Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

West Indies, University of the

(Encyclopedia)West Indies, University of the, autonomous regional institution with main campuses in Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados; coeducational; est. 1948 in Mona, Jamaica, as an external university college of t...

Huntington, Ellsworth

(Encyclopedia)Huntington, Ellsworth, 1876–1947, American geographer, b. Galesburg, Ill., grad. Beloit College, 1897, M.A. Harvard, 1902, Ph.D. Yale, 1909. He taught at Euphrates College, Turkey (1897–1901); acc...

Engler, Adolf

(Encyclopedia)Engler, Adolf äˈdôlf ĕngˈlər [key], 1844–1930, German botanist. He emphasized the importance of geological history in the study of plant geography, and worked out an influential system of plan...

Semple, Ellen Churchill

(Encyclopedia)Semple, Ellen Churchill, 1863–1932, American geographer, b. Louisville, Ky., grad. Vassar, 1882, and studied at the Univ. of Leipzig. A follower of the German geographer Friedrich Ratzel, she helped...

Ratzel, Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Ratzel, Friedrich frēˈdrĭkh rätˈsəl [key], 1844–1904, German geographer. He traveled as a journalist in Europe (1869) and in Cuba, Mexico, and the United States (1872–75). Thereafter he devo...

Goode, John Paul

(Encyclopedia)Goode, John Paul go͝od [key], 1862–1932, American geographer and cartographer, b. Stewartville, Minn., grad. Univ. of Minnesota, 1889, Ph.D. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1901. He taught geography at the ...

Grasse, François Joseph Paul, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Grasse, François Joseph Paul, comte de fräNswäˈ zhôzĕfˈ pōl kôNt də gräs [key], 1722–88, French admiral. In 1781, in command of a French fleet sent to cooperate with the Continental force...

Delany, Martin Robinson

(Encyclopedia)Delany, Martin Robinson dəlāˈnē [key], 1812–85, American black leader, b. Charles Town, Va. (now in West Virginia). The son of free blacks, he attended a black school in Pittsburgh and studied m...

Elkins, Stephen Benton

(Encyclopedia)Elkins, Stephen Benton, 1841–1911, American statesman, b. Perry co., Ohio. He grew up in Missouri and after the outbreak of the Civil War enlisted in the Union army, although his father and brother ...

Calamity Jane

(Encyclopedia)Calamity Jane kəlămˈĭtē jānˈ [key], c.1852–1903, American frontier character, b. Princeton, Mo. Her real name was Martha Jane Canary, and the origin of her nickname is obscure. Little is know...

Browse by Subject