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Burma Road

(Encyclopedia)Burma Road, in China and Myanmar, extending from the railhead of Lashio, Myanmar, to Kunming, Yunnan prov., China. About 700 mi (1,130 km) long and constructed through rough mountain country, it was a...

Abbeville, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Abbeville ăˈbēvĭl [key], city (2020 pop. 11,760), seat of Vermilion parish, S La., on the Vermilion River, with access to the Intracoastal Waterway; inc. 1850. It is a...

Indian Ocean

(Encyclopedia)Indian Ocean, third largest ocean, c.28,350,000 sq mi (73,427,000 sq km), extending from S Asia to Antarctica and from E Africa to SE Australia; it is c.4,000 mi (6,400 km) wide at the equator. It con...

Ionic order

(Encyclopedia)Ionic order īŏnˈĭk [key], one of the early orders of architecture. The spreading scroll-shaped capital is the distinctive feature of the Ionic order; it was primarily a product of Asia Minor, wher...

Polo, Marco

(Encyclopedia)Polo, Marco märˈkō pōˈlō [key], 1254?–1324?, Venetian traveler in China. His father, Niccolò Polo, and his uncle, Maffeo Polo, had made (1253–60) a trading expedition to Constantinople. A w...

bluegrass music

(Encyclopedia)bluegrass music: see country and western music. ...

Amida

(Encyclopedia)Amida ămˈĭdə, əmīˈdə [key], ancient city, E Asia Minor, on the Tigris River. It became (a.d. 230) a Roman colony and was later (4th cent.) captured by Shapur II of Persia. It is the modern Diy...

cucumber

(Encyclopedia)cucumber, fruit of Cucumis sativus, a species of gourd whose many varieties are descended from a plant native to Asia and Africa. Cucumber is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliops...

Trans-Alai

(Encyclopedia)Trans-Alai trăns-älīˈ, trănz– [key], mountain range, central Asia, a part of the Pamir-Alai mountain system. The Trans-Alai extends 155 mi (249 km) W from China to form the border between Kyrgy...

bandicoot rat

(Encyclopedia)bandicoot rat, giant rat of southern Asia, unrelated to true bandicoots. It is an agricultural pest in the grain crops and gardens of India and Sri Lanka and is known for the piglike grunts it emits w...