Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Mao Zedong

(Encyclopedia)Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung mou dzŭ-do͝ong [key], 1893–1976, founder of the People's Republic of China. Mao was one of the most prominent Communist theoreticians and his ideas on revolutionary stru...

Thuringia

(Encyclopedia)Thuringia tho͝orĭnˈjə [key], Ger. Thüringen, state (1994 pop. 2,533,000), 6,273 sq mi (16,251 sq km), central Germany. It is bordered on the south by Bavaria, on the east by Saxony, on the north ...

Communist party, in China

(Encyclopedia)Communist party, in China, ruling party of the world's most populous nation since 1949 and most important Communist party in the world since the disintegration of the USSR in 1991. After the People'...

Kootenai, river, Canada and the United States

(Encyclopedia)Kootenai ko͞oˈtĭnā [key], river, 407 mi (655 km) long, rising in the Rocky Mts., SE British Columbia, Canada. It flows S into NW Montana, NW through N Idaho, then N into Canada. There it flows thr...

Saint Johns, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Saint Johns, river, 285 mi (459 km) long, rising in SE Fla., N of Lake Okeechobee, and flowing N to Jacksonville, where it turns abruptly eastward and enters the Atlantic Ocean 28 mi (45 km) away. It ...

escarpment

(Encyclopedia)escarpment or scarp, long cliff, bluff, or steep slope, caused usually by geologic faulting (see fault) or by erosion of tilted rock layers. An example of a fault scarp is the north face of the San Ja...

Fracastoro, Girolamo

(Encyclopedia)Fracastoro, Girolamo jērôˈlämō fräkästôˈrō [key], 1483–1553, Italian physician and poet. He was born in Verona, where he practiced after studying at Padua. He studied epidemic diseases and...

Isle La Motte

(Encyclopedia)Isle La Motte īl lə mŏt [key], island and village, 6 mi (9.7 km) long and 2 mi (3.2 km) wide, in Lake Champlain, NW Vt. The French chose the island as the site for Fort Ste Anne (built 1666), the f...

Ångermanälven

(Encyclopedia)Ångermanälven ôngˈərmänĕlˌvən [key], river, c.280 mi (450 km) long, rising in Västerbotten prov., W central Sweden, and flowing generally southeast through narrow lakes and past Sollefteå a...

Hell Gate

(Encyclopedia)Hell Gate, narrow channel of the East River, SE N.Y., between Wards Island and Astoria, Queens, New York City. Named Hellegat by the Dutch navigator Adriaen Block, who passed through it into Long Isla...