Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Koko Head ... Komandor Islands

Koko Head: cape and landmark, Honolulu county, on the southeastern coast of Oahu island, Hawaii, U.S. It lies across from Diamond Head 9 miles (14 km) east on Maunalua Bay. Formed by secondary volcanic eruptions of the Koolau Range more than 10,000 ...
Koko Nor: lake, Tsinghai Province, China. It is the largest drainless mountain lake of Central Asia. It is situated at an elevation of 10,515 ft (3,205 m) in the Nan Shan (Nan Mountain) system of China in a depression at approximately 37° ...
Kokomo: city, seat (1844) of Howard county, north-central Indiana, U.S., on Wildcat Creek, 52 miles (84 km) north of Indianapolis. In 1844 David Foster, a trader, laid out the village of Kokomo (named for a Miami chieftain) on part of the ...
Kokoschka, Oskar: Austrian painter and writer who was one of the leading exponents of Expressionism. In his early portraits, gesture intensifies the psychological penetration of character; especially powerful among his later works are allegories of the artist's emphatic humanism. His dramas, poems, ...
Kokubunji: city, Tokyo to (metropolis), Honshu, Japan. It lies along the Chuo Main Line, east of Tokyo city. The city first developed around the Kokubun Temple, built in the 8th century for a group of Buddhist nuns, and was an early ...
Kokugaku: (Japanese: "National Learning"), movement in late 17th- and 18th-century Japan that emphasized Japanese classical studies. The movement received impetus from the Neo-Confucianists, who stressed the importance of Chinese Classical literature. The Mito school of scholars, for example, initiated a monumental ...
Kol Nidre: (Aramaic: "All Vows"), a prayer sung in Jewish synagogues at the beginning of the service on the eve of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). The name, derived from the opening words, also designates the melody to which the prayer is ...
kola nut: caffeine-containing nut of Cola acuminata and Cola nitida, trees of the cocoa family (Sterculiaceae) native to tropical Africa and cultivated extensively in the American tropics. The evergreen tree grows to 18.3 m (60 feet) and resembles the chestnut. The 5-centimetre- ...
Kola Peninsula: large promontory in Murmansk oblast (province), far northern Russia. The Kola Peninsula covers some 40,000 square miles (100,000 square km) and extends across the Arctic Circle for about 190 miles (305 km) north-south and 250 miles (400 km) east-west, separating ...
Kolar: city, southeastern Karnataka (formerly Mysore) state, southern India. The city lies in Karnataka's dry zone, with scrub vegetation suitable for sheep raising in the surrounding area. Kolar's manufactures include woolen blankets, leather goods, pencils, and handloomed silk and coarse cotton ...
Kolar Gold Fields: city, southeastern Karnataka (formerly Mysore) state, southern India. It lies on a Southern Railway spur that loops from Bangarapet to Bangalore. Economic activities centre on the goldfields, which are the southern portion of a gold-bearing region that extends for 40 ...
Kolbe, Hermann: German chemist who accomplished the first generally accepted synthesis of an organic compound from inorganic materials.
Kolbe, Saint Maksymilian Maria: Franciscan priest and religious founder martyred by the Nazis for aiding Jewish refugees during World War II.
Kolchak, Aleksandr Vasilyevich: Arctic explorer and naval officer, who was recognized in 1919-20 by the "Whites" as supreme ruler of Russia; after his overthrow he was put to death by the Bolsheviks.
Kolcsey, Ferenc: Hungarian Romantic poet whose poem "Hymnusz" (1823), evoking the glory of Hungary's past, became the national anthem of Hungary.
Kold, Kristen Mikkelsen: educator who did more than anyone else of his time to promote the folk high-school movement in Denmark.
Koldewey, Robert: German architect and archaeologist who revealed the semilegendary Babylon of the Bible as a geographic and historical reality.
Kolding: city, Vejle amtskommune (county commune), eastern Jutland, Denmark. It lies at the head of Kolding Fjord, north of Haderslev. The name occurs in the 10th century, but the earliest-known town rights date from 1321. The settlement grew up around Koldinghus, ...
Kolea: town, northern Algeria. It is located about 17 miles (27 km) southwest of Algiers, on the southern, inland slopes of the coastal hills overlooking the valley of Wadi Mazafran and the Mitidja plain. It was founded in 1550 by Khayr ...
Kolehmainen, Hannes: Finnish athlete who was the first of the great modern Finnish long-distance runners. Noted for his exceptional endurance, he won four Olympic gold medals.
Kolguyev Island: island, Arkhangelsk oblast (province), northwestern Russia. Kolguyev lies in the Barents Sea and is 45 miles (72 km) off the mainland. About 3,220 square miles (5,200 square km) in area, it is an island of bogs and morainic hills, covered ...
Kolhapur: city, southwestern Maharashtra state, western India, on the Pancaganga River. It was the capital of the former princely state of Kolhapur and seat of the British residency for Deccan states. An early centre of Buddhism, the city contains a 9th-century ...
Koli: large caste living in the central and western mountain area of India, numbering about 650,000 in the late 20th century. The largest group of Koli live in Maharashtra and Gujarat states. Although identified as cultivators and labourers, many Koli survive ...
kolinsky: any of several species of Asian weasels. See weasel.
Kolkhida: coastal lowland plain of the eastern Black Sea, in Georgia. Named for the ancient kingdom of Colchis, it comprises the combined alluvial plains of the Rioni, Inguri, and other rivers rising in the Greater Caucasus range, which encloses the plain ...
kolkhoz: in the former Soviet Union, a cooperative agricultural enterprise operated on state-owned land by peasants from a number of households who belonged to the collective and who were paid as salaried employees on the basis of quality and quantity of ...
Kollar, Jan: Slovak poet who played an important part in the national and literary revival of the Slavs in the early 19th century.
Kollataj, Hugo: Polish Roman Catholic priest, reformer, and politician who was prominent in the movement for national regeneration in the years following the First Partition of Poland (1772).
Kollek, Teddy: Israeli politician who was mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993.
Koller, Carl: Czech-born American ophthalmic surgeon whose introduction of cocaine as a surface anesthetic in eye surgery (1884) inaugurated the modern era of local anesthesia.
Kolleru Lake: lake in northeastern Andhra Pradesh state, southern India. It lies between the Godavari and Krishna river deltas near the town of Eluru (Ellore). During the height of the monsoon season the lake may expand to 100 square miles (260 square ...
Kolliker, Rudolf Albert von: Swiss embryologist and histologist, one of the first to interpret tissue structure in terms of cellular elements.
Kollontay, Aleksandra Mikhaylovna: nee Domontovich Russian revolutionary who advocated radical changes in traditional social customs and institutions in Russia and who later, as a Soviet diplomat, became the first woman to serve as an accredited minister to a foreign country.
Kollwitz, Kathe: German graphic artist and sculptor who was an eloquent advocate for victims of social injustice, war, and inhumanity.
Kolmogorov, Andrey Nikolayevich: Russian mathematician whose work influenced many branches of modern mathematics, especially harmonic analysis, probability, set theory, information theory, and number theory. A man of broad culture, with interests in technology, history, and education, he played an active role in the ...
kolo: communal dance of some Balkan areas, the many variations of which are performed at weddings and other festive occasions. The name probably derives from the Old Slavic word for "wheel." The dance may be performed in a closed circle, in ...
Kolobrzeg: city, Zachodniopomorskie wojewodztwo (province), northwestern Poland. It lies at the mouth of the Parseta River on the Baltic Sea. It is a port and health spa, with its economy relying on fishing and tourism.
Kolodny, Annette: American literary critic, one of the first to use feminist criticism to interpret American literary works and cultural history.
Kolokotronis, Theodoros: prominent Greek patriot in the War of Greek Independence (1821-30).
Kolomenskoye: locality and former royal estate, on the right bank of the Moskva River, since 1960 part of the southeastern sector of the city of Moscow, western Russia. The village of Kolomenskoye developed around an estate first mentioned in the 1339 ...
Kolomna: city, Moscow oblast (province), western Russia. It lies southeast of Moscow near the confluence of the Moskva and Oka rivers. First mentioned in 1177, Kolomna formed a key stronghold on Moscow's southern frontier; it was sacked four times by the ...
Kolomyya: city, Ivano-Frankovsk oblast (province), western Ukraine, on the Prut River. Documents first mention the city in 1240. It is now a trading centre for the surrounding area, and it has various light industries. Agricultural machinery is also manufactured, and there ...
Kolowrat, Anton, Graf von: (count of) Austrian statesman, longtime ministerial chief of domestic affairs in the Austrian Empire (1826-48), and the principal political rival of Prince Klemens von Metternich.
kolp'um: (Korean: "bone rank"), Korean hereditary status system used to rank members of the official class of the Unified Silla dynasty (668-935).
Kolreuter, Josef Gottlieb: German botanist who was a pioneer in the study of plant hybrids. He was first to develop a scientific application of the discovery, made in 1694 by the German botanist Rudolph Jacob Camerarius, of sex in plants.
Koltsov, Aleksey Vasilyevich: poet whose works describe the Russian peasant life in which he was brought up.
Kolwezi: city, southeastern Congo (Kinshasa). It lies near the Zilo Gorges of the Lualaba River (a tributary of the Congo) on the Lubumbashi-Lobito road and rail line and also has air transport facilities to Lubumbashi. Mineral deposits in the area were ...
Kolyma River: river in northeastern Siberia, far eastern Russia, rising in the Kolyma Mountains. It is 1,323 miles (2,129 km) long and drains an area of 250,000 square miles (647,000 square km). In its upper course it flows through narrow gorges, with ...
Kolyma Upland: mountain tract in northeastern Siberia, Russia. It lies along the northeastern shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, which it separates from the extensive Kolyma Lowland that drains northward to the East Siberian Sea. A confused mass of ranges and uplands ...
Komaki: city, Aichi ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, north of Nagoya. It was a post town during the Tokugawa period (1603-1867) and an agricultural trade centre for the surrounding region. The city later developed as a residential suburb of Nagoya. Komaki's most ...
Komandor Islands: group of four islands, Kamchatka oblast (province), extreme eastern Russia. Geographically part of the Aleutian Islands, the group is situated in the southwestern part of the Bering Sea, about 110 miles (180 km) east of Kamchatka Peninsula. Both the group ...