Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Saint François

(Encyclopedia)Saint François săN fräNswäˈ [key] or Saint Francis. 1 River, 165 mi (266 km) long, rising in Lac St. François, SE Que., Canada, and flowing SW through Lac Aylmer to Sherbrooke, then NW past Drum...

Grand Manan

(Encyclopedia)Grand Manan mənănˈ [key], island c.16 mi (26 km) long and c.7 mi (11.3 km) wide, S N.B. Canada, in the Bay of Fundy. On the north and west sides are bold cliffs, rising from 200 ft to 400 ft (61–...

Piston, Walter

(Encyclopedia)Piston, Walter, 1894–1976, American composer and teacher, b. Rockland, Maine. Piston studied at Harvard and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris; he joined the faculty of Harvard in 1926. He became a Gugge...

Ward, Artemus

(Encyclopedia)Ward, Artemus, pseud. of Charles Farrar Browne, 1834–67, American humorist, b. Waterford, Maine. As a reporter on the Cleveland Plain Dealer, he began in 1858 a series of “Artemus Ward's Letters�...

Blunt, James Gilpatrick

(Encyclopedia)Blunt, James Gilpatrick, 1826–81, American physician and Union general in the Civil War, b. Hancock co., Maine. He practiced medicine in Ohio and later in Kansas, where he became associated with Joh...

Mobile Bay

(Encyclopedia)Mobile Bay, arm of the Gulf of Mexico, SW Ala., from 8 to 18 mi (12.9–29 km) wide, extending c.35 mi (56 km) from the Gulf to the mouth of the Mobile River. A ship channel connects Mobile Bay with t...

Horn, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Horn, Cape, headland, 1,391 ft (424 m) high, S Chile, southernmost point of South America, in the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego. It was discovered and first rounded by Willem Schouten, the Dutch nav...

William II, king of England

(Encyclopedia)William II or William Rufus ro͞oˈfus [key], d. 1100, king of England (1087–1100), son and successor of William I. He was called William Rufus or William the Red because of his ruddy complexion. Hi...

Malé

(Encyclopedia)Malé mäˈlā [key], small island and town (1995 pop. 62,937) of Malé Atoll, capital of the Maldives, in the Indian Ocean. A ship anchorage, Malé is a center of interisland trade with diverse manuf...

Barclay, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Barclay, Alexander bärˈklē, –klā [key], 1475?–1552, Scottish clergyman and poet. Although the first to write pastoral eclogues in English, he is best known for The Ship of Fools (1509), a tran...