Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) monsoon mŏnso͞on [key] [Arab., mausium=season], wind that changes direction with change of season, notably in India and SE Asia. To a lesser degree, monsoonal winds also develop in portions of all o...

(Encyclopedia) Dinaric Alps dīnârˈĭk [key], Ital. Alpi Dinariche, Serbo-Croatian Dinara Planina, mountain system, extending c.400 mi (640 km) along the east coast of the Adriatic Sea from the Isonzo River, NE It...

(Encyclopedia) black snake, name for several snakes, not all closely related, that are black in color. In the United States the name is applied chiefly to the black racer and to the black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta)...

(Encyclopedia) bluebird, common name for a North American migratory bird of the family Turdidae (thrush family). The eastern bluebird, Sialia sialis, is among the first spring arrivals in the North. It is about 7 in...

(Encyclopedia) Bynner, Witter bĭnˈər [key], 1881–1968, American poet, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Harvard, 1902. As a poet Bynner had a remarkable facility for catching the cadences of other writers and cultures. ...

(Encyclopedia) Cévennes sāvĕnˈ [key], mountain range, S France, bordering the Massif Central on the southeast. The Cévennes proper occupy the central section of a mountainous arc (average height 3,000 ft/910 m)...

(Encyclopedia) Coast Mountains, range, W British Columbia and SE Alaska, extending c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) parallel to the Pacific coast, from the mountains of Alaska near the Yukon border to the Cascade Range near th...

(Encyclopedia) Hovhaness, Alan hōvhäˈnəs [key], 1911–2000, American composer, b. Somerville, Mass., as Alan Vaness Chakmakjian. Hovhaness was of Armenian and Scottish descent, and many of his works are based o...

(Encyclopedia) Arafat äräfäˈ [key], granite hill, Saudi Arabia, near Mecca. The hill was an ancient pagan sanctuary and is shrouded in many legends. It is a site for prayers during the hajj, the annual Muslim pi...

(Encyclopedia) sky, apparent dome over the earth, background of the clouds, sun, moon, and stars. The blue color of the clear daytime sky results from the selective scattering of light rays by the minute particles o...