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Great Smoky Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Appalachian system, on the N.C.–Tenn. border; highest range E of the Mississippi and one of the oldest uplands on earth. The mountains are named for the smokelike ...

French Revolutionary calendar

(Encyclopedia)French Revolutionary calendar, the official calendar of France, Nov. 24, 1793–Dec. 31, 1805. Its introduction was decreed by the Convention on Oct. 5, 1793, but it was computed from Sept. 22, 1792, ...

Galveston

(Encyclopedia)Galveston gălˈvəstən [key], city (2020 pop. 50,546), seat of Galveston co., on Galveston ...

orangutan

(Encyclopedia)orangutan ōrăngˈo͝otăn [key], an ape of the genus Pongo, found in rain forests of Borneo and Sumatra. Highly specialized for arboreal life, orangutans usually travel by grasping branches with han...

Bellow, Saul

(Encyclopedia)Bellow, Saul, 1915–2005, American novelist, b. Lachine, Que., as Solomon Bellow, grad. Northwestern Univ., 1937. Born of Russian-Jewish parents, he grew up in the slums of Montreal and Chicago, and ...

United Nations Conference on Environment and Development

(Encyclopedia)United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) or Earth Summit, an 11-day meeting held in June, 1992, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to discuss the global conflict between economic devel...

Tohono O'Odham

(Encyclopedia)Tohono O'Odham păpˈəgōˌ, päˈ– [key], Native North Americans speaking a language that belongs to the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock (see Native American languages) and...

Savonarola, Girolamo

(Encyclopedia)Savonarola, Girolamo jērōˈlämō sävōnärōˈlä [key], 1452–98, Italian religious reformer, b. Ferrara. He joined (1475) the Dominicans. In 1481 he went to San Marco, the Dominican house at Fl...

climate

(Encyclopedia)climate, average condition of the atmosphere near the earth's surface over a long period of time, taking into account temperature, precipitation (see rain), humidity, wind, barometric pressure, and ot...

Herzog, Werner

(Encyclopedia)Herzog, Werner, 1942–, German director, screenwriter, and producer; originally named Werner Stipetic. A leading contemporary German filmmaker, Herzog is known for his vivid and poetic films. He made...