Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ade, George

(Encyclopedia)Ade, George, 1866–1944, American humorist and dramatist, b. Kentland, Ind., grad. Purdue Univ., 1887. His newspaper sketches and books attracted attention for their racy and slangy idiom and for the...

National Forest System

(Encyclopedia)National Forest System, federally owned reserves, c.191 million acres (77.4 million hectares), administered by the Forest Service of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. The system is made up of 155 nationa...

plebs

(Encyclopedia)plebs plĭbēˈənz [key] [Lat. plebs=people], general body of Roman citizens, as distinct from the patrician class. They lacked, at first, most of the patrician rights, but with the establishment of ...

South America

(Encyclopedia) CE5 South America, fourth largest continent (2015 est. pop. 416,436,000), c.6,880,000 sq mi (17,819,000 sq km), the southern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. It is divided political...

Tasman, Abel Janszoon

(Encyclopedia)Tasman, Abel Janszoon äˈbəl yänˈsōn täˈsmän [key], 1603?–1659, Dutch navigator. In the service of the Dutch East India Company from c.1632 to 1653, he made several trading and exploring voy...

Ganges

(Encyclopedia)Ganges gŭngˈgä [key], river, c.1,560 mi (2,510 km) long, rising in the Gangotri glacier in the Himalayas in Uttarakhand state, India, and flowing generally southeast through NE India across a vast ...

Parnell, Charles Stewart

(Encyclopedia)Parnell, Charles Stewart pärˈnəl, pärnĕlˈ [key], 1846–91, Irish nationalist leader. Haughty and sensitive, Parnell was only a mediocre orator, but he possessed a marked personal fascination an...

Montana State University

(Encyclopedia)Montana State University, at Bozeman; land-grant; coeducational; chartered 1893. It is primarily a technical institution specializing in agriculture, engineering, and applied sciences. The Museum of t...

Vestmannaeyjar

(Encyclopedia)Vestmannaeyjar vĕstˈmänäāˌyär [key], group of 15 small islands, c.10 mi (16 km) S of Iceland. In English they are known as the Westman Islands. The largest and most populous is Heimaey [home is...

Rulfo, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Rulfo, Juan hwän ro͞olˈfō [key], 1918–86, Mexican writer. In his fiction he recreates the desolation of his native southern Jalisco and brings to life its simple people in a harsh and tragic man...
 

Browse by Subject