Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

New Westminster

(Encyclopedia)New Westminster, city (1991 pop. 43,585), SW British Columbia, Canada, on the Fraser River, part of metropolitan Vancouver. Founded in 1859 as Queensborough, it was the capital of British Columbia unt...

Conservative party, British political party

(Encyclopedia)Conservative party, British political party, formally the Conservative and Unionist party and a continuation of the historic Tory party. In 1965, Edward Heath became the first leader chosen thro...

Bill of Rights, in British history

(Encyclopedia)Bill of Rights, 1689, in British history, one of the fundamental instruments of constitutional law. It registered in statutory form the outcome of the long 17th-century struggle between the Stuart kin...

Pitt, William, 1759–1806, British statesman

(Encyclopedia)Pitt, William, 1759–1806, British statesman; 2d son of William Pitt, 1st earl of Chatham. Trained as a lawyer, he entered Parliament in 1781 and in 1782 at the age of 23 became chancellor of the exc...

Stuart, British royal family

(Encyclopedia)Stuart or Stewart, royal family that ruled Scotland and England. The Stuart lineage began in a family of hereditary stewards of Scotland, the earliest of whom was Walter (d. 1177), grandson of a Norma...

Athabasca Pass

(Encyclopedia)Athabasca Pass, 5,736 ft (1,748 m) high, W Alta. and E British Columbia, Canada, leading from the headwaters of the Athabasca River across the Continental Divide to the Columbia River. It was discover...

Trail

(Encyclopedia)Trail, city (1991 pop. 7,919), SE British Columbia, Canada, on the Columbia River just N of the Wash. border. It is a metal-smelting center for a mining area that produces lead, zinc, silver, and gold...

Liberal party, former British political party

(Encyclopedia)Liberal party, former British political party, the dominant political party in Great Britain for much of the period from the mid-1800s to World War I. By 1914 the Liberal government had passed subst...

Shuswap

(Encyclopedia)Shuswap sho͞oˈswäp [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the mid-19th cent. the...

Prince Rupert

(Encyclopedia)Prince Rupert, city (1991 pop. 16,620), W British Columbia, Canada, on Kaien Island, in Chatham Sound near the mouth of the Skeena River, S of the Alaska border. A railroad and highway terminus and an...

Browse by Subject