Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Akita äˈkētä [key], city, capital of Akita prefecture, NW Honshu, Japan, on the Sea of Japan. A producer of petroleum products and chemicals, Akito city also has a lar...

(Encyclopedia) Cumberland Plateau or Cumberland Mountains, southwestern division of the Appalachian Mt. system, extending northeast to southwest through parts of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee into...

(Encyclopedia) Harz härts [key], mountain range, northern Germany, extending c.60 mi (100 km) between the Elbe and Leine rivers. The rugged mountains were once densely forested. They culminate in Brocken peak (3,74...

(Encyclopedia) haze, suspension in the atmosphere of minute dust or salt particles that are not individually seen but that nevertheless reduce visibility. So-called damp haze and dry haze produce different optical e...

(Encyclopedia) Raabe, Wilhelm vĭlˈhĕlm räˈbə [key], 1831–1910, German novelist, whose pseudonym was Jakob Corvinus. At 23 he began to write novels and tales of village life; the charming idyll Die Chronik de...

(Encyclopedia) Trás-os-Montes träˈzo͝ozhmônˌtĕsh [key], former province of NE Portugal, comprising the districts of Bragança and Vila Real. The capital was Bragança. It is now included with other territory ...

(Encyclopedia) Urmia, Lake ûrˈmēə [key], formerly Lake Rezaiyeh, shallow salt lake, NW Iran; alt. 4,180 ft (1,275 m). The largest lake in Iran, it has no outlet and receives the drainage of the surrounding mount...

(Encyclopedia) Romsdalen ro͞omsˈdälˌĕn [key], valley, c.60 mi (100 km) long, in Møre og Romsdal co., SW Norway, flanked by the mountains of Dovrefjell. It is an ancient passage from the western coast to S Norw...

(Encyclopedia) Ruwenzori ro͞oˌwənzōˈrē [key], mountain range, E central Africa, on the Uganda-Congo border, in the western arm of the Great Rift Valley between lakes Albert and Edward. This fault-block range i...

(Encyclopedia) Altamirano, Ignacio Manuel ēgnäˈsyō mänwĕlˈ ältämēräˈnō [key], 1834–93, Mexican novelist and poet. Altamirano came from a poor family of indigenous descent, and after gaining his formal...