Columbia Encyclopedia

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Columbia, river, Canada and the United States

(Encyclopedia)Columbia, river, c.1,210 mi (1,950 km) long, rising in Columbia Lake, SE British Columbia, Canada. It flows first NW in the Rocky Mt. Trench, then hooks sharply about the Selkirk Mts. to flow S throug...

bard

(Encyclopedia)bard, in Wales, term originally used to refer to the order of minstrel-poets who composed and recited the poems that celebrated the feats of Celtic chieftains and warriors. The term bard in present-da...

lighthouse

(Encyclopedia)lighthouse, towerlike structure erected to give guidance and warning to ships and aircraft by either visible or radioelectrical means. Lighthouses were long built to conform in structure to their geog...

Tyler, Wat

(Encyclopedia)Tyler, Wat, d. 1381, English rebel. His given name appears in full as Walter; his surname signifies the trade of a roof tiler. He came into prominence as the leader of the rebellion of 1381, known as ...

Bulgarian language

(Encyclopedia)Bulgarian language, member of the South Slavic group of the Slavonic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages). Bulgarian is the native tongue of some 9 million people,...

Deseret

(Encyclopedia)Deseret: see Latter-day Saints, Church of Jesus Christ of; Utah. ...

Erebus

(Encyclopedia)Erebus ĕrˈĭbəs [key], in Greek religion and mythology, personification of darkness. According to Hesiod, Erebus sprang from Chaos and was the father of Day. His name was sometimes used for Hades. ...

Good Thief

(Encyclopedia)Good Thief or Penitent Thief, in the New Testament, the malefactor crucified with Jesus who did not revile Him; Jesus promised him Paradise that day. In the Roman martyrology his feast is Mar. 25. His...

civil time

(Encyclopedia)civil time, local time based on universal time. Civil time may be formally defined as mean solar time plus 12 hr; the civil day begins at midnight, while the mean solar day begins at noon. Civil time ...

Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani

(Encyclopedia)Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, 1952–, emir of Qatar (1995–2013). The son of Emir Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani, Hamad is credited with having turned a country of desert nomads into a modern, industriali...