Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

dune

(Encyclopedia)dune, mound or ridge of wind-blown sand formed in arid regions and along coasts. Dunes are common in most of the great deserts of the world. Often a dune begins to form because material is deposited b...

Schütt, Great

(Encyclopedia)Schütt, Great sĭˈgĕtkûz [key], or the Little Schütt, an island c.30 mi (50 km) long and up to c.10 mi (16 km) wide, in NW Hungary between the Danube River and its southern arm. Wheat, rye, and d...

Mount Pleasant

(Encyclopedia)Mount Pleasant, city (1990 pop. 23,285), seat of Isabella co., central Mich., on the Chippewa River; settled before 1860, inc. as a city 1889. The city grew after oil was found nearby in 1928. Oil wel...

Errett, Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Errett, Isaac ĕrˈĭt [key], 1820–88, American minister of the Disciples of Christ, b. New York City. After years of pastoral and evangelistic work in pioneer towns of Ohio and Michigan, he became ...

Port Phillip Bay

(Encyclopedia)Port Phillip Bay, large deepwater inlet of Bass Strait, 30 mi (48 km) long and 25 mi (40 km) wide, Victoria, SE Australia. Port Melbourne and Williamstown are on Hobson's Bay, its northern arm. ...

Rouge, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Rouge ro͞ozh [key], river, c.30 mi (50 km) long, rising in S Michigan and winding S and SE to the Detroit River at the city of River Rouge. Dearborn and part of Detroit also lie on the river, which c...

War of 1812

(Encyclopedia)War of 1812, armed conflict between the United States and Great Britain, 1812–15. It followed a period of great stress between the two nations as a result of the treatment of neutral countries by bo...

Cass, Lewis

(Encyclopedia)Cass, Lewis, 1782–1866, American statesman, b. Exeter, N.H. He established (1802) himself as a lawyer in Zanesville, Ohio, became a member (1806) of the state legislature, and was U.S. marshal for O...

Hershey, Alfred Day

(Encyclopedia)Hershey, Alfred Day, 1908–1997, American microbiologist, b. Owosso, Mich., Ph.D., Michigan State College (now Michigan State Univ.), 1934. Hershey was a professor at the Washington Univ. School of M...

Greenland Sea

(Encyclopedia)Greenland Sea, arm of the Arctic Ocean, off the northeast coast of Greenland between Svalbard and Jan Mayen Island. It is the main outlet of the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic. Because of drifting arcti...