Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Quabbin Reservoir

(Encyclopedia)Quabbin Reservoir kwŏbˈĭn [key], 39 sq mi (101 sq km), in the Swift River valley, central Mass., NE of Springfield. The reservoir, formed by Winsor Dam and Quabbin Dike, is the largest reservoir in...

Pickett, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Pickett, Joseph, 1848–1918, American primitive painter, b. New Hope, Pa., where he lived all his life. He worked as a carpenter, canal-boat builder, and grocer. At about age 65, Pickett turned to pa...

Piedras Negras, ancient city, Guatemala

(Encyclopedia)Piedras Negras pyāˈᵺräs nāˈgräs [key] [Span.,=black stones], ruined city of the Classic era of the Maya, NW Petén, Guatemala, in the Usumacinta valley. Reaching a peak of sculptural achieveme...

Pinar del Rio, city, Cuba

(Encyclopedia)Pinar del Rio, city (1994 est. pop. 118,000), capital of Pinar del Rio prov., W Cuba. It is linked by rail and highway to Havana and is the center of a road network running through the province. The c...

Red Wing

(Encyclopedia)Red Wing, city (1990 pop. 15,134), seat of Goodhue co., SE Minn., on the Mississippi River at the head of Lake Pepin; inc. 1857. It is a commercial and manufacturing center in the Hiawatha valley farm...

Stelvio Pass

(Encyclopedia)Stelvio Pass stĕlˈvyō [key], alt. 9,048 ft (2,758 m), in the central Alps, N Italy, near the Swiss and Austrian borders. It is crossed by the highest road in the Alps, connecting the Valtellina wit...

Rion

(Encyclopedia)Rion rēônˈ [key], ancient Phasis, river, c.195 mi (310 km) long, rising in the Caucasus near the Mamison Pass, W Georgia, and flowing S and W past Kutaisi into the Black Sea at Poti. Its upper cour...

Fraser, river, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Fraser, chief river of British Columbia, Canada, c.850 mi (1,370 km) long. It rises in the Rocky Mts., at Yellowhead Pass, near the British Columbia–Alta. line and flows northwest through the Rocky ...

California, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)California, Gulf of, or Sea of Cortés, arm of the Pacific Ocean, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long and 50 to 130 mi (80–209 km) wide, NW Mexico; separates Baja California from the Mexican mainland. The gulf...

Kamchatka

(Encyclopedia)Kamchatka kămchătˈkə [key], peninsula, 104,200 sq mi (269,878 sq km), Kamchatka Territory, Russian Far East, separating the Sea of Okhotsk in the west from the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean in ...