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isthmus

(Encyclopedia)isthmus ĭsˈməs [key], narrow neck of land connecting two larger land areas. Since it commands the only land route between two large areas and is on two seas, an isthmus has great strategical and co...

Leh

(Encyclopedia)Leh lā [key], town (2011 pop. 30,870), Ladakh, E Kashmir, N India. It is the headquarters of Ladakh union territory and of the Leh district in Indian-controlled Kashmir. It lies at an altitude of c.1...

Palk Strait

(Encyclopedia)Palk Strait pôk, pôlk [key], 40 to 85 mi (64–137 km) wide, between India and Sri Lanka. At its southern end, it is studded with shoal reefs, forming Adam's Bridge (or Rama's Bridge), and by small ...

Tlemcen

(Encyclopedia)Tlemcen tlĕmsĕnˈ [key], city (1998 pop. 155,162), NW Algeria, capital of Tlemcen prov. Its location on a crossroads between the Mediterranean coast and the Sahara and between Algeria and Morocco ha...

Bonneville Dam

(Encyclopedia)Bonneville Dam bŏnˈəvĭl [key], one of the major dams on the Columbia River where it passes through the Cascade Mts., between Oregon and Wash. The dam, 2,690 ft (820 m) long and 197 ft (60 m) high,...

Brenner Pass

(Encyclopedia)Brenner Pass brĕˈnər [key], Ital. Brennero, Alpine pass, 4,495 ft (1,370 m) high, connecting Innsbruck, Austria, with Bolzano, Italy. The lowest of the principal Alpine passes, it was an important ...

Bresse

(Encyclopedia)Bresse brĕs [key], region, in Burgundy, E France, between the Ain and Saône rivers. Bourg-en-Bresse is the historic capital. A fertile farm area, it is famous for its chickens and wines. To the sout...

Alcott, Louisa May

(Encyclopedia)Alcott, Louisa May, 1832–88, American author, b. Germantown, Pa.; daughter of Bronson Alcott. Mostly educated by her father, she was a friend of Emerson and Thoreau, and her first book, Flower Fable...

Wilson, Edward Osborne

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Edward Osborne, 1929–2021, American sociobiologist, b. Birmingham, Ala., Univ. of Alabama (B.S., 1949; M.S.,1950), Harvard Univ (Ph.D., 1955)....

metric system

(Encyclopedia) CE5 metric system, system of weights and measures planned in France and adopted there in 1799; it has since been adopted by most of the technologically developed countries of the world. It is based...
 

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