Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) martial arts, various forms of self-defense, usually weaponless, based on techniques developed in ancient China, India, and Tibet. In modern times they have come into wide use for self-protection, as ...

(Encyclopedia) Čáslavská, Věra, 1942–2016, Czechoslovak gymnast, b. Prague. Čáslavská revolutionized a formerly dance-based sport with her athleticism and panache, winning 22 international titles (seven Oly...

(Encyclopedia) horse racing, trials of speed involving two or more horses. It includes races among harnessed horses with one of two particular gaits, among saddled Thoroughbreds (or, less frequently, quarterhorses) ...

(Encyclopedia) ring, in astronomy, relatively thin band of rocks and dust and ice particles that orbit around a planet in the planet's equatorial plane. All four of the giant planets in the solar system—Jupiter, S...

(Encyclopedia) Hudson, Henry, fl. 1607–11, English navigator and explorer. He was hired (1607) by the English Muscovy Company to find the Northeast Passage to Asia. He failed, and another attempt (1608) to find a ...

(Encyclopedia) Vardø värˈdö [key], town (1995 pop. 3,016), Finnmark co., extreme NE Norway, on the island of Vardøya in the Arctic Ocean, near the entrance to the Varangerfjord. It is an ice-free port; fishing ...

(Encyclopedia) Seward, city (1990 pop. 2,699), Kenai Peninsula borough, S Alaska, on Kenai Peninsula, at the head of Resurrection Bay; inc. 1912. It was founded in 1902 as the ocean terminus of the Alaska RR (built ...

(Encyclopedia) Norwegian Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean, NW of Norway, between the Greenland Sea and the North Sea. It is separated from the Atlantic by a submarine ridge linking Iceland and the Faeroe Islands, and...

(Encyclopedia) Belvidere bĕlˈvĭdērˌ [key], city (2020 pop. 25,117), seat of Boone co., N Ill., on the K...

(Encyclopedia) Davis Strait, c.400 mi (640 km) long and c.180 mi (290 km) wide at the narrowest point, between Greenland and Baffin Island, NE Canada, connecting the Atlantic Ocean and Baffin Bay. Large amounts of i...