Columbia Encyclopedia

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Johnson, William Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, William Samuel, 1727–1819, American political leader and president of Columbia College (1787–1800), b. Stratford, Conn. A lawyer in Connecticut, he soon became a leading figure in the col...

Juan Fernández

(Encyclopedia)Juan Fernández hwän fārnänˈdās [key], group of small islands, S Pacific, c.400 mi (640 km) W of Valparaiso, Chile. They belong to Chile and are constitutionally a special territory; they are adm...

Khotin

(Encyclopedia)Khotin khətyēnˈ [key], city, SW Ukraine, on the Dniester River. It lies in Bessarabia in an agricultural district and has agricultural and food-processing industries. Located on the site of an anci...

Taos, town, United States

(Encyclopedia)Taos tous [key], town (1990 pop. 4,065), alt. c.7,000 ft (2,130 m), seat of Taos co., N N.Mex., between the Rio Grande and the Sangre de Cristo Mts.; founded c.1615, inc. 1934. In an area of pueblos a...

Spangenberg, August Gottlieb

(Encyclopedia)Spangenberg, August Gottlieb ouˈgo͝ost gôtˈlēp shpängˈənbĕrk [key], 1704–92, a bishop of the Moravian Church and a founder of that church in America, b. Prussia. While at the Univ. of Jena,...

Spotswood, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Spotswood, Alexander, 1676–1740, colonial governor of Virginia, b. Tangier, Morocco. Appointed in 1710, he was officially lieutenant governor under the nominal governorship of George Hamilton, 1st e...

Brisbane, Sir Thomas Makdougall

(Encyclopedia)Brisbane, Sir Thomas Makdougall brĭzˈbən, –bān [key], 1773–1860, British soldier, astronomer, and colonial administrator in Australia, b. Scotland. From 1793 to 1814 he served in the army in F...

Windhoek

(Encyclopedia)Windhoek vĭntˈho͞ok [key], city (1991 pop. 147,056), capital of Namibia. It is Namibia's largest city and its administrative, communications, and economic center. Windhoek is one of the world's maj...

Wyeth, Nathaniel Jarvis

(Encyclopedia)Wyeth, Nathaniel Jarvis, 1802–56, American explorer and trader in the far West, b. Cambridge, Mass. A businessman in Boston, he was fired with a desire to go to Oregon by the eloquence of Hall J. Ke...

Yevpatoriya

(Encyclopedia)Yevpatoriya yĕfpətôˈrēə [key], city (1989 pop. 109,000), E Crimea. From 1954 part of Ukraine (then the Ukrainian SSR), it passed to Russian control in 2014 after the occupation and annexation of...