Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Interlaken

(Encyclopedia)Interlaken ĭnˈtərläkən [key], town (1990 est. pop. 5,180), Bern canton, central Switzerland, between the Lake of Brienz and the Lake of Thun. Its manufactures include textiles and watches. Interl...

Doubs, river, France and Switzerland

(Encyclopedia)Doubs, river, c.270 mi (435 km) long, rising in the Jura Mts., E France, and flowing northeast, forming part of the French-Swiss border, then looping into W Switzerland before turning back into France...

Winnipeg, river, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Winnipeg, river, c.200 mi (320 km) long, issuing from the north end of Lake of the Woods, SW Ont., Canada, and flowing in a winding course generally northwest to the southeast end of Lake Winnipeg, SE...

Dead Sea

(Encyclopedia)Dead Sea, salt lake, c.390 sq mi (1,010 sq km), extending c.45 mi (70 km) in the Jordan trough of the Great Rift Valley between the Ghor on the north and Wadi Arabah on the south, on the border betwee...

Macdonough, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Macdonough, Thomas məkdŏnˈə [key], 1783–1825, American naval officer, b. New Castle co., Del. In the Tripolitan War he took part in the burning of the captured Philadelphia and the attack on the...

Ottawa, river, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Ottawa, river, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, largest tributary of the St. Lawrence River, Canada. It rises in the Laurentian Highlands, SW Que., and flows generally W through La Vérendrye Provincial Park...

Hinckley, Gordon Bitner

(Encyclopedia)Hinckley, Gordon Bitner, 1910–2008, leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons; see Latter-day Saints, Church of Jesus Christ of), b. Salt Lake City, grad. Univ. of Utah. He ...

Kariba Dam

(Encyclopedia)Kariba Dam kärēˈbä [key], hydroelectric project, in Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi River, on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border, S central Africa; built 1955–59. One of the world's largest dams, it is 420 ...

Thun

(Encyclopedia)Thun to͞on [key], city (1990 est. pop. 37,700), Bern canton, central Switzerland, on the Aare River, where it flows out of the Lake of Thun. Machinery, watches, pottery, and cheese are made there. Of...

Valday Hills

(Encyclopedia)Valday Hills or Valdai Hills both: väldīˈ, Rus. vəldīˈ [key], upland region, NW European Russia, composed of a series of glacial moraines that rise to c.1,100 ft (340 m). The region forms the wa...

Browse by Subject