Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Bir Tawil, unclaimed territory, c.795 sq mi (2,060 km), along the E Egypt-Sudan border W of the Halayeb Triangle. Its unclaimed status arose from the peculiarities the disputed border: Bir Tawil lies ...

(Encyclopedia) celestial horizon, one axis of the altazimuth coordinate system. It is the great circle on the celestial sphere midway between the observer's zenith and nadir; it divides the celestial sphere into two...

(Encyclopedia) Huc, Évariste Régis āvärēstˈ rāzhēsˈ ük [key], 1813–60, French Roman Catholic missionary and explorer, a Lazarist priest. In 1844 while in China on a mission, he and two companions began a...

(Encyclopedia) Ilemi Triangle, triangular-shaped region, c.10,000 sq km (3,860 sq mi) in area, at the NW corner of Lake Turkana, E Africa. It borders South Sudan (W), Ethiopia (E) and Kenya (S). A disputed territory...

(Encyclopedia) Skellefteälven shĕlĕfˈtəĕlvˌĕn [key], river, c.255 mi (410 km) long, rising in Norrbotten co., N Sweden, in the mountains along the Norwegian border. It flows SE through Uddjaur lake (30 mi/48...

(Encyclopedia) Song Shan sŭngˈ shänˈ [key], mountain, N central Henan prov., China; one of the five sacred mountains of China. It is famous for the Shaolin Temple, where generations of Buddhist monks have practi...

(Encyclopedia) Windermere wĭnˈdərmēr [key], lake, 10.5 mi (17 km) long and 1 mi (1.6 km) wide, in the Lake District, Cumbria, NW England. It is c.210 ft (60 m) deep and lies among wooded hills near Scafell and o...

(Encyclopedia) York, Alvin Cullum, 1887–1964, American soldier known as Sergeant York, b. Fentress co., Tenn. He was reared on a back-country farm in Tennessee. A conscientious objector at the beginning of World W...

(Encyclopedia) Roseau rōzōˈ [key], town (1991 pop. 15,853) capital and chief port of Dominica, in the Windward Islands in the West Indies. Located on the SW coast of the island. Roseau is on the small Roseau Rive...

(Encyclopedia) Silurian period sĭlo͝orˈēən, sī– [key] [from the Silures, ancient tribe of S Wales, where the period was first studied; named by the British geologist R. I. Murchison], third period of the Pal...