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fall line

(Encyclopedia)fall line, boundary between an upland region and a coastal plain across which rivers from the upland region drop to the plain as falls or rapids. A fall line is formed in an area where the rivers have...

Skye

(Encyclopedia)Skye skī [key], island (1991 pop. 8,868), 670 sq mi (1,735 sq km), largest and most northerly island of the Inner Hebrides, Highland, NW Scotland. It has an irregular coastline, and many of its lochs...

Gordian

(Encyclopedia)Gordian gôrˈdēən [key], name of three Roman emperors. Gordian I (Marcus Antonius Gordianus Africanus), d. 238, was a Roman of great wealth and was colleague in the consulship with Caracalla and wi...

Great Wall of China

(Encyclopedia)Great Wall of China, series of fortifications, c.3,890 mi (6,260 km) long (not including trenches and natural defensive barriers), winding across N China from Gansu prov. to Liaoning prov. The wall, r...

De Soto, Hernando

(Encyclopedia)De Soto, Hernando dĭsōˈtō, Span. ĕrnänˈdō dā sōˈtō [key], c.1500–1542, Spanish explorer. After serving under Pedro Arias de Ávila in Central America and under Francisco Pizarro in Peru,...

Vancouver, city, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Vancouver, city (1991 pop. 471,844), SW British Columbia, Canada, on Burrard Inlet of the Strait of Georgia, opposite Vancouver Island and just N of the Wash. border. It is the largest city on Canada'...

Lord Howe Island

(Encyclopedia)Lord Howe Island, volcanic island (2016 pop. 382), 5 sq mi (12.9 sq km), S Pacific, a dependency of New South Wales, Australia. It is a resort c.300 mi (480 km) E of the Australian coast. The island h...

Mactan

(Encyclopedia)Mactan mäktänˈ [key], coral island (1990 pop. 168,525), 24 sq mi (62 sq km), Cebu prov., the Philippines, just off the coast of Cebu island. Magellan was killed by Chief Lapulapu there in 1521. The...

Victoria, city, Seychelles

(Encyclopedia)Victoria or Port Victoria, city (2010 pop. 26,450), capital of the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean. A port on the NE coast of Mahé Island, Victoria is an administrative, commercial, tourist, and ship...

Great Northern Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Great Northern Peninsula or Petit Nord Peninsula, comprising NW Newfoundland island, Canada, extending 170 mi (274 km) NE from Bonne Bay on the west to Cape Bauld at the tip; White Bay borders it on t...