Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

salvage

(Encyclopedia)salvage, in maritime law, the compensation that the owner must pay for having his vessel or cargo saved from peril, such as shipwreck, fire, or capture by an enemy. Salvage is awarded only when the pa...

Androscoggin

(Encyclopedia)Androscoggin ăndrəskŏgˈĭn [key], river, c.175 mi (280 km) long, rising in NE N.H., flowing south and east to enter the Atlantic Ocean at Bath, Maine. Hydroelectric plants, using the river's steep...

Mayenne

(Encyclopedia)Mayenne, department (1990 pop. 278,037), NW France, in parts of Maine and Anjou. It is an agricultural region. Laval is the capital. ...

Campobello

(Encyclopedia)Campobello kămˌpōbĕlˈō [key], island, 9 mi (14.5 km) long and 3 mi (4.8 km) wide, in Passamaquoddy Bay, N.B., Canada, just off the coast of Maine. The island passed to Canada by the Convention o...

mirage

(Encyclopedia)mirage mĭräzhˈ [key], atmospheric optical illusion in which an observer sees in the distance a nonexistent body of water or an image, sometimes distorted, of some object or of a complete scene. Exa...

Penobscot Bay

(Encyclopedia)Penobscot Bay, inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, 35 mi (56 km) long and 27 mi (43 km) wide, S Maine. The bay was entered by the English explorer Martin Pring in 1603; the French explorer Samuel de Champlai...

Landon, Alfred Mossman

(Encyclopedia)Landon, Alfred Mossman, 1887–1987, U.S. politician, b. West Middlesex, Pa. He was a banker and oil operator before he ran for public office. Landon served (1933–37) as governor of Kansas and gaine...

Piscataqua

(Encyclopedia)Piscataqua pĭskătˈəkwə, –kwā [key], navigable river, 12 mi (19 km) long, formed by the junction of the Cocheco and the Salmon Falls rivers, SE N.H., and flowing SE to Portsmouth harbor, formin...

Smith, Seba

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Seba, 1792–1868, American humorist, b. Buckfield, Maine. He founded the Portland Courier in 1829 and in it began (1830) a series of humorous letters on politics under the pen name Major Jack ...

Charlestown, town, St. Kitts-Nevis

(Encyclopedia)Charlestown, town on the island of Nevis, St. Kitts and Nevis, West Indies. Charlestown is the chief town and port of the island. Sugar processing is th...

Browse by Subject