Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Narmada nərmŭˈdə [key], river, c.775 mi (1,250 km) long, rising in Madhya Pradesh state, central India, and flowing W between the Satpura and Vindhya ranges through Gujarat state to the Gulf of Kh...

(Encyclopedia) marathon race, long-distance foot race deriving its name from Marathon, Greece. According to legend, in 490 b.c., Pheidippides, a runner from Marathon, carried news of victory over the Persians to Ath...

(Encyclopedia) Morton, Thomas, fl. 1622–47, English trader and adventurer in New England. He visited New England in 1622 and returned in 1625 with Captain Wollaston, who founded a settlement at Mt. Wollaston (now ...

(Encyclopedia) Birmingham bûrˈmĭnghămˌ [key] 1 City (2020 pop. 200,733), seat of Jefferson co., N centr...

(Encyclopedia) air mass, large body of air within the earth's atmosphere in which temperature and humidity, although varying at different heights, remain similar throughout the body at any one height. Air masses for...

(Encyclopedia) Intracoastal Waterway, c.3,000 mi (4,827 km) long, partly natural, partly artificial, providing sheltered passage for commercial and leisure boats along the U.S. Atlantic coast from Boston, Mass. to K...

(Encyclopedia) X Prize Foundation, private, nonprofit prize institute est. 1995 by commercial space entrepreneur Peter Diamandis. Based in Santa Monica, Calif., and funded by foundations and private individuals and ...

(Encyclopedia) Samara səmäˈrə [key], formerly Kuybyshev, city (1989 pop. 1,254,000), capital of its region, E central European Russia, on the left bank of the Volga and at the mouth of the Samara River. It is a ...

(Encyclopedia) Greely, Adolphus Washington, 1844–1935, American army officer and arctic explorer, b. Newburyport, Mass. Entering the Union army at 17, he emerged a brevet major of volunteers at the end of the Civi...

(Encyclopedia) McEnroe, John Patrick, Jr. măkˈənrōˌ [key], 1959–, American tennis player, b. Weisbaden, West Germany. He grew up in Douglaston, Queens, N.Y. After winning the National Collegiate Athletic Asso...