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Töpffer, Rodolphe

(Encyclopedia)Töpffer, Rodolphe rôdôlfˈ töpˈfər [key], 1799–1846, Swiss artist and writer, b. Geneva. Often called the father of the comic strip (or the graphic novel), he wanted to be a painter but found ...

Buch, Christian Leopold, Freiherr von

(Encyclopedia)Buch, Christian Leopold, Freiherr von krĭsˈtyän lāˈōpôlt frīˈhĕr fən bo͞okh [key], 1774–1853, German geologist and paleontologist, graduate of the mining academy, Freiberg, Germany, and ...

Kosciuszko, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Kosciuszko, Mount kŏzēŭˈskō, kŏsho͝oshˈkō [key], 7,310 ft (2,228 m) high, SE New South Wales, Australia, in the Australian Alps; highest peak on the continent of Australia. Located in Koscius...

Geneva, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Geneva, Lake, Fr. Lac Léman läk lāmäNˈ [key], crescent-shaped lake, 224 sq mi (580 sq km), c.45 mi (70 km) long, on the Swiss-French border, between the Alps and the Jura mts. About 134 sq. mi. a...

dolomite

(Encyclopedia)dolomite dōˈləmītˌ, dŏlˈə– [key]. 1 Mineral, calcium magnesium carbonate, CaMg (CO3)2. It is commonly crystalline and is white, gray, brown, or reddish in color with a vitreous to pearly lus...

Alboin

(Encyclopedia)Alboin ălˈboin [key], d. 572?, first Lombard king in Italy (569–572?). With the Avars he defeated the Gepidae (see Germans). He then led (568) an army across the Alps into Italy, took (569) Milan,...

Crişana-Maramureş

(Encyclopedia)Crişana-Maramureş krĭshäˈnä-märämo͞oˈrĭsh [key], historic province, NW Romania, between Transylvania and Hungary. It covers approximately the present-day regions of Crişana (4,725 sq mi/12...

Aare

(Encyclopedia)Aare är [key], longest river entirely in Switzerland, 183 mi (295 km) long, rising in the Bernese Alps and fed by several glaciers. The upper Aare emerges from dam-impounded Grimsel Lake and flows ge...

Pinerolo

(Encyclopedia)Pinerolo pēnārôˈlō [key], Fr. Pignerol, city (1991 pop. 35,331), Piedmont, NW Italy, at the foot of the Alps. It is an agricultural and industrial center. Manufactures include paper, textiles, ma...

Villanovan culture

(Encyclopedia)Villanovan culture, the culture of a people of N Italy in the early Iron Age (c.1100–700 b.c.). The term is derived from the town of Villanova, near Bologna, where the first excavations of a Villano...