Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Balkan Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Balkan Peninsula, southeasternmost peninsula of Europe, c.200,000 sq mi (518,000 sq km), bounded by the Black Sea, Sea of Marmara, Aegean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Ionian Sea, and Adriatic Sea. Although...

Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument

(Encyclopedia)Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, c.490,000 sq mi (1,260,000 sq km), central Pacific Ocean; est. 2009. The monument comprises the waters and reefs surrounding seven islands and atolls, ...

symmetry, biological

(Encyclopedia)symmetry, biological, similarity or balance between parts of an organism so that when a straight cut is made through a point or along a line, equal, mirror-image halves are formed. Symmetry in body sh...

Achaeans

(Encyclopedia)Achaeans, people of ancient Greece, of unknown origin. In Homer, the Achaeans are specifically a Greek-speaking people of S Thessaly. Historically, they seem to have appeared in the Peloponnesus durin...

Kuang-hsu

(Encyclopedia)Kuang-hsu or Kwang-hsü gwäng shü [key], 1871–1908, emperor of China (1875–1908). Although he was not in the direct line of succession, he was appointed to the throne by his aunt, the dowager em...

Maubeuge

(Encyclopedia)Maubeuge mōbözhˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 35,225), Nord dept., N France, on the Sambre River near the Belgian border. Railroad and heating equipment, machine tools, glass, and china are major manufac...

Taylor, Robert Love

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Robert Love, 1850–1912, U.S. politician, governor of Tennessee (1887–91, 1897–99), b. Carter co., Tenn. A lawyer, he was a Democrat in Congress (1879–81) and in 1886 defeated his broth...

Romsdalen

(Encyclopedia)Romsdalen ro͞omsˈdälˌĕn [key], valley, c.60 mi (100 km) long, in Møre og Romsdal co., SW Norway, flanked by the mountains of Dovrefjell. It is an ancient passage from the western coast to S Norw...

descent

(Encyclopedia)descent, in anthropology, method of classifying individuals in terms of their various kinship connections. Matrilineal and patrilineal descent refer to the mother's or father's sib (or other group), r...

Ernest Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Ernest Augustus, 1771–1851, king of Hanover (1837–51) and duke of Cumberland, fifth son of George III of England. At the accession of his niece Queen Victoria, the crowns of England and Hanover we...