Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) West Allis, city (1990 pop. 63,221), Milwaukee co., SE Wis., a residential and industrial suburb of Milwaukee; inc. 1902. It is a banking center, and there is food processing and the manufacture of mo...

(Encyclopedia) West Island, island (2016 pop. 140), capital of the Cocos Islands, an Australian territory. One of three inhabited islands in the group, its population is mainly Australians of European descent. The i...

(Encyclopedia) West Springfield, town (1990 pop. 27,537), Hampden co., SW Mass., on the Connecticut River opposite Springfield; settled 1654, set off from Springfield and inc. 1774. Light manufactures include paper,...

(Encyclopedia) West Des Moines də moinˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 31,702), Polk co., S central Iowa, a growing suburb W of Des Moines; inc. 1893 as Valley Junction, renamed 1938. Hybrid seed corn and sorghum are grow...

(Encyclopedia) Sackville-West, Vita (Victoria Mary Sackville-West), 1892–1962, English writer; wife of Sir Harold Nicolson and granddaughter of the 2d Baron Sackville. Both she and Nicolson were members of the Blo...

(Encyclopedia) West Nile virus, microorganism and the infection resulting from it, which typically produces no symptoms or a flulike condition. The virus is a flavivirus and is related to a number of viruses that ca...

(Encyclopedia) West New York, town (1990 pop. 38,125), Hudson co., NE N.J., atop the Palisades across the Hudson River from New York City; settled 1790, inc. 1898. It is a residential town with some light industry, ...

(Encyclopedia) West Siberian Plain, an extensive region of continuous flatland, N Asia, comprising the western third of Siberia, Russia. It is bounded on the east by the Yenisei River, on the north by the Arctic Oce...

(Encyclopedia) West, Dame Rebecca, 1892–1983, English novelist and critic, b. Ireland as Cicily Isabel Fairfield. West began her career as a journalist for feminist and suffragist publications. At various times sh...

(Encyclopedia) West, Jessamyn, 1907–84, American novelist, b. Indiana. A Quaker herself, her most famous novel is The Friendly Persuasion (1945), about the conflicts felt by a Quaker farm family during the Civil W...