Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Great Migration

(Encyclopedia)Great Migration, in U.S. history. 1 The migration of Puritans to New England from England, 1620–40, prior to the English civil war. As a result of the increasingly tyrannical rule of King Charles I ...

Indus valley civilization

(Encyclopedia)Indus valley civilization, ancient civilization that arose about 3300 b.c. in the valley of the Indus River and its tributaries, in the northwestern portion of the Indian subcontinent, i.e., present-d...

Naivasha

(Encyclopedia)Naivasha nīväˈshä [key], lake, 12 mi (19.3 km) long and 9 mi (14.5 km) wide, W central Kenya, E Africa, in the Great Rift Valley. Large flower farms that supply European flower markets have been d...

Turkana, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Turkana, Lake, c.2,500 sq mi (6,475 sq km), NW Kenya and SW Ethiopia, E Africa, in the Great Rift Valley; alt. 1,230 ft (375 m). Surrounded by desolate, volcanic mountains, the 170-mi-long (274-km) al...

Ghor, the

(Encyclopedia)Ghor, the, Arabic Al Ghawr, region of the Jordan Valley, c.70 mi (110 km) long, between the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) and the Dead Sea, on the border of Jordan and Israel and the West Bank. Entir...

Ruwenzori

(Encyclopedia)Ruwenzori ro͞oˌwənzōˈrē [key], mountain range, E central Africa, on the Uganda-Congo border, in the western arm of the Great Rift Valley between lakes Albert and Edward. This fault-block range i...

Cauca

(Encyclopedia)Cauca kouˈkä [key], river, c.800 mi (1,290 km) long, rising in the Cordillera Central, near Popayán, W Colombia. It flows north in a rift valley between the Cordillera Central and Cordillera Occide...

Death Valley

(Encyclopedia)Death Valley, SE Calif. and SW Nev., a deep, arid basin, 140 mi (225 km) long, bordered on the W by the Panamint Range and on the E by the Amargosa Range. In summer the valley has recorded some of the...

Coachella Valley

(Encyclopedia)Coachella Valley kōˌəchĕlˈə [key], arid region, SE Calif., N of the Salton Sea. Water is brought into the region by artesian wells and by the Coachella Canal (123 mi/198 km long), a branch of th...

Ferghana Valley

(Encyclopedia)Ferghana Valley, region, Central Asia: see Fergana Valley. ...