Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Society Islands

(Encyclopedia)Society Islands, island group (2002 pop. 214,445), South Pacific, a part of French Polynesia. The group comprises the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands (total land area c.650 sq mi/1,680 sq km)...

Antarctic Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Antarctic Peninsula, glaciated mountain region of W Antarctica, extending c.1,200 mi (1,930 km) N toward South America. In the south, volcanic peaks rise to c.11,000 ft (3,350 m); other volcanic cones...

Sumatra

(Encyclopedia)Sumatra so͝omäˈtrə [key], island (1990 pop. 36,471,731), c.183,000 sq mi (473,970 sq km), Indonesia, in the Indian Ocean along the equator, S and W of the Malay Peninsula (from which it is separat...

puffin

(Encyclopedia)puffin, common name for a diving bird of the family Alcidae (auk family). Its large, triangular bill, brilliantly colored in yellow, blue, and vermilion, is adapted to carrying several fish at one tim...

Kaveri

(Encyclopedia)Kaveri or Cauvery both: kôˈvərē [key], river, c.475 mi (760 km) long, rising in the Western Ghats, Karnataka state, and flowing SE across a plateau, through Tamil Nadu state, to the Bay of Bengal,...

Mbeki, Thabo Mvuyelwa

(Encyclopedia)Mbeki, Thabo Mvuyelwa täˈbō mvo͝oyĕlˈə mbĕkˈē [key], 1942–, South African political leader. Mbeki was born into a politically active family; his father, Govan Mbeki, an official with the A...

Greene, Nathanael

(Encyclopedia)Greene, Nathanael, 1742–86, American Revolutionary general, b. Potowomut (now Warwick), R.I. An iron founder, he became active in colonial politics and served (1770–72, 1775) in the Rhode Island a...

Ponce de León, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Ponce de León, Juan pŏns də lēˈŏn, Span. hwän pōnˈthā dā lāōnˈ [key], c.1460–1521, Spanish explorer, first Westerner to reach Florida. He served against the Moors of Granada, and in 14...

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, island nation (2015 est. pop. 109,000), 150 sq mi (388 sq km), West Indies, in the Windward Islands. It comprises the island of Saint Vincent (140 sq mi/363 sq...

Antarctica

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Antarctica ăntärkˈtĭkə, –ärˈtĭkə [key], the fifth largest continent, c.5,500,000 sq mi (14,245,000 sq km), asymmetrically centered on the South Pole and almost entirely within the An...