any plant of the genus Corchorus, tropical annuals of the family Tiliaceae (linden family), and for its fiber. Many species yield fiber, but the chief sources of commercial...

Lhasa

(Encyclopedia)Lhasa or Lasa lä-sŭ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 118,000), capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, SW China. It is on a tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo (Brahmaputra) at an altitude of c.11,800 ft (3,600 ...

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