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Rhône, river, Switzerland and France

(Encyclopedia)Rhône, Lat. Rhodanus, river, 505 mi (813 km) long, rising in the Rhône glacier, NE Valais, Switzerland. It flows west through a narrow, flat valley that separates the Bernese Alps from the Pennine A...

mammoth

(Encyclopedia)mammoth, name for several large prehistoric relatives (genus Mammuthus) of modern elephants which ranged over Eurasia and North America in the Pleistocene epoch. The shoulder height of the Siberian, o...

permafrost

(Encyclopedia)permafrost, permanently frozen soil, subsoil, or other deposit, characteristic of arctic and some subarctic regions; similar conditions are also found at very high altitudes in mountain ranges. In 196...

Nunavut

(Encyclopedia)Nunavut no͞oˈnəvo͞otˌ [key] [Inuktituk,=our land], territory (2001 pop. 26,745), 772,260 sq mi (2,000,671 sq km), NE Canada. The capital and largest town is Iqaluit on Baffin Island at Frobisher ...

Vancouver, George

(Encyclopedia)Vancouver, George, 1757–98, English navigator and explorer. He sailed on Capt. James Cook's second and third voyages. After 1780 he served under Admiral George Rodney in the West Indies, taking part...

Moultrie, William

(Encyclopedia)Moultrie, William mo͞olˈtrē [key], 1730–1805, American Revolutionary general, b. Charleston, S.C. He had fought against the Native Americans (1761) and served in the colonial assembly before the ...

marlin

(Encyclopedia)marlin, common name for open-sea fish related to the sailfish (family Istiophoridae) and prized in sport fishing. The best known is the Atlantic blue marlin, Makaira nigricans, found in the Gulf Strea...

Labuan

(Encyclopedia)Labuan ləbo͞oˈən, läˌbo͞oänˈ [key], island (1991 pop. 54,307), 38 sq mi (98 sq km), a federal territory of Malaysia, off Sabah, N Borneo, in the South China Sea. Coconuts, rubber, and rice ar...

snapper

(Encyclopedia)snapper, name for members of the Lutjanidae, a family of spiny-finned food and game fishes found chiefly in tropical coastal waters. Snappers are carnivorous, active, and voracious, with large mouths ...

Thanet, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Thanet, Isle of thănˈĭt [key], former island forming the NE portion of Kent, SE England, bounded by the North Sea and branches of the Stour River. The isle was occupied by the Romans, who had a for...