Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Duke of York Islands

(Encyclopedia)Duke of York Islands, group of 13 coral islands, 23 sq mi (60 sq km), SW Pacific, in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of Papua New Guinea. There are several coconut plantations. Duke of York Island is t...

Oceanic languages

(Encyclopedia)Oceanic languages, aboriginal languages spoken in the region known as Oceania. If Oceania is restricted to the Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian islands, the indigenous tongues spoken on these i...

Australasia

(Encyclopedia)Australasia ôstrəlāˈzhə, –shə [key], islands of the South Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and adjacent islands. The term is sometimes used to include all of Oceania. ...

Conakry

(Encyclopedia)Conakry kŏnˈəkrē [key], city, capital of Guinea and its Conakry region, SW Guinea, a port ...

Melanesia

(Encyclopedia)Melanesia mĕlənēˈzhə, –shə [key], one of the three main divisions of Oceania, in the SW Pacific Ocean, NE of Australia and S of the equator. Melanesia includes the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Ne...

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

(Encyclopedia)Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, self-sustaining public corporation established in 1921 by the states of New York and New Jersey to administer the activities of the New York–New Jersey por...

Schouten, Willem Cornelis

(Encyclopedia)Schouten, Willem Cornelis vĭlˈəm kôrnāˈlĭs skhouˈtən [key], 1567?–1625, Dutch navigator. In 1615 he sailed from Texel island, Holland, in command of an expedition whose objective was to eva...

Arafura Sea

(Encyclopedia)Arafura Sea ärəfo͞oˈrə [key], shallow part of the Pacific Ocean, between the Timor and Coral seas, separating Australia from New Guinea. It contains several islands of Indonesia. The Torres Strai...

Vieira, João Bernardo

(Encyclopedia)Vieira, João Bernardo zhwouN bârnärˈdō vēâˈrə [key], 1939–2009, Guinean political leader, president of Guinea-Bissau (1994–99, 2005–9), b. Bissau. He joined the African Party for the In...

Somare, Sir Michael Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Somare, Sir Michael Thomas sōmäˈrā [key], 1936–2021, Papua New Guinea political leader. He was a ...

Browse by Subject