Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) sunspots, dark, usually irregularly shaped spots on the sun's surface that are actually solar magnetic storms. The spots are darker because the temperature of the spots is lower than that of the surro...

(Encyclopedia) Weimar vīˈmär [key], city (1994 pop. 58,807), E Thuringia, central Germany, on the Ilm River. It is an industrial, transportation, and cultural center. Manufactures include agricultural machinery, ...

(Encyclopedia) Pyrenees pĭrˈənēz [key], Span. Pirineos, Fr. Pyrénées, mountain chain of SW Europe, 21,380 sq mi (55,374 sq km), between France and Spain, a formidable barrier between the Iberian Peninsula and ...

(Encyclopedia) Scott, Sir Walter, 1771–1832, Scottish novelist and poet, b. Edinburgh. He is considered the father of both the regional and the historical novel. Scott's narrative poems introduced a form of v...

(Encyclopedia) Leipzig līpˈtsĭkh [key], city (1994 pop. 490,850), Saxony, E central Germany, at the confluence of the Pleisse, White Elster, and Parthe rivers. Originally a Slavic settlement called Lipsk, Leipz...

(Encyclopedia) New South Wales, state (2016 pop. 7,480,228), 309,443 sq mi (801,457 sq km), SE Australia. It is bounded on the E by the Pacific Ocean. Sydney is the capital. The other principal urban centers are New...

(Encyclopedia) Northern Mariana Islands märēäˈnä [key], officially Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a self-governing entity in association with the United States (2015 est. pop. 55,000), c.185 sq m...

(Encyclopedia) Baghdad or Bagdad both: băgˈdăd, bägdädˈ [key], city (2020 pop. 7,144,000), cap...

(Encyclopedia) Dickinson, Emily, 1830–86, American poet, b. Amherst, Mass. She is widely considered one of the greatest poets in American literature. Her unique, gemlike lyrics are distillations of profound feelin...

(Encyclopedia) Andalusia änˌdälo͞othēˈä [key], autonomous community, 33,821 sq mi (87,596 sq km), S Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the Atlantic Ocea...