Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Mönchengladbach

(Encyclopedia)Mönchengladbach münˈ– [key], city (1994 pop. 265,312), North Rhine–Westphalia, W Germany. It is the twin city of adjacent Rheydt and is a major center of the German cotton textile industry. Tex...

Oder

(Encyclopedia)Oder ōˈdər [key], Czech and Pol. Odra, river, 562 mi (904 km) long; the second longest river of Poland. It rises in the E Sudetes, NE Czech Republic, and flows generally NW through SW Poland, then ...

Linz

(Encyclopedia)Linz lĭnts [key], city (1991 pop. 203,044), capital of Upper Austria, NW Austria, a major port on the Danube River. It is a commercial and industrial center and a rail junction. Manufactures include ...

Kiruna

(Encyclopedia)Kiruna kēˈrünä [key], city (1990 pop. 20,470), Norrbotten co., N Sweden. The northernmost city in Sweden, it is the center of the Lapland iron-mining region. The ore is shipped on the Lapland rail...

Benoni, city, South Africa

(Encyclopedia)Benoni bənōˈnē [key], city, Gauteng prov., NE South Africa, on the Witwatersrand, now administratively part of the Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality. It is the distribution center for a gold-mi...

Abbeville, town, France

(Encyclopedia)Abbeville äbvēlˈ [key], town, Somme dept., N France, in Picardy, on the Somme River. Sugar refining, brewing, iron working, and carpet manufacturing are the chief indus...

soapstone

(Encyclopedia)soapstone or steatite stēˈətīt [key], metamorphic rock of which the characteristic and usually chief mineral is talc, but which also contains varying parts of chlorite, mica, tremolite, quartz, ma...

Terni

(Encyclopedia)Terni tārˈnē [key], city (1991 pop. 108,248), capital of Terni prov., Umbria region, central Italy, on the Nera River. Its manufactures include iron and steel, munitions, textiles, machinery, and c...

bauxite

(Encyclopedia)bauxite bôkˈsīt, bŏkˈ– [key], mixture of hydrated aluminum oxides usually containing oxides of iron and silicon in varying quantities. A noncrystalline substance formerly thought to be a minera...

vegetable

(Encyclopedia)vegetable, term originally used for any plant, now the name for many food plants, most of them annuals, and for their edible parts. There is no clear botanical distinction between vegetables and fruit...

Browse by Subject