Columbia Encyclopedia

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stadium

(Encyclopedia)stadium stāˈdēəm [key], racecourse in Greek cities where footraces and other athletic contests took place. The name is the Latin form of the Greek word for a standard of length and originally refe...

Barito

(Encyclopedia)Barito bärēˈtō [key], river, c.550 mi (890 km) long, rising in the mountains of central Borneo, Indonesia, and flowing generally S to the Java Sea. Banjarmasin is the head of oceangoing navigation...

Nordfjord

(Encyclopedia)Nordfjord nôrˈfyôrˌ, no͝orˈfyo͝orˌ [key], inlet, c.50 mi (80 km) long, Sogn og Fjordane co., SW Norway. To the south, between Nordfjord and Sognafjord, is Jostedalsbreen glacier. The Nordfjord...

Kingsport

(Encyclopedia)Kingsport, city (1990 pop. 36,365), Hawkins and Sullivan counties, NE Tenn., on the Holston River near the Va. line; inc. 1917. Industries include one of the largest printing and bookbinding plants in...

Askja

(Encyclopedia)Askja äsˈkyä [key], volcano, c.4,950 ft (1,510 m) high, E central Iceland; one of the highest in Europe. Its great eruption of 1875 devastated a large area; Askja last erupted in 1961. Askja calder...

Heber, Reginald

(Encyclopedia)Heber, Reginald, 1783–1826, English clergyman and hymn writer. He became bishop of Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1823. Several volumes of his poems and of his sermons were published, but he is best know...

Ethiopian Highlands

(Encyclopedia)Ethiopian Highlands, rugged plateau region of E Africa, covering about two thirds of Ethiopia. It is divided into two massifs by the Great Rift Valley; the Amhara, or Ethiopian Plateau, is the larger ...

Cagayan

(Encyclopedia)Cagayan kägīˈən, kägäyänˈ [key], river, c.220 mi (350 km) long, rising in the mountains of central Luzon, Philippines, and flowing N to the Pacific Ocean at Aparri. It is navigable to small oc...

Scherbo, Vitaly

(Encyclopedia)Scherbo, Vitaly, 1972–, Belarussian gymnast. Often considered to be the best male gymnast of all time, he had won at least one world title on each apparatus by the time he retired in 1997. He won hi...

Summit, Pat

(Encyclopedia)Summit, Pat (Patricia Sue Summit), 1952–2016, American basketball player and coach, b. Clarksville, Tenn., as Patricia Sue Head. She played basketball at the Univ. of Tennessee at Martin, and upon g...