Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Assassin

(Encyclopedia)Assassin əsăsˈĭn [key], European name for the member of a secret order of the Ismaili sect of Islam. They are known as Nizaris after Nizar ibn al-Mustansir, whom they supported as caliph; the Euro...

Croagh Patrick

(Encyclopedia)Croagh Patrick krōˈäpătˈrĭk, krōˈäkh– [key], mountain, 2,510 ft (765 m) high, Co. Mayo, W Republic of Ireland, near Westport Bay. Legend connects it with St. Patrick, and its summit has lon...

Collingwood

(Encyclopedia)Collingwood, town, S Ont., Canada at the south end of Georgian Bay, an arm of Lake Huron. Collingwood is a shipbuilding center and has one of the larges...

Guadalupe, Sierra de

(Encyclopedia)Guadalupe, Sierra de syārˈrä ᵺā gwäᵺälo͞oˈpā [key], mountain range, W Spain, in Extremadura, between the Tagus and Guadiana rivers. The highest elevation is 4,734 ft (1,443 m). ...

Gran Paradiso

(Encyclopedia)Gran Paradiso grän pärädēˈzō [key], mountain, 13,323 ft (4,061 m) high, in Valle d'Aosta, NW Italy. In the Graian Alps, it is the highest Alpine peak entirely in Italian territory. ...

troll

(Encyclopedia)troll trōl [key], in Scandinavian folklore, dwarfish or gigantic creature of caves and hills. Variously friendly or malicious, trolls toiled as smiths. The mountain king in Ibsen's Peer Gynt is a tro...

gorilla

(Encyclopedia)gorilla, an ape, genus Gorilla, native to the lowland and mountain forests of western and central equatorial Africa. The two gorilla species are the western, comprising the western lowland (G. gorilla...

zebra

(Encyclopedia)zebra, herbivorous hoofed African mammal of the genus Equus, which also includes the horse and the ass. It is distinguished by its striking pattern of black or dark brown stripes alternating with whit...

Dents du Midi

(Encyclopedia)Dents du Midi däNˈ dü mēdēˈ [key], mountain group in the Alps, Vaud canton, SW Switzerland, near the French border. It rises to 10,695 ft (3,260 m) in Dent du Midi (Haute Cime) peak. ...

Illimani

(Encyclopedia)Illimani ēyēmäˈnē [key], mountain, 21,184 ft (6,457 m) high, E Bolivia. One of the highest peaks of the Cordillera Real of the Bolivian Andes, it is permanently snowcapped. Illimani was first cli...