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Moundsville

(Encyclopedia)Moundsville, city (1990 pop. 10,753), seat of Marshall co., W.Va., in the Northern Panhandle, on the Ohio River; settled 1771, inc. 1865. Coal was once the chief industry, and some is still mined. Man...

Ötztal Alps

(Encyclopedia)Ötztal Alps ötsˈtäl [key], mountain group, in the Tyrol, W Austria, S of the Inn River and extending into northern Italy. It rises to 12,380 ft (3,773 m) in the Wildspitze, the highest peak in the...

Lagan

(Encyclopedia)Lagan lăgˈən [key], river, c.40 mi (60 km) long, rising in Slieve Croob, SE Northern Ireland. It flows NW, then NE past Lisburn to Belfast Lough at Belfast. The port of Belfast and its shipbuilding...

Benin, Bight of

(Encyclopedia)Benin, Bight of, northern arm of the Gulf of Guinea, c.550 mi (885 km) wide, W Africa, between Cape Three Points, S Ghana, and the Niger River delta, SW Nigeria. The bight was an important area for sl...

Bangor, town, Wales

(Encyclopedia)Bangor băngˈgôr [key], town (2020 pop. 18,560), Gwynedd, NW Wales, at the northern end of ...

Ring nebula

(Encyclopedia)Ring nebula, planetary nebula in the northern constellation Lyra; cataloged as M57 or NGC 6720. It is perhaps the most famous and beautiful nebula of this type. Its name describes the appearance of th...

aurora borealis

(Encyclopedia)aurora borealis ôstrāˈlĭs [key], luminous display of various forms and colors seen in the night sky. The aurora borealis of the Northern Hemisphere is often called the northern lights, and the aur...

Colonna

(Encyclopedia)Colonna kōlônˈnä [key], noble Roman family that played a leading part in the history of Rome from the 12th to the 16th cent. They were hereditary enemies of the Orsini and Caetani families, genera...

Cabot, Sebastian

(Encyclopedia)Cabot, Sebastian, b. 1483–86?, d. 1557, explorer in English and Spanish service; son of John Cabot. He may well have accompanied his father on the 1497 and 1498 voyages, and he was for many years gi...

Serra, Saint Junípero

(Encyclopedia)Serra, Saint Junípero ho͞onēˈpārō sĕˈrä [key], 1713–84, Spanish Franciscan missionary in North America, b. Majorca. His name was originally Miguel José Serra, and Junípero was his name in...