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Hettner, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Hettner, Alfred älˈfrĕt hĕtˈnər [key], 1859–1942, German geographer and teacher; a founder of modern German geography. His methodology and his materialistic philosophy, grounded in the work of...

Sarapul

(Encyclopedia)Sarapul səräˈpo͞ol [key], city (1989 pop. 110,000), E European Russia, in the Udmurt Republic, on the Kama River. It is a rail junction on the Moscow-Yekaterinburg line. Industries include food pr...

Shymkent

(Encyclopedia)Shymkent chĭmkyĕntˈ [key], city (1993 est. pop. 404,000), S Kazakhstan, on the Turkistan-Siberia RR. It has large zinc and lead smelters and machine, chemical, and food-processing industries. Found...

ammoniac

(Encyclopedia)ammoniac or gum ammoniac əmōˈnēăkˌ [key], yellowish substance with a sickening, bitter taste, obtained from the milky exudate of the injured stem of a plant (Dorema ammoniacum) found in Iran, In...

aquamarine

(Encyclopedia)aquamarine ăkˌwəmərēnˈ, äkˌ– [key] [Lat.,=seawater], transparent beryl with a blue or bluish-green color. Sources of the gems include Brazil, Siberia, the Union of Myanmar, Madagascar, and p...

Vychegda

(Encyclopedia)Vychegda vĭˈchĕgdä [key], river, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, rising in several headstreams in the Urals, NE European Russia, and flowing generally W into the Northern Dvina River at Kotlas. It is na...

Biysk

(Encyclopedia)Biysk bēsk [key], city, S central Siberian Russia, on the Biya River. A port and the terminu...

Eskimo-Aleut

(Encyclopedia)Eskimo-Aleut, family of Native American languages consisting of Aleut (spoken on the Aleutian Islands and the Kodiak Peninsula) and Eskimo or Inuktitut (spoken in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Siberi...

Mercator, Gerardus

(Encyclopedia)Mercator, Gerardus gārˈhärt krāˈmər [key], 1512–94, Flemish geographer, mathematician, and cartographer. He studied in Louvain, where he had a geographical establishment (1534). From 1537 to 1...

Humboldt, Alexander, Freiherr von

(Encyclopedia)Humboldt, Alexander, Freiherr von hŭmˈbōlt, Ger. älĕksänˈdər frīˈhĕr fən ho͝omˈbôlt [key], 1769–1859, German naturalist, inventor, explorer, and author, the most eminent scientist of ...