Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Waldseemüller, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Waldseemüller, Martin märˈtĭn vältˌzāmülˈər [key], Gr. Ilacomilus, 1470?–1522?, German cosmographer. A member of a society of humanists known as the Gymnasium Vosagense, he lived at Saint-...

Shelekhov, Grigori Ivanovich

(Encyclopedia)Shelekhov, Grigori Ivanovich grĭgôˈrē ēväˈnəvĭch shĕˈlyĭkhəf [key], 1747–95, Russian fur trader in North America, b. Rylsk, Ukraine. He had built up a large fur business in Siberia when...

Shirley, William

(Encyclopedia)Shirley, William, 1694–1771, colonial governor in British North America, b. England. He became a lawyer and in 1731 emigrated to Massachusetts. In 1741 he became governor of Massachusetts. He oppose...

Russian American Company

(Encyclopedia)Russian American Company, colonial trading company, chartered by Czar Paul I in 1799. The charter granted the merchant-dominated company monopoly trading privileges in Russian America, which included ...

Douglas, David

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, David, 1798–1834, Scottish botanist. He made several journeys in North America between 1823 and 1834 to study American plants and sent to Scotland more than 200 plants and seeds then unknow...

Citlaltépetl

(Encyclopedia)Citlaltépetl ōrēsäˈbä [key], peak, 18,700 ft (5,700 m) high, in the Cordillera de Anáhuas, E Mexico, on the Veracruz-Puebla border. It is the highest peak in Mexico and the third highest in Nor...

ermine

(Encyclopedia)ermine, name for a number of northern species of weasel having white coats in winter, and highly prized for their white fur. It most commonly refers to the white phase of Mustela erminea, called short...

Mille Lacs Lake

(Encyclopedia)Mille Lacs Lake mĭl lăks [key], 207 sq mi (536 sq km), E central Minn., N of Minneapolis. It drains into the Rum River. Sieur Duluth, a French explorer, visited (1679) the Ojibwas who lived on the l...

Lalande, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Lalande, Jean (Saint John Lalande) zhäN läläNdˈ [key], d. 1646, French Jesuit missionary in Canada and New York, one of the Jesuit Martyrs of North America. He came to the New World in 1644. He ac...

waterleaf

(Encyclopedia)waterleaf, common name for the Hydrophyllaceae, a family of herbs and some shrubs, widely distributed but especially abundant in W and SW North America. Best known in the United States are the waterle...