Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

lighthouse

(Encyclopedia)lighthouse, towerlike structure erected to give guidance and warning to ships and aircraft by either visible or radioelectrical means. Lighthouses were long built to conform in structure to their geog...

Kós

(Encyclopedia)Kós kŏs, kôs [key], Lat. Cos, island (1991 pop. 26,379), 111 sq mi (287 sq km), SE Greece, in the Aegean Sea; 2d largest of the Dodecanese, near the Bodrum peninsula of Turkey. Although it rises to...

Pemba

(Encyclopedia)Pemba pāmˈbə [key], island (2012 pop. 223,033), c.380 sq mi (980 sq km), NE Tanzania, in the Indian Ocean just off the E African mainland. Pemba is part of the semiautonomous archipelago of Zanziba...

Champlain, Samuel de

(Encyclopedia)Champlain, Samuel de shămplānˈ, Fr. sämüĕlˈ də shäNplăNˈ [key], 1567–1635, French explorer, the chief founder of New France. After serving in France under Henry of Navarre (King Henry IV)...

Teneriffe

(Encyclopedia)Teneriffe or Tenerife both: tĕnˈərĭf, tĕnərēfˈ, Span. tānārēˈfā [key], island (1990 pop. 770,627), 795 sq mi (2,059 sq km), in the Atlantic off NW Africa, the largest of the Canary Island...

Sumba

(Encyclopedia)Sumba or Soemba both: so͞omˈbä [key], island (1990 pop. 444,777), 4,305 sq mi (11,150 sq km), Indonesia, one of the Lesser Sundas, in the Indian Ocean, S of Flores across Sumba Strait. The chief to...

Wight, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Wight, Isle of wīt [key], island and county (1991 pop. 126,600), 147 sq mi (381 sq km), S England, across the Solent and Spithead channels from Hampshire. The administrative center is Newport. The is...

Kosrae

(Encyclopedia)Kosrae, island and state (1990 est. pop. 7,435), c.42 sq mi (110 sq km), Federated States of Micronesia. The easternmost island group of the Caroline Islands, Kosrae consist of a larger central island...

Kingston

(Encyclopedia)Kingston, town, capital of the Australian territory of Norfolk Island, located on the island's S coast, on Emily Bay. Kingston is the administrative and historic center of Norfolk Island; its commerci...

English units of measurement

(Encyclopedia)English units of measurement, principal system of weights and measures used in a few nations, the only major industrial one being the United States. It actually consists of two related systems—the U...

Browse by Subject