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Barisan

(Encyclopedia)Barisan bärēsänˈ [key], volcanic mountain range, c.1,000 mi (1,600 km) long, paralleling the western coast of Sumatra island, Indonesia. It rises to Mt. Kerinci (12,467 ft/3,800 m high). Numerous ...

Seward Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Seward Peninsula, W Alaska, projecting c.200 mi (320 km) into the Bering Sea between Norton Sound and Kotzebue Sound, just below the Arctic Circle. The region is mostly bleak tundra, with long, cold w...

Q, letter of the alphabet

(Encyclopedia)Q, 17th letter of the alphabet, corresponding to the koppa of western Greek alphabets. U must follow the letter in English (e.g., queen, question), and the combination properly represents a sound much...

Panamint Range

(Encyclopedia)Panamint Range pănˈəmĭnt [key], rugged fault-block mountains, SE Calif., near the Nev. line. Telescope Peak (11,045 ft/3,367 m high) is the tallest peak. The range forms the western boundary of De...

Bilauktaung

(Encyclopedia)Bilauktaung bēloukˈtoun [key], mountain range, extending c.250 mi (400 km) along the Thailand-Myanamar border from the Dawna Range SE to the Isthmus of Kra. The western slopes of the range, which re...

Lebanon, mountain range, Asia

(Encyclopedia)Lebanon, ancient Libanus, mountain range, c.100 mi (160 km) long, paralleling the Mediterranean Sea from S Lebanon N into Syria and rising steeply from the coast. Qurnet as Sawda (10,131 ft/3,088 m) i...

Malinowski, Bronislaw

(Encyclopedia)Malinowski, Bronislaw brŏnēˈslŏf mălĭnŏfˈskē [key], 1884–1942, English anthropologist, b. Poland, Ph.D. Univ. of Kraków, 1908. Working in the field of cultural anthropology, he gained reno...

country music

(Encyclopedia)country music, American popular music form originating in the Southern and Western United States. Country music is directly descended from the folk songs, ballads, and popular songs of the English, Sc...

Preemption Act

(Encyclopedia)Preemption Act, statute passed (1841) by the U.S. Congress in response to the demands of the Western states that squatters be allowed to preempt lands. Pioneers often settled on public lands before th...

Ross Sea

(Encyclopedia)Ross Sea, arm of the Pacific Ocean, Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land. It was discovered in 1841 by Sir James Clark Ross, a British explorer. Ross Island with Mt. Erebus, an active...