Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Vikings

(Encyclopedia)Vikings, Scandinavian warriors who raided the coasts of Europe and the British Isles from the 9th cent. to the 11th cent. In their language, the word “viking” originally meant a journey, as for tr...

Peary, Robert Edwin

(Encyclopedia)Peary, Robert Edwin pērˈē [key], 1856–1920, American arctic explorer, b. Cresson, Pa. In 1881 he entered the U.S. navy as a civil engineer and for several years served in Nicaragua, where he was ...

Aral Sea

(Encyclopedia)Aral Sea ărˈəl [key], salt lake, SW Kazakhstan and NW Uzbekistan, E of the Caspian Sea in an area of interior drainage. To the north and west are the edges of the arid Ustyurt Plateau; the Kyzyl Ku...

confirmation

(Encyclopedia)confirmation, Christian rite in which the initiation into the church that takes place by baptism is confirmed. In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Eastern churches, it is a sacrament by which a Christi...

Halle, city, Germany

(Encyclopedia)Halle, city, Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany, on the Saale River. It is an industrial center and a major transportation hub. Manufactures include chemica...

White Horse, Vale of the

(Encyclopedia)White Horse, Vale of the, district (1991 pop. 109,200), Oxfordshire, S central England. The vale is the valley of the Ock River. Abingdon is the administrative seat. Surgical instruments and automobil...

Bonington, Richard Parkes

(Encyclopedia)Bonington, Richard Parkes bŏnˈĭngtən [key], 1802–28, English painter. Moving to Calais at the age of 15, his first art study was with Louis Francia, who taught him watercolor and lithography. Bo...

Bet Shean

(Encyclopedia)Bet Shean bāt shĭänˈ [key], town, NE Israel, in the Jordan River valley, c.300 ft (90 m) below ...

East Siberian Sea

(Encyclopedia)East Siberian Sea, Rus. Vostochno-Sibirskoye More, part of the Arctic Ocean N of NE Siberia, Russia, bounded on the W by the New Siberian Islands and on the E by Wrangel Island. The Indigirka, Kolyma,...

Titan , in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Titan tīˈtən [key], in astronomy, the largest of the named moons, or natural satellites, of Saturn. Also known as Saturn VI (or S6), Titan is 3,200 mi (5,150 km) in diameter, orbits Saturn at a mea...