Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

325 results found

Cape Breton Island

(Encyclopedia)Cape Breton Island, island, 3,970 sq mi (10,282 sq km), forming the northeastern part of N.S., Canada, and separated from the mainland by the narrow Gut...

Blue Ridge

(Encyclopedia)Blue Ridge, eastern range of the Appalachian Mts., extending south from S Pa. to N Ga.; highest mountains in the E United States. Mt. Mitchell, 6,684 ft (2,037 m) high, is the tallest peak. Beginning ...

pitcher plant

(Encyclopedia)pitcher plant, any of several insectivorous plants with leaves adapted for trapping insects. Each leaf forms a “pitcher,” a somewhat trumpet-shaped enclosure, usually containing a liquid. An insec...

Walker, Robert John

(Encyclopedia)Walker, Robert John, 1801–69, American public official, b. Northumberland, Pa. A lawyer, he practiced for a time in Pittsburgh. In 1826 he moved to Natchez, Miss. As a Democratic Senator (1836–45)...

stagecoach

(Encyclopedia)stagecoach, heavy, closed vehicle on wheels, usually drawn by horses, formerly used to transport passengers and goods overland. Throughout the Middle Ages and until about the end of the 18th cent., th...

Bent's Fort

(Encyclopedia)Bent's Fort, trading post of the American West, on the Arkansas River in present-day SE Colorado, E of Rocky Ford and La Junta and several miles above the mouth of the Purgatoire. The trading company ...

Cherokee, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Cherokee chĕrˈəkē [key], largest Native American group in the United States. Formerly the largest and most important tribe in the Southeast, they occupied mountain areas of North and South Carolin...

Lin, Maya Ying

(Encyclopedia)Lin, Maya Ying mīˈə [key], 1959–, American architect and sculptor, b. Athens, Ohio. Lin's work is known for its visual poetry and sensitive mingling of highly abstract form with meaning. From an ...

Fitzpatrick, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Fitzpatrick, Thomas, c.1799–1854, American trapper, fur trader, and guide, one of the greatest of the mountain men, b. Co. Cavan, Ireland. He emigrated early to the United States, and by 1823 he was...

Harriman, Edward Henry

(Encyclopedia)Harriman, Edward Henry, 1848–1909, American railroad executive, b. Hempstead, N.Y.; father of William Averell Harriman. He became a stockbroker in New York City and soon entered the railroad field, ...