Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

335 results found

Petrified Forest National Park

(Encyclopedia)Petrified Forest National Park, 93,533 acres (37,881 hectares), E Ariz.; est. as a national monument 1906, designated a national park 1962. A part of the Painted Desert, it contains the largest known ...

Buthrotum

(Encyclopedia)Buthrotum bo͞o-trēntˈ [key], where Italian excavations in the 1930s uncovered Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Venetian remains of the ancient city, including a theater (4th cent. b.c.), a baptistery (...

Stenness, Loch of

(Encyclopedia)Stenness, Loch of stĕnĕsˈ, Orcadian stānĭsˈ [key], lake on Mainland island, in the Orkneys, off N Scotland. A headland between Harray and Stenness lochs holds the Standings Stones of Stenness, a...

Tarim

(Encyclopedia)Tarim dārēmˈ [key], Mandarin Dayan, chief river of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, NW China, c.1,300 mi (2,090 km) long, formed by the union of the Aksu and the Yarkant rivers at the western end ...

Saumur

(Encyclopedia)Saumur sōmürˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 30,150), Maine-et-Loire dept., W France, on the Loire River. Saumur is noted for its religious-medal industry (dating from the 17th cent.) and for its sparkling...

porcelain

(Encyclopedia)porcelain [Ital. porcellana], white, hard, permanent, nonporous pottery having translucence which is resonant when struck. Porcelain was first made by the Chinese to withstand the great heat generated...

Derbyshire

(Encyclopedia)Derbyshire därˈbēshər, –shĭr [key] county, 1,016 sq mi (2,632 sq km), central England. The county seat ...

harness

(Encyclopedia)harness, comprehensive term for the gear of a draft animal, excluding the yoke, by which it is attached to the load that it pulls. Although harnesses are used on dogs (for drawing travois and dogsleds...

Grodno

(Encyclopedia)Grodno grôdˈnô [key], Belarusian Horodno, city (1990 est. pop. 272,000), capital of Grodno region, NW Belarus, on the Neman River. A river port and an important railway center, it has industries pr...

Kaaba

(Encyclopedia)Kaaba or Caaba both: käˈbə or käˈəbə [key] [Arab.,=cube], the central, cubic, stone structure, covered by a black cloth, within the Great Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The sacred nature of the...