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continent

(Encyclopedia)continent, largest unit of landmasses on the earth. The continents include Eurasia (conventionally regarded as two continents, Europe and Asia), Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and An...

Kushiro

(Encyclopedia)Kushiro ko͞oshēˈrō [key], city (1990 pop. 205,640), SE Hokkaido, Japan, on the Pacific Ocean. The main port of E Hokkaido and the island's only ice-free trading port, it exports timber, fish, and ...

Darién, region, Panama

(Encyclopedia)Darién dârˌēĕnˈ, Span. däryānˈ [key], eastern part of Panama between the Gulf of Darién on the east and the Gulf of San Miguel on the west. Darién province, heavily forested and sparsely po...

Inside Passage

(Encyclopedia)Inside Passage, natural, protected waterway, c.950 mi (1,530 km) long, threading through the Alexander Archipelago off the coast of British Columbia and SE Alaska. From Seattle, Wash., to Skagway, Ala...

Syrian Desert

(Encyclopedia)Syrian Desert, Arabic Badiyat Ash Sham, arid wasteland, SW Asia, between the cultivated lands along the E Mediterranean coast and the fertile Euphrates River valley. It extends N from the Nafud Desert...

Revillagigedo Islands

(Encyclopedia)Revillagigedo Islands or Revillagigedo Archipelago rāvēˈyähēhāˈᵺō [key], volcanic island group in the Pacific Ocean, c.450 mi (720 km) W of Colima state and S of Baja California, Mexico. The...

Sinaloa

(Encyclopedia)Sinaloa sēnälōˈä [key], state (1990 pop. 2,204,054), 22,582 sq mi (58,487 sq km), W Mexico, on the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean. Culiacán is the capital. A long, narrow territory lyi...

Mackenzie, Sir Alexander, Canadian fur trader and explorer

(Encyclopedia)Mackenzie, Sir Alexander, 1764?–1820, Canadian fur trader and explorer, b. Scotland. His family took him to the colony of New York in 1774, and later he was sent to Canada. He entered (c.1779) a Mon...

Alaska North Slope

(Encyclopedia)Alaska North Slope or Arctic North Slope, region, N Alaska, sloping from the Brooks Range N to the Arctic Ocean. In 1968 large petroleum reserves were found in the Prudhoe Bay area. In 1977 the 800-mi...

Golden Gate

(Encyclopedia)Golden Gate, strait, 4 mi (6.4 km) long and 1 to 2 mi (1.6–3.2 km) wide, linking San Francisco Bay with the Pacific Ocean. It was discovered in 1579 by the English explorer Sir Francis Drake. Known ...