Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Speer, Albert älˈbĕrt shpār [key], 1905–81, German architect and National Socialist (Nazi) leader. A member of the Nazi party from 1931, he became its official architect after Hitler came to pow...

(Encyclopedia) Rocky Mountains, major mountain system of W North America and easternmost belt of the North American cordillera, extending more than 3,000 mi (4,800 km) from central N.Mex. to NW Alaska; Mt. Elbert (1...

(Encyclopedia) Lebanon, ancient Libanus, mountain range, c.100 mi (160 km) long, paralleling the Mediterranean Sea from S Lebanon N into Syria and rising steeply from the coast. Qurnet as Sawda (10,131 ft/3,088 m) i...

(Encyclopedia) Hispaniola ĕspänyōˈlä [key], second largest island of the West Indies, 29,530 sq mi (76,483 sq km), between Cuba and Puerto Rico. Haiti occupies the western third of the island and the Dominican ...

(Encyclopedia) Clermont-Ferrand klĕrmôNˈ-fĕräNˈ [key], city, capital of Puy-de-Dôme dept., central France, in ...

(Encyclopedia) Wappinger wŏpˈĭnjər [key], confederation of Native North Americans of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the early 17th cent. the...

(Encyclopedia) Tian Shan or Tien Shan both: tēĕn shän [key] [Chin.,=celestial mountains], mountain system of central Asia, extending c.1,500 mi (2,410 km) from the Pamir Mts., Tajikistan, NE through the Xinjiang ...

(Encyclopedia) Saipan sīˈpăn, sīpänˈ [key], volcanic island (2010 pop. 48,220), 47 sq mi (122 sq km), W Pacific, capital of the Northern Mariana Islands. It is mountainous; the highest peak is Mt. Tagpochau (1...

(Encyclopedia) Rajputana räjˌpo͝otäˈnə [key], historic region, NW India; roughly coextensive with the modern Indian state of Rajasthan. The name means “land of the Rajputs.” Rajput tribal power rose here b...

(Encyclopedia) Ghats gŏts [key] [Hindi,=steps], two mountain ranges of S India, paralleling the coasts of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal and forming two sides of the Deccan plateau. Anai Mudi (8,841 ft/2,695...