Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) David, T. W. E. (Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth), 1858–1935, Australian geologist and explorer, b. near Cardiff, Wales. David came to Australia in 1882 as an assistant geological surveyor. In 1891 he...

(Encyclopedia) Nyasa, Lake məläˈwē [key], Port. Niassa, c.11,600 sq mi (30,040 sq km), c.360 mi (580 km) long and from 15 to 50 mi (24–80 km) wide, E central Africa, in the Great Rift Valley. Lake Nyasa, the t...

(Encyclopedia) bobolink bŏbˈəlĭngkˌ [key], common name in the N United States and Canada for an American songbird, Dolichonyx oryzivorus, related to the blackbird and the oriole, belonging to the family Icterid...

(Encyclopedia) Hertzog, James Barry Munnik hûrtˈsŏg, hĕrtˈsôkh [key], 1866–1942, South African military and political leader. Before the South African War, in which he commanded a division of the Boer forces...

(Encyclopedia) Verwoerd, Hendrik Frensch hĕnˈdrək frĕnsh fərvo͞ortˈ [key], 1901–66, South African political leader, b. Holland. He was taken as an infant to South Africa when his parents emigrated as missio...

(Encyclopedia) Thieu, Nguyen Van nəwēˈĕn vän tēˈo͞o, tyo͞o [key], 1924–2001, president of the former Republic of South Vietnam (1967–75). After World War II, he joined the Viet Minh, but then left it to...

(Encyclopedia) Reconstruction, 1865–77, in U.S. history, the period of readjustment following the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical destruction wrought by t...

(Encyclopedia) Rhodes, Cecil John sĕsˈĭl, rōdz [key], 1853–1902, British imperialist and business magnate. A trip in 1875 through the rich territories of Transvaal and Bechuanaland apparently helped to insp...

(Encyclopedia) Lynch, Thomas, 1749–79, political figure in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, known as Thomas Lynch, Jr., b. Prince George Parish, S.C., studied Cambridge and law a...

(Encyclopedia) Omo, river, c.500 mi (805 km) long, central and SW Ethiopia. Rising in the highlands south of Mt. Gorochan, some 40 mi (64 km) ENE of Nekemte, it flows generally south, receiving the Gojeb and Gibe ri...