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Great Australian Bight

(Encyclopedia)Great Australian Bight, wide bay of the Indian Ocean, indenting the southern coast of Australia in Western Australia and South Australia. An unbroken line of cliffs c.200 ft (60 m) high runs along muc...

Cyrus the Great

(Encyclopedia)Cyrus the Great sīˈrəs [key], d. 529 b.c., king of Persia, founder of the greatness of the Achaemenids and of the Persian Empire. According to Herodotus, he was the son of an Iranian noble, the eld...

Great Southern Reef

(Encyclopedia)Great Southern Reef, rocky reef complex, c. 27,000 sq mi (70,000 sq km), extending almost 5,000 mi (8,100 km) along S and SW Australia coast, from Brisbane to Perth. The reef's temperate marine ecosys...

Great Artesian Basin

(Encyclopedia)Great Artesian Basin, c.670,000 sq mi (1,735,300 sq km), between the Eastern Highlands and the Western Plateau, E central Australia, extending S from the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, to NE South A...

Procopius the Great

(Encyclopedia)Procopius the Great, Czech Prokop Holý, d. 1434, Czech Hussite leader. A priest, he joined the Hussite movement (see Hussites) and distinguished himself as a captain under John Zizka in the Hussite W...

Great Leap Forward

(Encyclopedia)Great Leap Forward, 1957–60, Chinese economic plan aimed at revitalizing all sectors of the economy. Initiated by Mao Zedong, the plan emphasized decentralized, labor-intensive industrialization, ty...

China, Great Wall of

(Encyclopedia)China, Great Wall of: see Great Wall of China. ...

Great Slave Lake

(Encyclopedia)Great Slave Lake, second largest lake of Canada, c.10,980 sq mi (28,400 sq km), Northwest Territories, named for the Slave (Dogrib), a tribe of Native Americans. It is c.300 mi (480 km) long and from ...

Great Lakes, North America

(Encyclopedia)Great Lakes, group of five freshwater lakes, central North America, creating a natural border between the United States and Canada and forming the largest body of freshwater in the world, with a combi...

Theodoric the Great

(Encyclopedia)Theodoric the Great, c.454–526, king of the Ostrogoths and conqueror of Italy, b. Pannonia. He spent part of his youth as a hostage in Constantinople. Elected king in 471 after his father's death, h...