Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Fire Island, barrier beach, 32 mi (52 km) long, off the south shore of Long Island, SE N.Y., separating Great South Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Robert Moses State Park is at its west end. Once access...

(Encyclopedia) Tropic of Capricorn, parallel of latitude at 23°30′ south of the equator; it is the southern boundary of the tropics. This parallel marks the farthest point south at which the sun can be seen direc...

(Encyclopedia) Scapa Flow skăpˈə [key], area of water, 15 mi (24 km) long and 8 mi (12.9 km) wide, in the Orkney Islands, off N Scotland. It is bounded by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsa...

(Encyclopedia) Soweto [acronym for south-west townships], city, now part of City of Johannesburg metropolitan municipality, Gauteng prov., NE South Africa. Located 10 mi (16 km) SW of Johannesburg, Soweto grew as bl...

(Encyclopedia) Massachusetts Bay, inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. The bay, with its arms (Boston, Cape Cod, and Plymouth bays), extends 65 mi (105 km) from Cape Ann on the north to Cape Cod on the south. Its coastline ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Pacific Ocean, largest and deepest ocean, c.70,000,000 sq mi (181,300,000 sq km), occupying about one third of the earth's surface; named by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan; the southern part i...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Namibia nämĭbˈēə [key], officially Republic of Namibia, republic (2015 est. pop. 2,426,000), c.318,000 sq mi (823,620 sq km), SW Africa. It is bordered by Angola in the north, by Zambia in...

(Encyclopedia) Vietnam War, conflict in Southeast Asia, primarily fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerrilla forces aided by North Vietnam. The war began soon after th...

(Encyclopedia) Mishawaka mĭshəwôkˈə [key], city (1990 pop. 42,608), St. Joseph co., N Ind., on both banks of the St. Joseph River and adjacent to South Bend; settled c.1830, inc. 1899. Mishawaka's industries ar...

(Encyclopedia) Deventer, Sir Jacob Louis van yäˈkōp lo͞oēˈ fän dĕfˈəntər [key], 1874?–1922, Boer general. In the South African War he commanded guerrilla forces in the Cape Colony. During World War I he...