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Grain Coast

(Encyclopedia)Grain Coast, W Africa, former name of a part of the Atlantic coast that is roughly identical with the coast of modern Liberia. In the 15th cent. “grains of paradise,” i.e., seeds of the melegueta ...

KwaZulu

(Encyclopedia)KwaZulu, South Africa: see KwaZulu-Natal; Zululand. ...

Tshwane

(Encyclopedia)Tshwane, South Africa: see Pretoria; Tshwane, City of. ...

Downing, Andrew Jackson

(Encyclopedia)Downing, Andrew Jackson, 1815–52, American horticulturist, rural architect, and landscape gardener, b. Newburgh, N.Y. With his brother Charles Downing, 1802–85, he took over the operation of the n...

Nurmi, Paavo

(Encyclopedia)Nurmi, Paavo päˈvō no͝orˈmē [key], 1897–1973, Finnish track star. Between 1920 and 1932 he set 20 world running records and won nine Olympic gold medals. His Olympic victories included the 10,...

Kigali

(Encyclopedia)Kigali kēgäˈlē [key], city (1997 pop. 330,000), central Rwanda, capital of Rwanda. It is the country's main administrative and economic center. The city has an international airport and road acces...

Ritter, Tex

(Encyclopedia)Ritter, Tex (Woodward Maurice Ritter), 1905–74, American country singer, b. Murvaul, Tex. He moved (1930) to New York, where he performed in musicals and on the radio. Settling (1936) in California,...

river

(Encyclopedia)river, stream of water larger than a brook or creek. Land surfaces are never perfectly flat, and as a result the runoff after precipitation tends to flow downward by the shortest and steepest course i...

fox, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)fox, carnivorous mammal of the dog family, found throughout most of the Northern Hemisphere. It has a pointed face, short legs, long, thick fur, and a tail about one half to two thirds as long as the ...

Hanno, Carthaginian navigator

(Encyclopedia)Hanno hănˈō [key], fl. c.480? b.c., Carthaginian navigator. He founded seven towns on the Atlantic shore of Morocco and probably explored the Atlantic coast of Africa to Sierra Leone. ...