Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Zuider Zee zīˈdər zē, zā, Du. zoiˈdər zā [key], former shallow inlet of the North Sea, c.80 mi (130 km) long, indenting NE Netherlands. In ancient times Lake Flevo, it was joined to the North ...

(Encyclopedia) Göta älv yöˌtä ĕlvˈ [key], river, 56 mi (90 km) long, SW Sweden, draining Vänern lake into the Kattegat. It is part of the Göta Canal, a 240-mi (386-km) system of rivers, lakes, and canals, w...

(Encyclopedia) brittlestar, common name for echinoderms belonging to the class Ophiuroidea. The name is derived from their habit of breaking off arms as a means of defense. New arms are easily regenerated. They are ...

(Encyclopedia) symmetry, biological, similarity or balance between parts of an organism so that when a straight cut is made through a point or along a line, equal, mirror-image halves are formed. Symmetry in body sh...

(Encyclopedia) seas, freedom of the, in international law, the principle that outside its territorial waters (see waters, territorial) a state may not claim sovereignty over the seas, except with respect to its own ...

(Encyclopedia) Barbary States, term used for the North African states of Tripolitania, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. From the 16th cent. Tripolitania, Tunisia, and Algeria were autonomous provinces of the Turkish E...

(Encyclopedia) Zin, in the Bible, wilderness through which the Israelites wandered, SW of the Dead Sea.

(Encyclopedia) Kenai Fjords National Park, 669,983 acres (271,248 hectares), S Alaska. The park features the great Harding Icefield and its radiating glaciers, many of which descend to tidewater, and a magnificent s...

(Encyclopedia) Paine, Robert Treat, 3d, 1933–2016, American ecologist, b. Cambridge, Mass., Ph.D. Univ. of Michigan, 1961. He was on the faculty of the Univ. of Washington from 1962 to 1998. Paine's major contribu...

(Encyclopedia) shipwreck, complete or partial destruction of a vessel as a result of collision, fire, grounding, storm, explosion, or other mishap. In the ancient world sea travel was hazardous, but in modern times ...