Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Kariba Dam

(Encyclopedia)Kariba Dam kärēˈbä [key], hydroelectric project, in Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi River, on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border, S central Africa; built 1955–59. One of the world's largest dams, it is 420 ...

Ottawa, river, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Ottawa, river, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, largest tributary of the St. Lawrence River, Canada. It rises in the Laurentian Highlands, SW Que., and flows generally W through La Vérendrye Provincial Park...

bayou

(Encyclopedia)bayou bīˈō, bīˈo͞o [key] [Louisiana Fr.; from Choctaw bayuk=small stream], term used mainly in U.S. Gulf states, especially Louisiana and Mississippi, to describe a stationary or sluggishly movi...

Valday Hills

(Encyclopedia)Valday Hills or Valdai Hills both: väldīˈ, Rus. vəldīˈ [key], upland region, NW European Russia, composed of a series of glacial moraines that rise to c.1,100 ft (340 m). The region forms the wa...

Thun

(Encyclopedia)Thun to͞on [key], city (1990 est. pop. 37,700), Bern canton, central Switzerland, on the Aare River, where it flows out of the Lake of Thun. Machinery, watches, pottery, and cheese are made there. Of...

Baker, Sir Samuel White

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Sir Samuel White, 1821–93, English explorer in Africa. He explored the Nile tributaries in Ethiopia in 1861–62. Going up the Nile from Cairo, he reached Gondokoro in 1863. He continued his ...

Angara

(Encyclopedia)Angara ängˌgəräˈ, Rus. ŭnˌgəräˈ [key], river, c.1,150 mi (1,850 km) long, SE Siberian Russia, the outlet of Lake Baykal. After leaving the southwestern end of Lake Baykal, it flows north pas...

Adirondack Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Adirondack Mountains ădˌərŏnˈdăk [key], mountain mass, NE N.Y., between the St. Lawrence valley in the north and the Mohawk valley in the south; rising to 5,344 ft (1,629 m) at Mt. Marcy, the hi...

Issyk-Kol

(Encyclopedia)Issyk-Kol or Ysyk Köl both: ēsĭkˈ-ko͞ol [key], lake, E Kyrgyzstan, in the Alatau Mts. At an altitude of c.5,300 ft (1,620 m) and with an area of c.2,400 sq mi (6,220 sq km), it is one of the larg...

Hämeenlinna

(Encyclopedia)Hämeenlinna hăˈmānlĭnˌnä [key], Swed. Tavastehus, city, capital of Southern Finland pr...

Browse by Subject