Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) beer, alcoholic beverage made by brewing and fermenting cereals, especially malted barley, usually with the addition of hops as a flavoring agent and stabilizer. One of the oldest of alcoholic beverag...

(Encyclopedia) Veracruz yäˈbā [key], state (1990 pop. 6,228,239), 27,759 sq mi (71,896 sq km), E central Mexico. The capital is Xalapa. Stretching c.430 mi (690 km) along the Gulf of Mexico and reaching from 30 t...

(Encyclopedia) Shandong or Shantung both: shän-do͝ong [key] [east of the (Taishan) mountains], province (2010 pop. 95,793,065), c.59,000 sq mi (152,850 sq km), NE China. Jinan is the capital. The eastern half of t...

(Encyclopedia) Hainan hīˈnänˈ [key], island and province, c.13,100 sq mi (33,940 sq km), China, in the S...

(Encyclopedia) irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e...

(Encyclopedia) Neolithic period or New Stone Age. The term neolithic is used, especially in archaeology and anthropology, to designate a stage of cultural evolution or technological development characterized by the ...

(Encyclopedia) Bihar or Behar shärēfˈ [key] or Bihar, city, on a tributary of the Ganges River, was the former capital of Magadha. It ...

(Encyclopedia) Sind or Sindh sĭnd [key], province (2017 provisional pop. 47,886,051), c.50,000 sq mi (129,500 sq km), SE Pakistan, roughly coextensive with the lower Indus River valley and bounded by India on the e...

(Encyclopedia) weaverbird, name for the Ploceidae, a family of Old World seed-eating birds closely resembling finches (hence the alternate name weaver finch). It includes a number of so-called goldfinches and waxbil...

(Encyclopedia) Fujian fo͞oˈkēĕnˈ [key], province, c.48,000 sq mi (124,352 sq km), SE China, on Taiwan S...