Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

376 results found

Chahar

(Encyclopedia)Chahar chä-här [key], former province (109,527 sq mi/283,675 sq km), N China. Zhangjiakou (Kalgan) was the capital. It was abolished as a province in 1952; most of it was incorporated in the Inner M...

Nivernais

(Encyclopedia)Nivernais nēvĕrnāˈ [key], region and former province, central France. It roughly coincides with Nièvre dept. Drained by the Loire and the Yonne, it is a hilly plateau, rising to the Morvan Mts. i...

Beauce

(Encyclopedia)Beauce bōs [key], region, in Orléanais, N France, in the Paris Basin, between the Seine and Loir rivers. It now comprises Eure-et-Loir dept. and parts of Loiret and Loir-et-Cher. It is the “granar...

Paektu, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Paektu or Baekdu, Mount, volcanic peak, 9,003 ft (2,744 m) high, in the Changbai Mts. on the border between North Korea and China. The highest mountain in Korea, it rises from a basalt lava plateau th...

Yellowstone National Park

(Encyclopedia)Yellowstone National Park, 2,219,791 acres (899,015 hectares), the world's first national park (est. 1872), NW Wyo., extending into Montana and Idaho. It lies mainly on a broad plateau in the Rocky Mt...

Huambo

(Encyclopedia)Huambo nōˈvə lēzhvōˈə [key], city (1983 est. pop. 203,000), W central Angola. The chief town of inland Angola, Huambo stands on a high plateau and serves as a road, rail, and air transport hub ...

Iberian Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Iberian Peninsula, c.230,400 sq mi (596,740 sq km), SW Europe, separated from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees. Comprising Spain and Portugal, it is washed on the N and W by the Atlantic Ocean and o...

Helvetia

(Encyclopedia)Helvetia hĕlvĕˈshə [key], region of central Europe, occupying the plateau between the Alps and the Jura mts. The name is derived from the Roman term for its inhabitants, the predominantly Celtic H...

Hattin, Battle of

(Encyclopedia)Hattin, Battle of hättēnˈ [key], battle on July 4, 1187, in N Palestine, where Saladin's Muslim forces defeated the Christian armies of Guy de Lusignan. When Saladin attacked Tiberias in July, 1187...

Hardangerfjord

(Encyclopedia)Hardangerfjord härdängˈərfyôrˈ [key], second largest fjord of Norway, penetrating 114 mi (183 km) from the Atlantic Ocean into Hordaland co., SW Norway. A southern branch, the Sørfjord, cleaves...