Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Clipperton Island, uninhabited atoll, c.2 sq mi (5.2 sq km), in the Pacific Ocean, c.800 mi (1,290 km) SW of Mexico. It was used as a base by John Clipperton, an English pirate. The French claimed it ...

(Encyclopedia) Ross Island, in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. Part of the Ross Dependency, the island is separated from Victoria Land by McMurdo Sound. Mt. Erebus, an active volcano, an...

(Encyclopedia) San Juan, city (1990 pop. 437,745), capital, largest city, chief port, and commercial and cultural center of Puerto Rico, NE Puerto Rico. Coffee, tobacco, sugar, and fruit are exported from the busy p...

(Encyclopedia) Block Island, 7 mi (11.2 km) long and 3.5 mi (5.6 km) wide, off S R.I. at the eastern entrance to Long Island Sound. Visited by the Dutch navigator Adriaen Block in 1614, it was settled in 1661. The m...

(Encyclopedia) Ascension əsĕnˈchən [key], island, 34 sq mi (88 sq km), in the S Atlantic, NW of Saint Helena and belonging to the British St. Helena overseas territory. Georgetown i...

(Encyclopedia) Pérez, Juan hwän pāˈrāth [key], d. 1774, Spanish colonial naval officer, explorer on the coast of the Pacific Northwest. In 1774 he commanded a fleet sent by the Spanish viceroy to investigate Ru...

(Encyclopedia) Turks and Caicos Islands kīˈkōs [key], dependency of Great Britain (2015 est. pop. 34,000), 166 sq mi (430 sq km), West Indies. There are more than 30 cays and islands, of which eight are inhabited...

(Encyclopedia) San Francisco Ballet, America's first classical ballet company, est. 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet by the dancer Adolph Bolm. Based at the War ...

(Encyclopedia) Grau San Martín, Ramón rämōnˈ grou sän märtēnˈ [key], 1887–1969, president of Cuba (1933–34, 1944–48). Professor of medicine at the Univ. of Havana, Grau San Martín opposed Gerardo Mac...

(Encyclopedia) Bogoslof Island bōˈgəslôf [key], volcanic islet, c.1.2 mi (.75 km) long, SW Alaska, Aleutian Islands, in the Bering Sea, 61 mi (98 km) NW of Unalaska. The island first appeared in 1796 and has gro...