Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Pôrto Alegre pōrˈto͝o əlĕˈgrə [key], city (1991 pop. 1,263,403), capital of Rio Grande do Sul state, SE Brazil, on the Guaíba River. One of the chief industrial and commercial centers of Braz...

(Encyclopedia) Furnas Dam, c.390 ft (120 m) high, at the junction of the Rio Grande and Sapucaí rivers, SE Brazil, in Minas Gerais state; completed 1962. It has a 620-sq mi (1,606-sq km) reservoir. It includes larg...

(Encyclopedia) Pecos, river, 926 mi (1,480 km) long, rising in N N.Mex. near the Truchas peaks and flowing SE across E N.Mex. and W Tex. to the Rio Grande; drains c.38,300 sq mi (99,200 sq km). In New Mexico, dams a...

(Encyclopedia) Río and Rio, respectively Spanish and Portuguese terms for river. For those not listed here, see under the second element of the name. Thus, for Río Lerma, see Lerma. ...

(Encyclopedia) Caxias do Sul kəshēˈəsh do͝o so͞ol [key], city, Rio Grande do Sul state, S Brazil. It is an important ...

(Encyclopedia) Madeira mədāˈrə [key], river, c.2,100 mi (3,380 km) long, formed by the junction of the Beni and Mamoré rivers on the Bolivia-Brazil border. It flows north along the border for c.60 mi (100 km), ...

(Encyclopedia) sertão sərˈtouN [key] [Port.,=backlands], semiarid hinterland of NE Brazil; c.250,000 sq mi (647,500 sq km). Its characteristic landscape is the caatinga, or thorny scrub forest. The chief occupati...

(Encyclopedia) Grande Prairie Fr. gräNd prâˌrēˈ [key], city, W Alta., Canada, NW of Edmonton. It is the chief business ...

(Encyclopedia) Salado, Río rēˈō säläˈᵺō [key] [Sp.,=salty river], name of several South American rivers, including more than 10 in Argentina. The most important is the Río Salado del Norte (c.1,250 mi/2,0...

(Encyclopedia) Balsas, Río rēˈō bälˈsäs [key], river, c.450 mi (720 km) long, rising in the state of Puebla, E central Mexico. One of Mexico's longest rivers, it flows in a curve from south to northwest throu...