Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, 2d Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, 2d Viscount kăˈsəlrā [key], 1769–1822, British statesman, b. Ireland. Entering the Irish Parliament in 1790 and the British Parliament in 1794, he was acting chief s...

Somerset, Robert Carr, earl of

(Encyclopedia)Somerset, Robert Carr, earl of, 1587?–1645, Scottish favorite of James I of England. His family name also appears as Ker. He may have accompanied James to England as a page in 1603, but he appears t...

Cecil, Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-

(Encyclopedia)Cecil, Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-: see Salisbury, Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3d marquess of. ...

Bruce

(Encyclopedia)Bruce, Scottish royal family descended from an 11th-century Norman duke, Robert de Brus. He aided William I in his conquest of England (1066) and was given lands in England. His son was granted fiefs ...

Muir, John

(Encyclopedia)Muir, John, 1838–1914, American naturalist, b. Dunbar, Scotland, studied at the Univ. of Wisconsin. He came to the United States in 1849 and settled in California in 1868. In recognition of his effo...

diapensia

(Encyclopedia)diapensia dīəpĕnˈsēə [key], common name for the Diapensiaceae, a family of low evergreen shrubs native to cool and arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The species that are restricted to t...

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...

sandalwood

(Encyclopedia)sandalwood, name for several fragrant tropical woods, especially for Santalum album, an evergreen partially parasitic tree either native to India or introduced there centuries ago. It is used for joss...

Robertson, Sir Dennis

(Encyclopedia)Robertson, Sir Dennis, 1890–1963, British economist, grad. Trinity College, Cambridge. A professor at Cambridge (1944–57), he also handled Anglo-American financial relationships during World War I...

white snakeroot

(Encyclopedia)white snakeroot, North American woods perennial (Eupatorium urticifolium) of the family Asteraceae (aster family), having a flat-topped cluster of small white flowers. It is of the same genus as the b...