Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Miocene epoch mīˈəsēn [key], fourth epoch of the Tertiary period in the Cenozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), lasting from around 24.6 to 5.1 mill...

(Encyclopedia) Huang He, Hwang Ho both: hwängˈ ho͝oˈ [key], or Yellow River, great river of N China, c.3,000 mi (4,830 km) long, rising in the twin lakes Gyaring and Ngoring in the Kunlun Mts., NW Qinghai prov....

(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) arnica ärˈnəkə [key], any plant of the genus Arnica, yellow-flowered perennials of the family Asteraceae (aster family), native to north temperate and arctic regions. In North America, arnicas gro...

(Encyclopedia) Niobrara nīəbrârˈə [key], river, c.430 mi (690 km) long, rising in the High Plains, E Wyo., and flowing E across N Nebraska to the Missouri River on Nebraska's northeast border. The Mirage Flats ...

(Encyclopedia) Orontes ōrŏnˈtēs [key], Arab. Nahr al-Asi, river, c.250 mi (400 km) long, rising in the northern part of the Al Biqa valley, Lebanon, and flowing generally N through Syria, then W into S Turkey an...

(Encyclopedia) Ashokan Reservoir əshōˈkən [key], 13 sq mi (34 sq km), SE N.Y., completed 1912. It is supplied by the Esopus and Schoharie watersheds and provides part of New York City's water supply. Water is ca...

(Encyclopedia) Perry, Rick (James Richard Perry), 1950–, American politician, governor of Texas (2000–2015), b. Haskell, Tex. A fifth-generation Texan from the state's agricultural western plains, he attended Te...

(Encyclopedia) Alliance. 1 City, seat of Box Butte co., NW Nebr., in the High Plains; founded 1887 as Grand Lake, renamed and inc. 1888. Located in a farming and ranching region, it is a shipping c...

(Encyclopedia) Smith, George Elwood, 1930–, American physicist, b. White Plains, N.Y., Ph.D., Univ. of Chicago, 1959. Smith was a researcher at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J., from 1959 until his retiremen...