Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

James, Henry, American novelist and critic

(Encyclopedia)James, Henry, 1843–1916, American novelist and critic, b. New York City. A master of the psychological novel, James was an innovator in technique and one of the most distinctive prose stylists in En...

South African War

(Encyclopedia)South African War or Boer War, 1899–1902, war of the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State against Great Britain. The Boers accepted British sovereignty in exchange for a ...

Pendlebury, John Devitt Stringfellow

(Encyclopedia)Pendlebury, John Devitt Stringfellow, 1904–41, British archaeologist. He participated in expeditions to Macedonia (1928) and Tell el Amarna (1928–29 and 1930–36). From 1930 to 1934 he was curato...

Carolina campaign

(Encyclopedia)Carolina campaign, 1780–81, of the American Revolution. After Sir Henry Clinton had captured Charleston, he returned to New York, leaving a British force under Cornwallis to subordinate the Carolina...

Coffin, Sir Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Coffin, Sir Isaac, 1759–1839, British naval officer, b. Boston, Mass. From a loyalist family, he fought for the British in the American Revolution and in the French Revolutionary Wars; at the end of...

Esquimalt

(Encyclopedia)Esquimalt skwīˈmôlt, –mălt, ĕskwīˈ– [key], regional district, on Vancouver...

Downing Street

(Encyclopedia)Downing Street, Westminster, London, England. On the street are the British Foreign Office and, at No. 10, the residence of the first lord of the Treasury, who is usually (although not necessarily) th...

Waitangi, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Waitangi, Treaty of (Feb. 6, 1840), a pact between some Maori tribes of New Zealand and the British Gov. William Hobson. The treaty protected Maori land interests in exchange for recognition of Britis...

Lobengula

(Encyclopedia)Lobengula lōˌbĕng-go͞oˈlə [key], c.1833–94, king of Matabeleland (now in Zimbabwe). After succeeding his father (1870), he tried to turn aside the approaches of European colonizers. In 1888, h...

Rasles, Sébastien

(Encyclopedia)Rasles, Sébastien sābästyăNˈ räl [key], 1657?–1724, French Jesuit missionary in North America. Arriving in present-day Maine in 1689, he spent two years with the Abnaki in Acadia. He then beca...

Browse by Subject