Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Buchan, John, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir

(Encyclopedia)Buchan, John, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir bŭkˈən, twēdzˈmyo͞or [key], 1875–1940, Scottish author and statesman. Included among his works are a history (4 vol., 1921–22) of World War I; biographies ...

Burma Road

(Encyclopedia)Burma Road, in China and Myanmar, extending from the railhead of Lashio, Myanmar, to Kunming, Yunnan prov., China. About 700 mi (1,130 km) long and constructed through rough mountain country, it was a...

Tarik ibn Ziyad

(Encyclopedia)Tarik ibn Ziyad täˈrĭk [key], fl. 711, Berber leader of the Muslim invaders of Spain. When the heirs of the Visigothic king, Witiza, requested help from the Moors of N Africa against the usurper Ro...

Taxco

(Encyclopedia)Taxco täsˈkō [key], town (1990 pop. 43,836), Guerrero state, S Mexico. Founded in 1529 as a silver-mining community, Taxco was also an important stop between Mexico City and Acapulco in Spanish col...

Bennington

(Encyclopedia)Bennington, town (2020 pop. 15,333), seat of Bennington co., SW Vt.; chartered 1749, settled 1761. It includes the villages of North Bennington and Old ...

Boone

(Encyclopedia)Boone. 1 City (2020 pop. 12,242), seat of Boone co., central Iowa, on the Des Moines River; inc. 1865. It is a railroad and industrial center with ...

Stegner, Wallace

(Encyclopedia)Stegner, Wallace (Wallace Earle Stegner), 1909–93, American writer, b. Lake Mills, Iowa, grad. Univ. of Utah (1930). He wrote perceptively of the American West in short stories, e.g., The Woman on t...

Torrington

(Encyclopedia)Torrington, city (1990 pop. 33,687), Litchfield co., NW Conn., on the Naugatuck River; inc. 1740. It is the industrial and commercial hub of NW Connecticut and is known for its metal (especially brass...

toucan

(Encyclopedia)toucan to͞okănˈ, to͞oˈkän [key], perching bird of the New World tropics, related to the woodpeckers. Toucans vary in size from the jay-sized toucanets to the 24-in. (62-cm) tocos of the Amazon b...

Cerro Gordo

(Encyclopedia)Cerro Gordo sāˈrō gōrˈᵺō [key], mountain pass, E Mexico, on the road between Veracruz and Xalapa, site of a decisive battle (Apr. 17–18, 1847) of the Mexican War. General Santa Anna, having ...
 

Browse by Subject