Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Bab el Mandeb băb ĕl mănˈdĕb [key] [Arab.,= gate of tears], strait, 17 mi (27 km) wide, linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and separating the Arabian peninsula from E Africa. It is an impo...

(Encyclopedia) Pecos pāˈkəs [key], city (1990 pop. 12,069), seat of Reeves co., W Tex., on the Pecos River; inc. 1903. It is a railroad and highway junction and the market for an extensive ranch and irrigated far...

(Encyclopedia) Ouachita Mountains, range of east-west ridges between the Arkansas and Red rivers, extending c.200 mi (320 km) from central Ark. into SE Okla. Magazine Mt. (c.2,800 ft/850 m high) is the tallest peak....

(Encyclopedia) Dionne, Marcel, 1951–, Canadian hockey player, b. Drummondville, Quebec. A talented offensive center, he was drafted (1971) by the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Detroit Red Wings. Moving to the Los...

(Encyclopedia) Disko dĭsˈkō [key], island, 3,312 sq mi (8,578 sq km), in the Davis Strait off W Greenland. It is mountainous (rising to 6,296 ft/1,919 m) and partly glaciated. Telluric iron and lignite have been ...

(Encyclopedia) canker, small sore on the inside of the mouth. A canker appears as a shallow, whitish ulcer surrounded by a thin, red area. It is tender, sometimes painful, and may occur singly or as one of a group o...

(Encyclopedia) carboloy kärˈbəloi [key] [portmanteau word from carbon and alloy], an alloy containing cobalt, tungsten, and carbon. This alloy is extremely hard, harder than steel; it is used to cut steel, porcel...

(Encyclopedia) Arabian Sea, ancient Mare Erythraeum, northwest part of the Indian Ocean, lying between Arabia and India. The Gulf of Aden, extended by the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Oman, extended by the Persian Gulf,...

(Encyclopedia) Kawasaki, Tomisaku, 1925–2020, Japanese pediatrician. He joined (1950–90) what is now the Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, Tokyo, and became director of pediatrics there in 1973. In 1961 he enco...

(Encyclopedia) Beltsville swine, two breeds of swine developed at the agricultural research center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Md. The breeds are designated Beltsville No. 1 and Beltsville N...