Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Kanton

(Encyclopedia)Kanton kăntŏnˈ, kănˈtŏn [key], coral atoll, 3.5 sq mi (9 sq km), central Pacific, largest of the Phoenix Islands, which comprise part of Kiribati, c.2,000 mi (3,220 km) SE of Honolulu, Hawaii. A...

Borschberg, André

(Encyclopedia)Borschberg, André, 1952–, Swiss engineer, businessman, and pilot. With Bertrand Piccard (see under Piccard, Auguste) he founded Solar Impulse to develop a solar-powered plane capable of circumnavig...

New York, state, United States

(Encyclopedia) CE5 New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario ...

State, United States Department of

(Encyclopedia)State, United States Department of, executive department of the federal government responsible, under the President's direction, for the making and execution of American foreign policy. Before and ...

Rhode Island, state, United States

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Rhode Island, smallest state in the United States, located in New England; bounded by Massachusetts (N and E), the Atlantic Ocean (S), and Connecticut (W). Until well into the 20th cent. ...

naturalization

(Encyclopedia)naturalization, official act by which a person is made a national of a country other than his or her native one. In some countries naturalized persons do not necessarily become citizens but may merely...

ombudsman

(Encyclopedia)ombudsman ämˈbədzmən [key] [Swed.,=agent or representative], public official appointed to deal with individual complaints against government acts. The office originated in Sweden in 1809 when the ...

Palmyra, atoll, Pacific Ocean

(Encyclopedia)Palmyra, atoll (2 sq mi/5.2 sq km), central Pacific, one of the Line Islands, c.1,100 mi (1,770 km) SW of Honolulu. Palmyra has no permanent inhabitants. First visited by Americans in 1802, and later ...

Jones, Thomas ap Catesby

(Encyclopedia)Jones, Thomas ap Catesby, 1789–1858, American naval officer, b. Westmoreland co., Va. He joined the navy in 1805 and helped suppress piracy and the slave trade in the Gulf of Mexico (1808–12). In ...

Kamehameha

(Encyclopedia)Kamehameha kämāˈhämāˈhä [key], dynasty of Hawaiian monarchs. Kamehameha I (Kamehameha the Great), c.1738–1819, was king of the island of Hawaii after 1790. Through conquest he became (1810) r...
 

Browse by Subject