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Table Mountain

(Encyclopedia)Table Mountain, 3,567 ft (1,087 m) high, Western Cape, South Africa. It overlooks Cape Town and Table Bay. The summit is flat, and the dense white mist that often covers it is called the “tablecloth...

Usambara

(Encyclopedia)Usambara o͞osämbäˈrä [key], mountains, c.70 mi (110 km) long and from 20 to 40 mi (30–60 km) wide, NE Tanzania. On its slopes, which rise to c.8,000 ft (2,440 m), coffee, sisal, tea, and cincho...

Ramsay, Sir Bertram Home

(Encyclopedia)Ramsay, Sir Bertram Home, 1883–1945, British admiral. A career naval officer who retired in 1938, he returned to the service in World War II to command British and Allied naval units in some of the ...

Rennell, James

(Encyclopedia)Rennell, James, 1742–1830, English cartographer, geographer, and oceanographer. He was surveyor general (1764–77) of Bengal and published A Bengal Atlas (1779). He constructed the first approximat...

spiderwort

(Encyclopedia)spiderwort, common name for some members of the Commelinaceae, a family of tropical and subtropical succulent herbs found especially in Africa and the Americas. Species of the spiderworts (genus Trade...

hyrax

(Encyclopedia)hyrax hīˈrăks [key], name for rabbit-sized mammals of Africa and SW Asia comprising the family Procavidae. Although rodentlike in appearance, hyraxes are hoofed mammals, or ungulates (see Chordata)...

hammerhead

(Encyclopedia)hammerhead, common name for a heavy-looking, heronlike bird, Scopus umbretta. Its plumage is brown with light and dark glossy, purplish streaks on the wings and body. It has short legs, partially webb...

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...

Fulani

(Encyclopedia)Fulani fo͞oläˈnē [key], people of W Africa, numbering approximately 14 million. They are of mixed sub-Saharan African and Berber origin. First recorded as living in the Senegambia region, they are...

Gaiseric

(Encyclopedia)Gaiseric gĕnˈsərĭk, jĕnˈ– [key], c.390–477, king of the Vandals and Alani (428–77), one of the ablest of the barbarian invaders of the Roman Empire. He led (429) his people from Spain into...