Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Forbes, William Cameron

(Encyclopedia)Forbes, William Cameron, 1870–1959, American business executive and diplomat, b. Milton, Mass. He entered the mercantile house of his grandfather, John Murray Forbes, in Boston and was a partner in ...

dasyure

(Encyclopedia)dasyure dăsˈēyo͝orˌ [key], name for several small, predatory marsupials, or pouched mammals, of the family Dasyuridea, found in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. Typical dasyures, known in Aus...

Radcliffe, Ann (Ward)

(Encyclopedia)Radcliffe, Ann (Ward), 1764–1823, English novelist, b. London. The daughter of a successful tradesman, she married William Radcliffe, a law student who later became editor of the English Chronicle. ...

Kangaroo Island

(Encyclopedia)Kangaroo Island, island, c.1,700 sq mi (4,400 sq km), S Australia, in South Australia at the entrance to Gulf St. Vincent. It is 93 mi (150 km) long and 35 mi (57 km) wide. The chief products are barl...

Townsend, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Townsend, Mount, 7,247 ft (2,209 m) high, SE New South Wales, in the Australian Alps. The second tallest peak in Australia, it was explored by Polish-British geologist Sir Paul Strzelecki, who believe...

Great Artesian Basin

(Encyclopedia)Great Artesian Basin, c.670,000 sq mi (1,735,300 sq km), between the Eastern Highlands and the Western Plateau, E central Australia, extending S from the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, to NE South A...

Lyons, Joseph Aloysius

(Encyclopedia)Lyons, Joseph Aloysius līˈənz [key], 1879–1939, Australian statesman, b. Tasmania. He left schoolteaching in 1909 to enter political life, was a Labour member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly u...

Parkes, Sir Henry

(Encyclopedia)Parkes, Sir Henry, 1815–96, Australian political leader, b. England. He emigrated to Australia in 1839 and later founded a newspaper, the Empire, to advocate responsible government and an end to the...

Fackenthal, Frank Diehl

(Encyclopedia)Fackenthal, Frank Diehl făkˈənthôl [key], 1883–1968, American educator, b. Hellertown, Pa., grad. Columbia, 1906. He served Columbia as chief clerk (1906–10), secretary (1910–37), and provos...

Canberra

(Encyclopedia)Canberra kănˈbərə [key], city (2020 pop. 457,000), capital of Australia, in the Australian Capital Territory, SE ...