Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

clipper

(Encyclopedia)clipper, type of sailing ship, designed for speed. Long and narrow, the clipper had the greatest beam aft of the center; the bow cleaved the waves; and the ship carried, besides topgallant and royal s...

Fashoda Incident

(Encyclopedia)Fashoda Incident fəshōˈdə [key], 1898, diplomatic dispute between France and Great Britain. Toward the end of the 19th cent., while Britain was seeking to establish a continuous strip of territory...

Fayetteville

(Encyclopedia)Fayetteville fāˈĕtvĭl [key]. 1 City (2020 pop. 93,949), seat of Washington co., NW Ark., ...

Mawson, Sir Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Mawson, Sir Douglas, 1882–1958, Australian antarctic explorer and geologist, b. England. His first geographical expedition was to the New Hebrides Islands as a geologist in 1903. As a member of the ...

Avon, former county, England

(Encyclopedia)Avon, former county, SW England, bordering the Severn estuary and the Bristol Channel. Created in 1974 from S Gloucestershire, Bristol, and N Somerset. it was dissolved in 1996 into four unitary autho...

Henson, Matthew Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Henson, Matthew Alexander, 1866–1965, African-American arctic explorer, b. Charles County, Md. He accompanied Robert E. Peary as personal assistant, dog driver, and interpreter on numerous expeditio...

Den Helder

(Encyclopedia)Den Helder dŭn hĕlˈdər [key], city, North Holland prov., NW Netherlands, on the North Sea. It is ...

magnetic pole

(Encyclopedia)magnetic pole, the two roughly opposite ends of the planet where the earth's magnetic intensity is the greatest, as the north and south magnetic poles. For the magnetic north, it is the direction from...

Anderson, river, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Anderson, river, c.465 mi (750 km) long, rising in several lakes in N central Northwest Territories, Canada. It meanders north and west before receiving the Carnwath River and flowing north to Liverpo...

Chapel Hill

(Encyclopedia)Chapel Hill, town (2020 pop. 61,960), Orange co., central N.C., at the edge of the Piedmont; founded 1792, inc. 1851. Primarily residential, the town's ...