Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Darling, Jay Norwood

(Encyclopedia)Darling, Jay Norwood, 1876–1962, American cartoonist, known as “Ding,” b. near Charlevoix, Mich. He worked for the Sioux City, Iowa, Journal, for the Des Moines Register, and from 1917 to 1949 f...

Heckewelder, John Gottlieb Ernestus

(Encyclopedia)Heckewelder, John Gottlieb Ernestus hĕkˈəvĕldər [key], 1743–1823, Moravian missionary in the United States, b. Bedford, England. Settling (1754) in Bethlehem, Pa., with his parents, he later wa...

Prince of Wales, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Prince of Wales, Cape, at the tip of the Seward Peninsula, NW Alaska, on the Bering Strait; westernmost point of North America. Cape Dezhnev, Siberia, is only 55 mi (89 km) to the west. ...

peyotism

(Encyclopedia)peyotism, religion of some Native North Americans in which the hallucinogenic peyote button is used as the sacramental food. It is the most widespread indigenous contemporary Native American religion....

jumping mouse

(Encyclopedia)jumping mouse, rodent slightly larger than the common mouse, found in North America and N Asia, also called the kangaroo mouse. Its long hind legs and tail enable it to leap distances up to 12 ft (3.7...

Cathay

(Encyclopedia)Cathay kăthāˈ [key], name for North China used by medieval Europeans, derived from the Khitan (or Khitai), a Manchurian people who conquered S Manchuria and N China and founded the Liao dynasty (93...

Maritime Territory

(Encyclopedia)Maritime Territory or Primorsky Kray prēmôrˈskē krī [key], administrative division (1992 pop. 2,309,000), c.64,900 sq mi (168,100 sq km), Russian Far East, between China (Manchuria or the Northea...

Pierce, John

(Encyclopedia)Pierce, John, 1910–2002, American electrical engineer, b. Des Moines, Iowa, grad. California Institute of Technology (Ph.D. 1936). Pierce worked at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he proposed...

bean

(Encyclopedia)bean, name applied to the seeds of leguminous trees and shrubs and to various leguminous plants of the family Leguminosae (pulse family) with edible seeds or seed pods (legumes). The genera and specie...

Russell, William Fletcher

(Encyclopedia)Russell, William Fletcher, 1890–1956, American educator, b. Delhi, N.Y., grad. Cornell, 1910, Ph.D. Columbia, 1914; son of James Earl Russell. He was dean (1917–23) of the College of Education, St...