Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Family Compact, in Canadian history

(Encyclopedia)Family Compact, name popularly applied to a small, powerful group of men who dominated the government of Upper Canada (Ontario) from the closing years of the 18th cent. to the beginnings of responsibl...

blazonry

(Encyclopedia)blazonry blāˈzənrē [key], science of describing or depicting armorial bearings. The introduction, since the Middle Ages, of artificial rules and fanciful medieval terms has complicated the science...

Mackenzie

(Encyclopedia)Mackenzie, river, c.1,120 mi (1,800 km) long, issuing from Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada, and flowing generally NW to the Arctic Ocean through a great delta. Between Great Slave Lake...

Nunavut

(Encyclopedia)Nunavut no͞oˈnəvo͞otˌ [key] [Inuktituk,=our land], territory (2001 pop. 26,745), 772,260 sq mi (2,000,671 sq km), NE Canada. The capital and largest town is Iqaluit on Baffin Island at Frobisher ...

Adirondack Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Adirondack Mountains ădˌərŏnˈdăk [key], mountain mass, NE N.Y., between the St. Lawrence valley in the north and the Mohawk valley in the south; rising to 5,344 ft (1,629 m) at Mt. Marcy, the hi...

Saint Lawrence

(Encyclopedia)Saint Lawrence, one of the principal rivers of North America, 744 mi (1,197 km) long. It issues from the northeastern end of Lake Ontario and flows northeast, first along the U.S.-Canadian border, the...

Métis, in Canadian history and society

(Encyclopedia)Métis [Fr.,=mixed], person of mixed racial heritage, particularly a descendant of French and English fur traders and indigenous women, principally in the Canadian prairie provinces of Alberta, Manito...

Labrador-Ungava

(Encyclopedia)Labrador-Ungava lăbˈrədôrˌ-əngāˈvə, –əngävˈə [key], peninsular region of E Canada, c.550,000 sq mi (1,424,500 sq km), bounded on the W by Hudson Bay, on the N by Hudson Strait and Ungav...

Hudson Bay

(Encyclopedia)Hudson Bay, inland sea of North America, c.475,000 sq mi (1,230,000 sq km), c.850 mi (1,370 km) long and c.650 mi (1,050 km) wide, E central Canada. Hudson Bay and James Bay (its southern extension) a...

Browse by Subject