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Messina, Strait of

(Encyclopedia)Messina, Strait of, channel, c.20 mi (32 km) long and from 2 to 10 mi (3.2–16 km) wide, separating the Italian peninsula from Sicily and connecting the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas. Reggio di Calabria...

Øresund

(Encyclopedia)Øresund örəsŭndˈ [key] or the Sound, Swed. Öresund, c.45 mi (70 km) long, strait between the Danish island of Sjælland and Sweden, connecting the Kattegat with the Baltic Sea, to which it is th...

Batan Islands

(Encyclopedia)Batan Islands bätänˈ [key], island group, 76 sq mi (197 sq km), northernmost of the Philippine islands. They include the islands of Itbayat, Batan, Sabtang, and a number of islets, and comprise the...

Bras d'Or Lake

(Encyclopedia)Bras d'Or Lake brä dôr [key], arm of the Atlantic Ocean, c.360 sq mi (930 sq km), indenting deeply into Cape Breton Island, N.S., SE Canada, and occupying much of the interior. A narrow channel link...

Missouri River basin project

(Encyclopedia)Missouri River basin project, comprehensive plan authorized in 1944 for the coordinated development of water resources of the Missouri River and its tributaries, draining an area of c.513,300 sq mi (1...

Barnes, Julian Patrick

(Encyclopedia)Barnes, Julian Patrick, English author, 1946–. During the 1970s and 80s he was a critic and editor for the New Statesman and New Review, a correspondent for The New Yorker, and a writer and editor f...

Cook, James

(Encyclopedia)Cook, James, 1728–79, English explorer and navigator. The son of a Yorkshire agricultural laborer, he had little formal education. After an apprenticeship to a firm of shipowners at Whitby, he joine...

Lanai

(Encyclopedia)Lanai lənīˈ [key], island, 141 sq mi (365 sq km), central Hawaii, W of Maui island across the Auau Channel; Mt. Lanaihale (3,370 ft/1,027 m) is the island's highest point. Lanai City (1990 pop. 2,4...

Barataria Bay

(Encyclopedia)Barataria Bay bărətârˈēə [key], SE La., separated from the Gulf of Mexico by Grand and Grand Terre islands. It is linked to the Intracoastal Waterway by a navigable channel. The bay is the cente...

Sakurajima

(Encyclopedia)Sakurajima säko͞oˈräˈjĭmä [key], peninsula, Kagoshima prefecture, S Kyushu, Japan, in Kagoshima Bay opposite Kagoshima. Formerly an island, Sakurajima became a peninsula in 1914 when lava from ...