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sapphire

(Encyclopedia)sapphire, precious stone. A transparent blue corundum, it is classified among the most valuable of gems. Sapphires are found chiefly in Madagascar, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar and also in Thailand, Tanzani...

Voulkos, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Voulkos, Peter, 1924–2002, American ceramist and sculptor who helped establish ceramics as a fine art, b. Bozeman, Mont., B.S. Montana State College (now Montana State Univ.), 1951, M.F.A California...

panhandle

(Encyclopedia)panhandle, in geography, a strip of land projecting from the main body of an area and shaped like the handle of a pan, such as the panhandles of West Virginia, Texas, and Alaska. ...

Kalispel

(Encyclopedia)Kalispel pŏnˌdərāˈ [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). The Kalispel were given...

antipodes, in geography

(Encyclopedia)antipodes [Gr.,=having feet opposite], people or places diametrically opposite on the globe. Thus antipodes must be separated by half the circumference of the earth (180°), and one must be as far nor...

atlas, in geography

(Encyclopedia)atlas, in geography, collection of maps or charts. It usually includes data on various features of a country, e.g., its topography, natural resources, climate, and population, as well as its agricultu...

America, in geography

(Encyclopedia)America [for Amerigo Vespucci], the lands of the Western Hemisphere—North America, Central (or Middle) America, and South America. The world map published in 1507 by Martin Waldseemüller is the fir...

Bozeman, John M.

(Encyclopedia)Bozeman, John M. bōzˈmən [key], 1835–67, American pioneer. A Georgian, he went to the gold fields of Colorado (1861) and Montana (1862). In the winter of 1862–63 he traveled with a companion fr...

Leiden, University of

(Encyclopedia)Leiden, University of, at Leiden, the Netherlands; founded 1575 by William the Silent, Prince of Orange. It became a state institution in the 19th cent. It has faculties of theology, law, medicine, sc...

Bannack

(Encyclopedia)Bannack bănˈək [key], SW Mont. Founded in 1862 when gold was discovered along Grasshopper Creek, Bannack was the first town in Montana and was the first territorial capital (1864–65). It declined...
 

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