Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

420 results found

Heizer, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Heizer, Michael, 1944–, American sculptor and painter, b. Berkeley, Calif., studied San Francisco Art Institute (1963–64). Heizer was one of the artists who developed land art in the late 1960s an...

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 ...

Chiclayo

(Encyclopedia)Chiclayo chēkläˈyō [key], city, capital of Lambayeque dept., NW Peru. On the coastal desert ...

Hassi Messaoud

(Encyclopedia)Hassi Messaoud häsˈsē mĕsˌsäo͞odˈ [key] [Arab.,=blessed well], town, E Algeria. Formerly a watering hole in the Sahara desert, Hassi Messaoud rose to prominence with the discovery of oil in 19...

Gautier, Émile Félix

(Encyclopedia)Gautier, Émile Félix āmēlˈ fālēksˈ gōtyāˈ [key], 1864–1940, French geographer, an authority on Algiers, the Sahara, and the French African possessions. He explored W Madagascar (1892–94...

jungle

(Encyclopedia)jungle [Hindustani jangal=desert, forest; from Skt. jangala=wasteland, uncultivated land], densest form of tropical forest (usually second growth or later) found throughout tropical lowland regions. J...

Murgab

(Encyclopedia)Murgab mo͝orgäbˈ [key], river, 530 mi (853 km) long, rising in the Paropamisus range, NE Afghanistan, flowing NW into Turkmenistan, to the Merv oasis, and disappearing into the Kara Kum desert, SE ...

Mason, James

(Encyclopedia)Mason, James, 1909–84, British stage and film actor. Mason, trained at Cambridge as an architect, became a leading man in British films in the 1940s and thereafter an international star. With a velv...

whirlwind

(Encyclopedia)whirlwind, revolving mass of air resulting from local atmospheric instability, such as that caused by intense heating of the ground by the sun on a hot summer day. Examples of whirlwinds are waterspou...

Caillié, René

(Encyclopedia)Caillié, René rənāˈ kāyāˈ [key], 1799–1838, French explorer in Africa. He was the first European to visit Timbuktu and return. The son of poor French peasants, he was obsessed with the idea ...