Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Bauld, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Bauld, Cape: see Great Northern Peninsula, Canada. ...

(Encyclopedia)gull, common name for an aquatic bird of the family Laridae, which also includes the tern and the jaeger. It is found near all oceans and many inland waters. Gulls are larger and bulkier than terns, a...

John I, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)John I (John the Great), 1357?–1433, king of Portugal (1385–1433), illegitimate son of Peter I. He was made (1364) grand master of the Knights of Aviz and exercised his influence in opposition to ...

Achaemenids

(Encyclopedia)Achaemenids ăkˌəmĕnˈĭdz [key], dynasty of ancient Persia. They were descended presumably from one Achaemenes, a minor ruler in a mountainous district of SW Iran. His successors, when Elam declin...

artesian well

(Encyclopedia)artesian well, deep drilled well through which water is forced upward under pressure. The water in an artesian well flows from an aquifer, which is a layer of very porous rock or sediment, usually san...

Litvinov, Maxim Maximovich

(Encyclopedia)Litvinov, Maxim Maximovich məksyēmˈ mäksēˈməvĭch lyĭtvēˈnəf [key], 1876–1951, Russian revolutionary and Soviet diplomat. A Jew, he changed his name from Wallach after joining the Social ...

adsorption

(Encyclopedia)adsorption, adhesion of the molecules of liquids, gases, and dissolved substances to the surfaces of solids, as opposed to absorption, in which the molecules actually enter the absorbing medium (see a...

Pietermaritzburg

(Encyclopedia)Pietermaritzburg pēˌtərmărˈĭtsbûrgˌ [key], city, part and seat of Msunduzi local municipality and capital of KwaZulu-Natal prov., E South Africa, in the foothills of the Drakensberg Range. The...