Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Matagorda Bay

(Encyclopedia)Matagorda Bay mătəgôrˈdə [key], inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, c.50 mi (80 km) long and from 3 to 12 mi (4.8–19 km) wide, SE Tex., protected by a long sandspit, Matagorda Peninsula. It receives t...

Anticosti

(Encyclopedia)Anticosti ăntĭkŏsˈtē [key], low, flat island, 135 mi (217 km) long and 10 to 30 mi (16–48 km) wide, E Que., Canada, at the head of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The isl...

Hunter, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Hunter, Robert, d. 1734, royal governor of New York and New Jersey (1709–19), b. Ayrshire, Scotland. His administration was notably successful. He maintained a vigorous campaign against the French a...

Kaifeng

(Encyclopedia)Kaifeng kī-fŭng [key], city (1994 est. pop. 535,300), NE Henan prov., China, on the Longhai RR. It is a commercial, agricultural, and industrial center. Manufactures include agricultural machinery, ...

Dobbs, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Dobbs, Arthur, 1689–1765, British colonial governor of North Carolina (1753–65), b. Co. Antrim, Ireland. A member of the Irish House of Commons (1727–30) and surveyor general of Ireland (1730), ...

coureurs de bois

(Encyclopedia)coureurs de bois ko͞orörˈ də bwä [key] [Fr.,=woods runners], unlicensed traders during the French regime in Canada. Traders were required to be licensed, but to only a favored few were licenses g...

Schomburgk, Sir Robert Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Schomburgk, Sir Robert Hermann shŏmˈbərk [key], 1804–65, English traveler and explorer, b. Germany. Under the direction of the Royal Geographical Society he went on a trip of botanical and geogra...

Potidaea

(Encyclopedia)Potidaea pŏtĭdēˈə [key], ancient city, NE Greece, at the narrowest point of the Pallene (now Kassándra) peninsula in Chalcidice (now Khalkidhikí). It was a Corinthian colony (c.600 b.c.) but jo...

Trek, Great

(Encyclopedia)Trek, Great trĕk [key], the journey by Afrikaner farmers (Boers) who left the Cape Colony to escape British domination and eventually founded Natal, Transvaal, and the Orange Free State. Trek is an A...

Pynchon, William

(Encyclopedia)Pynchon, William, c.1590–1662, American colonist and theologian, b. England. An original patentee and assistant in the Massachusetts Bay Company, he migrated to America in 1630, where he helped foun...