Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

platypus

(Encyclopedia)platypus plătˈəpəs [key], semiaquatic egg-laying mammal, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, of Tasmania and E Australia. Also called duckbill, or duckbilled platypus, it belongs to the order Monotremata (s...

Oberalp

(Encyclopedia)Oberalp ōˈbər-älp [key], Alpine pass, 6,733 ft (2,052 m) high, between Grisons and Uri cantons, S central Switzerland. Oberalpsee, a small lake, is nearby, and the Alpine peak Oberalpstock, 10,926...

Lérins

(Encyclopedia)Lérins lārăNsˈ [key], group of four small islands, Alpes-Maritimes dept., SE France, in the Mediterranean Sea SE of Cannes. Sainte-Marguerite is the largest island. On Saint-Honorat is the oldest ...

Aa, in European place names

(Encyclopedia)Aa ä [key] [from a word for “water” of the same Indo-European root as Lat. aqua], name of many small streams of N Europe and Switzerland. Aa, or a derivative of it, is a component part of hundred...

Mingan Islands

(Encyclopedia)Mingan Islands mĭngˈgən [key], group of 15 small islands and many islets, E Que., Canada, in the St. Lawrence River, N of Anticosti island. They were visited (1535) by Jacques Cartier, the French e...

Morgarten

(Encyclopedia)Morgarten môrˈgärtən [key], mountain, 4,084 ft (1,245 m) high, N central Switzerland, on the border of Schwyz and Zug cantons. There, on Nov. 15, 1315, a small Swiss force decisively defeated the ...

Mandal

(Encyclopedia)Mandal mänˈdäl [key], town (1995 pop. 12,921), Vest-Agder co., extreme S Norway, on the Skagerrak. A renowned seaport in the 17th cent., it is now a small trading and shipping center, known for its...

Ruvuma

(Encyclopedia)Ruvuma ro͞ovo͞oˈmə [key], river, c.450 mi (724 km) long, rising in N Mozambique, near Lake Nyasa and flowing E to the Indian Ocean. It forms most of the Tanzania-Mozambique border. In its lower co...

Château d'If

(Encyclopedia)Château d'If shätōˌdēfˈ [key], castle built in 1524 on the small rocky isle of If, in the Mediterranean Sea off Marseilles, SE France. Long used as a state prison, it was made famous by Alexandr...

Chianti, Monti

(Encyclopedia)Chianti, Monti mōnˈtē kyänˈtē [key], small range of the Apennines, c.15 mi (25 km) long, in Tuscany, central Italy, W of the Arno River; rises to c.3,000 ft (915 m). The celebrated Chianti wines...