Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Huntington, Collis Potter

(Encyclopedia)Huntington, Collis Potter, 1821–1900, American railroad builder, b. near Torrington, Conn. A storekeeper of Oneonta, N.Y., before he went West in the gold rush of 1849, he became a storekeeper in Ca...

South Manchurian Railway

(Encyclopedia)South Manchurian Railway, Japanese-developed enterprise, with a trackage of 701 mi (1128 km). The line from Changchun to Lüshun (Port Arthur), originally belonging to the Russian-built Chinese Easter...

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway

(Encyclopedia)Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, railroad system in much of the United States (except the Northeast) and in S Canada, created in 1995 from the merger of Burlington Northern Inc. and the Santa Fe ...

Plessy v. Ferguson

(Encyclopedia)Plessy v. Ferguson, case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1896. The court upheld an 1890 Louisiana statute mandating racially segregated but equal railroad carriages, ruling that the equal protect...

Motagua

(Encyclopedia)Motagua mōtäˈgwä [key], river, c.250 mi (400 km) long, rising in S central Guatemala and flowing NE to the Gulf of Honduras. The longest river within Guatemala, it waters a valley where hemp and b...

Armavir

(Encyclopedia)Armavir ärməvērˈ, Rus. ərməvērˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 161,000), Krasnodar Territory, SE European Russia, on the Kuban River. An important railroad junction, it has machine and tool plants. Me...

Santa Maria, city, Brazil

(Encyclopedia)Santa Maria sänˈtə mərēˈə [key], city (1991 pop. 217,592), Rio Grande do Sul state, S Brazil. It is a major railroad terminus and the site of an important military base. Foodstuffs and rail mac...

Tigre

(Encyclopedia)Tigre tēˈgrā [key], city (1991 pop. 256,005), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. A railroad terminus and river port with good road connections, Tigre is a market for the fruit grown in the surroundin...

Tonbridge and Malling

(Encyclopedia)Tonbridge and Malling tŭnˈbrĭj [key], district (1991 pop. 99,100), Kent, SE England. The town of Tonbridge is mainly residential with light industry, including printing and sawmilling. It is a rail...

Prichard

(Encyclopedia)Prichard prĭchˈərd [key], city (1990 pop. 34,311), Mobile co., SW Ala., an industrial suburb of Mobile; settled 1900, inc. 1925. It developed as a vegetable-shipping point due to the local Mobile a...

Browse by Subject