Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Arlberg

(Encyclopedia)Arlberg ärlˈbĕrk [key], pass, 5,946 ft (1,812 m) high, W Austria, on the boundary between Tyrol and Vorarlberg. The Arlberg region forms the water divide between rivers flowing to the North Sea and...

quadrant, in analytic geometry

(Encyclopedia)quadrant. 1 In analytic geometry, one of the four regions of the plane determined by two lines, the x-axis and the y-axis. Commonly these lines are drawn perpendicular to each other, and the quadrants...

Agulhas, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Agulhas, Cape əgŭˈləs [key] [Port.,=needles], Western Cape province, South Africa; the southernmost point of Africa. Its name refers to the saw-edged reefs and sunken rocks that run out to sea and...

Zillertal Alps

(Encyclopedia)Zillertal Alps tsĭlˈərtälˌ [key], range of the E Alps astride the Austro-Italian border and extending 35 mi (56 km) NE into the Tyrol. The range rises to 11,555 ft (3,522 m) in the Hockfeiler, on...

Johnson, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Thomas, 1732–1819, American political leader, b. Calvert co., Md. A lawyer, he served (1762–73) in the Maryland colonial assembly, where he became prominent in the fight against the Stamp...

Nanling

(Encyclopedia)Nanling nänˈlīngˈ [key], mountain range of Guangdong and Hunan prov. and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, S China; rises to c.6,900 ft (2,100 m). The Nanling form the geographical boundary betwee...

Hazard, Ebenezer

(Encyclopedia)Hazard, Ebenezer, 1744–1817, American public official and historian, b. Philadelphia. He became a publisher in New York City. He was appointed (1775) first postmaster of the city under the Continent...

Lee, Richard Henry

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Richard Henry, 1732–94, political leader in the American Revolution, b. Westmoreland co., Va.; brother of Arthur Lee, Francis L. Lee, and William Lee. He served in the house of burgesses (1758â...

Laurance, John

(Encyclopedia)Laurance, John lôrˈəns [key], 1750–1810, American Revolutionary officer, b. near Falmouth, Cornwall, England; son-in-law of Alexander MacDougall. A lawyer, he was (1777–82) judge advocate gener...

Moody, William Vaughn

(Encyclopedia)Moody, William Vaughn, 1869–1910, American poet and dramatist, b. Spencer, Ind., grad. Harvard, 1893. After writing several verse dramas, Moody achieved wide success with the prose play The Great Di...

Browse by Subject