Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Garabogazkol kəräˌ-bəgäzˌ-gôlˈ [key], shallow bay,, in Turkmenistan. An arm of the Caspian Sea, it acts as a natural evaporation basin, drawing off the water of the Caspian and depositing salt...

(Encyclopedia)  Rulers of England and Great Britain(including dates of reign) Saxons and Danes House of Normandy House of Blois House of Plantagenet House of Lancaster House of York House of Tudor Ho...

(Encyclopedia) Amazon, Port. Amazonas ämäzōˈnəs [key], world's second longest river, c.3,900 mi (6,280 km) long, formed by the junction in N Peru's Andes Mts. of two major headstreams, the Ucayali and the short...

(Encyclopedia) Carboniferous period kärbənĭfˈərəs [key], fifth period of the Paleozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), from 350 to 290 million years ago. The pl...

(Encyclopedia) Albert, 1819–61, prince consort of Victoria of Great Britain, whom he married in 1840. He was of Wettin lineage, the son of Ernest I, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and first cousin to Victoria. As an a...

(Encyclopedia) Atyrau go͞orˈyĭf [key], city, W Kazakhstan, on the Ural River and near the Caspian Sea. A port, rail center, and an industrial base of the Emba basin oil fields, it has...

(Encyclopedia) Pechora pyĭchôˈrə [key], river, c.1,120 mi (1,800 km) long, rising in the N Urals, N European Russia. It flows generally north through the forest and tundra regions of the Komi Republic and the Ne...

(Encyclopedia) Jinsha shäˈsēˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 683,000), S Hubei prov., China, on the Chang River. It is an important trade center for the N Dongting Lake basin and the site of a massive reservoir bui...

(Encyclopedia) Wissmann, Hermann von hĕrˈmän fən vĭsˈmän [key], 1853–1905, German explorer in Africa. He crossed (1880–82) Africa from Luanda to Zanzibar and, on behalf of Leopold II of Belgium, explored ...

(Encyclopedia) Purbeck, district (1991 pop. 42,600), Dorset, England. Purbeck is filled with the clays of the Hampshire Basin, and is therefore largely infertile. Some minor farming occurs on the chalk plateaus and ...