Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Conestoga wagon

(Encyclopedia)Conestoga wagon kŏnˌəstōˈgə [key], heavy freight-carrying vehicle of distinctive type that originated in the Conestoga region of Pennsylvania c.1725. It was used by farmers to carry heavy loads ...

goosefoot

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Lamb's-quarters Chenopodium album, a member of the goosefoot family goosefoot, common name for the genus Chenopodium, as well as for the goosefoot family, Chenopodiaceae, a family of widely di...

fractal geometry

(Encyclopedia)fractal geometry, branch of mathematics concerned with irregular patterns made of parts that are in some way similar to the whole, e.g., twigs and tree branches, a property called self-similarity or s...

instrument-landing system

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Instrument-landing system (ILS), the most common instrument-landing approach system, uses two beams to guide an airplane. instrument-landing system (ILS), ground-based radio system designed to...

Tamaulipas

(Encyclopedia)Tamaulipas tämoulēˈpäs [key], state (1990 pop. 2,249,581), 30,734 sq mi (79,601 sq km), NE Mexico, on the Gulf of Mexico. Ciudad Victoria is the capital. The central and western parts of the state...

catastrophism

(Encyclopedia)catastrophism kətăsˈtrəfĭzəm [key], in geology, the doctrine that at intervals in the earth's history all living things have been destroyed by cataclysms (e.g., floods or earthquakes) and replac...

Urals

(Encyclopedia)Urals or Ural Mountains, E European Russia and NW Kazakhstan, forming, together with the Ural River, the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia and separating the Russian plain from the W Siberi...

Alps

(Encyclopedia)Alps, great mountain system of S central Europe, c.500 mi (800 km) long and c.100 mi (160 km) wide, curving in a great arc from the Riviera coast on the Mediterranean Sea, along the borders of N Italy...

West Virginia

(Encyclopedia)CE5 West Virginia, E central state of the United States. It is bordered by Pennsylvania and Maryland (N, NE), Virginia (E and S), Kentucky (W) and, across the Ohio River, Ohio (NW). Economic cond...

Pennsylvania

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Pennsylvania pĕnsəlvāˈnyə [key], one of the Middle Atlantic states of the United States. It is bordered by New Jersey, across the Delaware River (E), Delaware (SE), Maryland (S), West Virg...