Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Prevost, Sir George

(Encyclopedia)Prevost, Sir George prĕˈvō [key], 1767–1816, British soldier and governor in chief of Canada (1811–15). He held several administrative posts in the West Indies before becoming (1808) lieutenant...

Cabot, John

(Encyclopedia)Cabot, John, fl. 1461–98, English explorer, probably b. Genoa, Italy. He became a citizen of Venice in 1476 and engaged in the Eastern trade of that city. This experience, it is assumed, was the sti...

standard time

(Encyclopedia)standard time, civil time used within a given time zone. The earth is divided into 24 time zones, each of which is about 15° of longitude wide and corresponds to one hour of time. Within a zone all c...

Marinduque

(Encyclopedia)Marinduque märēndo͞oˈkā [key], province (1990 pop. 185,524), the Philippines, between Mindoro and S Luzon. It includes Marinduque Island and 24 other islands. Iron, gold, silver, and copper are m...

Peters, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Peters, Samuel, 1735–1826, American clergyman and historian, b. Hebron, Conn. Because of his Loyalist sympathies, he fled to England in 1774. There he wrote for English periodicals and published A G...

Oromocto

(Encyclopedia)Oromocto ôrōmŏkˈtō [key], town (1991 pop. 9,325), S central N.B., Canada, on the St. John River. The town developed because of its proximity to Camp Gagetown, the largest (436 sq mi/1,129 sq km) ...

Sackville

(Encyclopedia)Sackville, town (1991 pop. 5,494), SE N.B., Canada, near the head of Chignecto Bay, an arm of the Bay of Fundy. The early French Acadian settlers diked and reclaimed the nearby Tantramar marshes, crea...

Gourlay, Robert Fleming

(Encyclopedia)Gourlay, Robert Fleming go͝orˈlē [key], 1778–1863, Scottish writer and agitator, b. Fifeshire. He emigrated to Upper Canada (Ontario) in 1817 and at Kingston attempted to establish himself as a l...

Jean, Michaëlle

(Encyclopedia)Jean, Michaëlle, 1957–, Canadian journalist, filmmaker, and women's rights activist, b. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Her family immigrated to Canada in 1968. After studying languages and literature at th...

McNaughton, Andrew George Latta

(Encyclopedia)McNaughton, Andrew George Latta məknôtˈən [key], 1887–1966, Canadian general, b. Saskatchewan. An artillery officer in World War I, he was later (1929–35) Canadian chief of staff. In World War...