Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cockrell, Francis Marion

(Encyclopedia)Cockrell, Francis Marion kŏkˈrəl [key], 1834–1915, Confederate general and U.S. senator, b. Johnson co., Mo. Enlisting as a private with Confederate forces in the Civil War, he became a brigadier...

Glazunov, Aleksandr Konstantinovich

(Encyclopedia)Glazunov, Aleksandr Konstantinovich əlyĭksänˈdər kənstəntyēˈnəvĭch gläzo͞oˈnôf [key], 1865–1936, Russian composer, director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, 1906–30. He assisted ...

America, in geography

(Encyclopedia)America [for Amerigo Vespucci], the lands of the Western Hemisphere—North America, Central (or Middle) America, and South America. The world map published in 1507 by Martin Waldseemüller is the fir...

Valday Hills

(Encyclopedia)Valday Hills or Valdai Hills both: väldīˈ, Rus. vəldīˈ [key], upland region, NW European Russia, composed of a series of glacial moraines that rise to c.1,100 ft (340 m). The region forms the wa...

Radama I

(Encyclopedia)Radama I rädäˈmə [key], c.1793–1828, founder of the kingdom of Madagascar. He succeeded (1810) his father, Andrianimpoinimerina, as king of Merina, a small kingdom on the central plateau of the ...

Paarl

(Encyclopedia)Paarl pärl [key], city, part and seat of Drakenstein local municipality, Western Cape prov., S South Africa, on the Berg River. It is the center of South Africa's wine industry and of a tobacco-growi...

Fort Lee

(Encyclopedia)Fort Lee, residential borough (2020 pop. 40,223), Bergen co., NE N.J., on the Palisades overlooking the Hudson River; settled c.1700, inc. 1904. The Rev...

James, Saint (St. James the Less)

(Encyclopedia)James, Saint, in the Bible, one of the Twelve Apostles, called St. James the Less or St. James the Little. He was the son of Alphaeus; his mother, Mary, was one of those at the cross and tomb. The Wes...

Apure

(Encyclopedia)Apure äpo͞oˈrā [key], river, c.500 mi (800 km) long, rising in the Andes, N Colombia, and flowing E across W central Venezuela to the Orinoco River. It drains much of the western portion of the Or...

ember days

(Encyclopedia)ember days, in the Western Church, traditionally the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the first Sunday in Lent; Whitsunday; Sept. 14 (Exaltation of the Cross); and Dec. 13 (St. Lucy's Day). T...