Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

The Pas

(Encyclopedia)The Pas päz, pä [key], town (1991 pop. 6,166), W Man., Canada, on the Saskatchewan River. Founded as a fur-trading post, it became in 1920 the starting point and headquarters of the Hudson Bay Railw...

Great Plains

(Encyclopedia)Great Plains, extensive grassland region on the continental slope of central North America. They extend from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba south through W central Unite...

Kona

(Encyclopedia)Kona kōˈnə [key], district, along the western coast of the island of Hawaii. It is Hawaii's coffee belt and the only coffee-producing area in the United States. The Kona coast, with fine deep-sea f...

Elgin, town, Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Elgin, town, Moray, NE Scotland, on the Lossie River. Lossiemouth is its port. Elgin is the market town for Moray's farm belt. Woolen textiles are manuf...

Pluto, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Pluto, in astronomy, a dwarf planet and the first Kuiper belt, or transneptunian, object (see comet) to be discovered (1930) by astronomers. Pluto has an elliptical orbit usually lying beyond that of ...

Mosquito Coast

(Encyclopedia)Mosquito Coast or Mosquitia məskēˈtēə, mōskētēˈä [key], region, east coast of Nicaragua and Honduras. The name is derived from the Miskito, the indigenous inhabitants and remnants of the Cho...

Horsehead Nebula

(Encyclopedia)Horsehead Nebula, dark nebula located in the constellation Orion; designated IC 434 or B 33. It consists of a cloud of nonluminous interstellar matter resembling the outline of a horse's head and appe...

Salina

(Encyclopedia)Salina səlīˈnə [key], city (1990 pop. 42,303), seat of Saline co., central Kans., on the Smoky Hill River; founded 1858 by settlers opposed to slavery, inc. 1870. It is the marketing and shipping ...

Mayweather, Floyd, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Mayweather, Floyd, Jr., 1977–, American boxer, b. Grand Rapids, Mich., as Floyd Joy Sinclair. He began boxing at an early age, coached by his father, a welterweight boxer whose name he subsequently ...

doldrums

(Encyclopedia)doldrums dŏlˈdrəmz [key] or equatorial belt of calms, area around the earth centered slightly north of the equator between the two belts of trade winds. The large amount of solar radiation that arr...
 

Browse by Subject