Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Devils Island

(Encyclopedia)Devils Island, Fr. Île du Diable, the smallest and southernmost of the Îles du Salut, in the Caribbean Sea off French Guiana. A penal colony founded in 1852, it was used largely for political prison...

Dudley, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Dudley, Thomas, 1576–1653, colonial governor of Massachusetts, b. England. As a young man he served as a clerk and later as steward to the earl of Lincoln. In 1630 he emigrated to America as deputy ...

Minturnae

(Encyclopedia)Minturnae mĭntûrˈnē [key], ancient town of Latium, Italy, 7 mi (11.3 km) E of Formia. It was important because it controlled the bridge on the Appian Way over the Liris River. Founded by a people ...

Lampedusa

(Encyclopedia)Lampedusa, island, 8 sq mi (20.7 sq km), S Sicily, Italy, in the Mediterranean Sea between Malta and Tunisia, the largest of the Pelagie Islands and Italy's southernmost territory. Il Porto is the onl...

Cáceres

(Encyclopedia)Cáceres käˈthārās [key], city, capital of Cáceres prov., W central Spain, in Extremadur...

Tayma

(Encyclopedia)Tayma tāˈmä [key], large oasis, SW Saudi Arabia. Cuneiform inscriptions possibly dating from the 6th cent. b.c. have been recovered from Tayma. In ancient Arabic tradition the oasis was noted as a ...

Shatsky, Stanislaus

(Encyclopedia)Shatsky, Stanislaus, 1878–1934, Russian educator. After graduating from Moscow Univ. and attending the Moscow Agricultural Institute, Shatsky organized (1905) a colony for workers' children known as...

Pines, Isle of, island, New Caledonia

(Encyclopedia)Pines, Isle of, or Kunié ko͞oˈnyā [key], island (1989 pop. 1,465), c.58 sq mi (150 sq km), South Pacific, a part of the French overseas territory of New Caledonia. Formerly a penal colony, the isl...

Bacon, Nathaniel

(Encyclopedia)Bacon, Nathaniel, 1647–76, leader of Bacon's Rebellion in colonial Virginia. An aristocrat (he was kin to Francis Bacon, had been educated at Cambridge and Gray's Inn, and was a member of the govern...

Newport, Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Newport, Christopher, 1565?–1617, English mariner, commander of early voyages to Virginia. He commanded a privateering expedition to the West Indies (1592) that returned to England with the Spanish ...

Browse by Subject