Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Zadar

(Encyclopedia)Zadar zäˈdär [key], Ital. Zara, city (2011 pop. 75,062), W Croatia, on the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea. A seaport and a tourist center, it has industries that produce liqueur, processed fis...

Tripolitania

(Encyclopedia)Tripolitania trĭpˌəlĭtāˈnēə [key], historic region, W Libya, bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. Tripoli is the chief city. The original inhabitants of the region were probably Berbers. In the...

Titicaca

(Encyclopedia)Titicaca tētēkäˈkä [key], lake, c.3,200 sq mi (8,290 sq km), 110 mi (177 km) long, and c.900 ft (270 m) deep at at its deepest point, in the Andes Mts., on the Bolivia-Peru border; second largest...

Jordan, river, Asia

(Encyclopedia)Jordan, river, c.200 mi (320 km) long, formed in the Hula basin, N Israel, by the confluence of three headwater streams and meandering S through the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea; the region of Pales...

Vyg

(Encyclopedia)Vyg vĭg [key], Finn. Uikujärvi, Rus. Vygozero, lake, c.300 sq mi (780 sq km), NW European Russia, in Karelia, between Lake Onega and the White Sea. It is fed by the Vyg River, which also drains it i...

fiddler crab

(Encyclopedia)fiddler crab, common name for small, amphibious crabs belonging to the genus Uca. They are characterized by a rectangular carapace (shell) and a narrow abdomen, which is flexed under the body. They ar...

Foster, Norman Robert, Baron Foster of Thames Bank

(Encyclopedia)Foster, Norman Robert, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, 1935–, British architect, b. Manchester, grad. Manchester Univ. school of architecture (1961), Yale school of architecture (M.A., 1962). Foster an...

Law, John

(Encyclopedia)Law, John, 1671–1729, Scottish financier in France, b. Edinburgh. After killing a man in a duel (1694) he fled to Amsterdam, where he studied banking. Returning to Scotland (1700), he proposed to Pa...

Drake, Sir Francis

(Encyclopedia)Drake, Sir Francis, 1540?–1596, English navigator and admiral, first Englishman to circumnavigate the world (1577–80). In 1585, Drake commanded a fleet that sacked Vigo in Spain and burned São ...

Great Plains

(Encyclopedia)Great Plains, extensive grassland region on the continental slope of central North America. They extend from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba south through W central Unite...

Browse by Subject