Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Guadalcanal

(Encyclopedia)Guadalcanal gwädəlkənălˈ [key], volcanic island, c.2,510 sq mi (6,500 sq km), South Pacific, ...

geologic timescale

(Encyclopedia)CE5 geologic timescale, a chronological scale of earth's history used to measure the relative or absolute age of any part of geologic time. Of the numerous timescales, the most common is based on g...

Cotonou

(Encyclopedia)Cotonou kōtōno͞oˈ [key], city, capital of Atlantique prov., S Benin, on the Gulf of Guinea. ...

chicle

(Encyclopedia)chicle chĭkˈəl [key], name for the gum obtained from the latex of the sapodilla tree (Manilkara zapota), a tropical American evergreen. The sapodilla (known also by many other common names) is wide...

sertão

(Encyclopedia)sertão sərˈtouN [key] [Port.,=backlands], semiarid hinterland of NE Brazil; c.250,000 sq mi (647,500 sq km). Its characteristic landscape is the caatinga, or thorny scrub forest. The chief occupati...

São Francisco

(Encyclopedia)São Francisco souN frəsēshˈko͝o [key], river, c.1,800 mi (2,900 km) long, rising in the Serra de Canastra, SW Minas Gerais state, Brazil, and flowing northeast, then southeast through the sertão...

Pskov

(Encyclopedia)Pskov pəskôfˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 204,000), capital of Pskov region, NW European Russia, on the Velikaya River. It is an important rail junction in the heart of a flax-growing area. Industries i...

Woolley, Sir Charles Leonard

(Encyclopedia)Woolley, Sir Charles Leonard, 1880–1960, English archaeologist. His early work included excavations at Carchemish (1912–14) and the Egyptian site of Tell el Amarna (1921–22). He was then chosen ...

Brasília

(Encyclopedia)Brasília bräzēlˈyä [key], capital city and federal district of Brazil (2,264 sq mi/5,864 sq ...

Susquehanna

(Encyclopedia)Susquehanna səskwĭhănˈə [key], river, 444 mi (715 km) long, rising in Otsego Lake, at Cooperstown, N.Y., and zigzagging SE and SW through E central Pa. to Chesapeake Bay near Havre de Grace, Md. ...