Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Djerid, Chott

(Encyclopedia)Djerid, Chott shôt jĕrēdˈ [key], salt lake, c.1,900 sq mi (4,920 sq km), W central Tunisia, N Africa. It is now an extensive salt flat with water only in its lower areas. ...

Natron, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Natron, Lake nāˈtrən [key], c.35 mi (60 km) long and 15 mi (20 km) wide, in the Great Rift Valley, E Africa, on the Kenya-Tanzania border. It has soda, salt, and magnesite deposits. ...

Roodepoort

(Encyclopedia)Roodepoort ro͞oˈdəpo͝ort [key], city, now part of the City of Johannesburg metropolitan municipality, Gauteng prov., NE South Africa; founded in 1887. It is a gold-mining center and a resort. ...

Bantu languages

(Encyclopedia)Bantu languages, group of African languages forming a subdivision of the Benue-Niger division of the Niger-Congo branch of the Niger-Kordofanian language family (see African languages). Bantu contains...

Denonville, Jacques René de Brisay, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Denonville, Jacques René de Brisay, marquis de zhäk rənāˈ də brēzāˈ märkēˈ də dənôNvēlˈ [key], d. 1710, governor of New France (1685–89). To subdue the Iroquois he led a force of 3,...

Do Muoi

(Encyclopedia)Do Muoi, 1917–2018, Vietnamese political leader, originally named Nguyen Duy Cong. He joined the fight against French rule as a teenager, became a Communist party member in 1939, and was imprisoned ...

Jewett, Sarah Orne

(Encyclopedia)Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849–1909, American novelist and short-story writer, b. South Berwick, Maine. Her studies of small-town New England life are perceptive, sympathetic, and gently humorous. After c...

Muir, John

(Encyclopedia)Muir, John, 1838–1914, American naturalist, b. Dunbar, Scotland, studied at the Univ. of Wisconsin. He came to the United States in 1849 and settled in California in 1868. In recognition of his effo...

Leguía, Augusto Bernardino

(Encyclopedia)Leguía, Augusto Bernardino ougo͞osˈtō bārnärdēˈnō lāgēˈä [key], 1863–1932, president of Peru (1908–12, 1919–30). In his second administration Leguía promulgated a new constitution ...

Ulloa, Antonio de

(Encyclopedia)Ulloa, Antonio de äntôˈnyō ᵺā o͞olyōˈä [key], 1716–95, Spanish scientist and naval officer. As a young man he went to Peru with a scientific expedition, remaining in the country from 1736...