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terrace

(Encyclopedia)terrace, a level field built on top of a hillslope into the floor of a deep valley to improve cultivation of crops. Terracing uses the runoff from the hill to increase soil retentiveness and arability...

West Covina

(Encyclopedia)West Covina, city (1990 pop. 96,086), Los Angeles co., S Calif., in the San Gabriel valley; settled 1905, inc. 1923. Primarily residential, the city has light manufacturing, including power transforme...

Coptic art

(Encyclopedia)Coptic art, Christian art in the upper Nile valley of Egypt. Reaching its mature phase in the late 5th and 6th cent., the development of Coptic art was interrupted by the Arab conquest of Egypt betwee...

Caddo

(Encyclopedia)Caddo kădˈō [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Caddoan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). These people gave their name not only to...

Lepsius, Karl Richard

(Encyclopedia)Lepsius, Karl Richard rĭkhˈärt lĕpˈsēo͝os [key], 1810–84, German Egyptologist and philologist. He made an expedition (1842–45) to the Nile valley and Sudan and as a result of his excavation...

Magadi, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Magadi, Lake məgäˈdē [key], c.20 mi (30 km) long and 2 mi (3.2 km) wide, S Kenya, in the Great Rift Valley. Formed and constantly resupplied by volcanic springs, the lake has a thick crust of carb...

Musi

(Encyclopedia)Musi mo͞oˈsē [key], river, c.325 mi (520 km) long, rising in the Pegunungan Barisan, S Sumatra, Indonesia. It flows SE to Palembang (head of oceangoing navigation), then northeast through the swamp...

Great Glen

(Encyclopedia)Great Glen or Glen More, valley, 60 mi (97 km) long, Highland, N central Scotland, extending from Moray Firth SW to Loch Linnhe. It was formed by a fault in the earth's surface. Loch Ness, Loch Oich, ...

Grande Prairie

(Encyclopedia)Grande Prairie Fr. gräNd prâˌrēˈ [key], city, W Alta., Canada, NW of Edmonton. It is the chief business ...

Gan

(Encyclopedia)Gan or Kan both: gän [key], river, c.550 mi (885 km) long, flowing north through the plain of central Jiangxi prov., SE China, past Nanchang to Poyang lake. Despite many rapids, it is navigable for j...