Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Issus

(Encyclopedia)Issus ĭsˈəs [key], ancient town of SE Asia Minor, now in Turkey, 5 mi (8 km) NW of Dörtyol. Located near the head of a gulf (the modern Gulf of Iskenderun), Issus was on a narrow strip of land bac...

Ajman

(Encyclopedia)Ajman äjmänˈ [key], sheikhdom, c.100 sq mi (260 sq km), part of the federation of seven United Arab Emirates, SE Arabia, primarily on the Persian Gulf. The smallest me...

Saltillo

(Encyclopedia)Saltillo sältēˈyō [key], city (1990 pop. 420,947), capital of Coahuila state, N Mexico. It is located in an alluvial valley almost surrounded by mountains. Saltillo is a commercial and industrial ...

Zimmermann note

(Encyclopedia)Zimmermann note, secret telegram sent on Jan. 16, 1917, by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann to Count Johann von Bernstorff, the German ambassador to the United States. In it Zimmermann said ...

Caribbean Sea

(Encyclopedia)Caribbean Sea kârˌĭbēˈən, kərĭbˈēən [key], tropical sea, c.970,000 sq mi (2,512,950 sq km), arm of the Atlantic Ocean, Central America. It is bordered on the N and E by the West Indies arch...

López Mateos, Adolfo

(Encyclopedia)López Mateos, Adolfo äᵺôlˈfō lōˈpās mätāˈōs [key], 1910–69, president of Mexico (1958–64). A lawyer, he became active in the government party. He served as senator (1946–52) and as...

herring

(Encyclopedia)herring, common name for members of the large, widely distributed family Clupeidae, comprising many species of marine and freshwater food fishes, including the sardine (Sardinia), the menhaden (Brevoo...

Pachuca de Soto

(Encyclopedia)Pachuca de Soto pächo͞oˈkä ᵺā sōˈtō [key], city (1990 pop. 174,013), capital of Hidalgo state, central Mexico, at the head of a ravine surrounded by foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental. P...

Darién, region, Panama

(Encyclopedia)Darién dârˌēĕnˈ, Span. däryānˈ [key], eastern part of Panama between the Gulf of Darién on the east and the Gulf of San Miguel on the west. Darién province, heavily forested and sparsely po...

Gadsden Purchase

(Encyclopedia)Gadsden Purchase gădzˈdən [key], strip of land purchased (1853) by the United States from Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) had described the U.S.-Mexico boundary vaguely, and Presiden...