Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Belle Isle, Strait of

(Encyclopedia)Belle Isle, Strait of bĕlīlˈ [key], c.35 mi (60 km) long and from 10 to 15 mi (16–24 km) wide, between the island of Newfoundland and Labrador-Ungava peninsula, Canada. The northern entrance to t...

Port of Spain

(Encyclopedia)Port of Spain, city (1990 pop. 50,878), capital of Trinidad and Tobago, on the Gulf of Paria. It is the industrial and commercial center of the country. From 1958 to 1962, Port of Spain was the capita...

Jaja

(Encyclopedia)Jaja jäˈjə [key], fl. 1869–87, Nigerian merchant prince. A former slave, he became an important trader in Bonny in the 1860s as a middleman between the coastal markets and the Nigerian interior. ...

Kangaroo Island

(Encyclopedia)Kangaroo Island, island, c.1,700 sq mi (4,400 sq km), S Australia, in South Australia at the entrance to Gulf St. Vincent. It is 93 mi (150 km) long and 35 mi (57 km) wide. The chief products are barl...

Sybaris

(Encyclopedia)Sybaris sĭbˈərĭs [key], ancient city of Magna Graecia, S Italy, in Bruttium, on the Gulf of Tarentum (now Taranto). It was founded in 720 b.c. by Achaeans and people from Argolis, the Troezenians....

Tacloban

(Encyclopedia)Tacloban täklōˈbän [key], city (1990 pop. 136,891), capital of Leyte prov., NE Leyte, the Philippines, on an inlet of Leyte Gulf. It is a port and trade center. Tacloban was the first landing plac...

Berbera

(Encyclopedia)Berbera bûrˈbərə [key], city, Somaliland region, N Somalia, a port on the Gulf of Aden. The ...

Vólos

(Encyclopedia)Vólos vôˈlôs [key], city (1991 pop. 77,192), capital of Magnisia prefecture, E Greece, in Thessaly, on the Gulf of Vólos, an inlet of the Aegean Sea. The principal port of Thessaly, Vólos is a t...

Great Rift Valley

(Encyclopedia)Great Rift Valley, geological fault system of SW Asia and E Africa. It extends c.3,000 mi (4,830 km) from N Syria to central Mozambique. The northernmost extension runs S through Syria and Lebanon, th...

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

(Encyclopedia)Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region gwängˈshēˈ jwängˈ [key], province, c.85,000 sq mi (220,150 sq km), S China, bo...