Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Red River Settlement

(Encyclopedia)Red River Settlement, agricultural colony in present Manitoba, North Dakota, and Minnesota. It was the undertaking of Thomas Douglas, 5th earl of Selkirk. Wishing to relieve the dispossessed and impov...

draft riots

(Encyclopedia)draft riots, in the American Civil War, mob action to protest unfair Union conscription. The Union Conscription Act of Mar. 3, 1863, provided that all able-bodied males between the ages of 20 and 45 w...

Heilongjiang

(Encyclopedia)Heilongjiang or Heilungkiang both: hāˈlo͝ongˈjyängˈ [key] [Chin.,=black dragon rive...

Cascade Range

(Encyclopedia)Cascade Range, mountain chain, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, extending S from British Columbia to N Calif., where it becomes the Sierra Nevada; it parallels the Coast Ranges, 100–150 mi (161–241 km) i...

Saint John's, city, Antigua and Barbuda

(Encyclopedia)Saint John's, city (1991 pop. 21,514), capital of Antigua and Barbuda, in the West Indies. St. John's, at the head of a harbor formed by an inlet, is the commercial center of the country. Tourism is i...

Sussex

(Encyclopedia)Sussex, former county, SE England, since 1888 divided for administrative purposes into East Sussex and West Sussex. Lewes is the county seat of East Sussex; Chichester of West Sussex. The South Downs�...

liquid

(Encyclopedia)liquid, one of the three commonly recognized states in which matter occurs, i.e., that state, as distinguished from solid and gas, in which a substance has a definite volume but no definite shape. T...

Norton Sound

(Encyclopedia)Norton Sound, inlet of the Bering Sea, c.150 mi (240 km) long and 125 mi (200 km) across at its widest point, W Alaska, S of the Seward Peninsula. Norton Bay is its northeast arm. Nome is on the north...

Medina, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Medina mədīˈnə [key], city (1990 pop. 19,231), seat of Medina co., N Ohio; laid out 1818, inc. as a city 1950. It is a processing point in a farm area. Paints, roofing, and industrial products are...

Morris Jesup, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Morris Jesup, Cape jĕsˈəp [key], northernmost land point in the world, N Greenland. At lat. 83°39′N, it is 440 mi (708 km) from the North Pole. U.S. explorer Robert Peary reached the cape in 189...

Browse by Subject