Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Savage, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Savage, Edward, 1761–1817, American portrait painter and engraver. He was probably self-taught, although he may have studied with Benjamin West during a brief visit to London. He at one time operate...

Gass, Patrick

(Encyclopedia)Gass, Patrick, 1771–1870, American explorer, member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, b. Perry co., Pa. His journal of the trip across the continent first appeared in 1807 and was widely read. Gass...

Victoria Land

(Encyclopedia)Victoria Land, part of E Antarctica, S of New Zealand; Cape Adare is to the northeast. Bounded on the E by the Ross Sea and on the W by Wilkes Land, it consists of ranges of the Transantarctic Mts., w...

Bitterroot Range

(Encyclopedia)Bitterroot Range, part of the Rocky Mts., on the Idaho-Mont. line. The main range, running northwest-southeast, includes Trapper Peak (10,175 ft/3,101 m high); Mt. Garfield (10,961 ft/3,341 m), in an ...

Sedgwick, Adam

(Encyclopedia)Sedgwick, Adam, 1785–1873, English geologist. He was a professor at Cambridge from 1818. His most important work was a study, made with R. I. Murchison, of the rock formation of Devonshire, which th...

Butte, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Butte byo͞ot [key], city (2020 pop. 34,494), seat of Silver Bow co., SW Mont.; inc. 1879. It...

Sacajawea

(Encyclopedia)Sacajawea –kəwēˈə [key], c.1788–1812?, Native North American woman who accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition, the only woman in the party. She is generally called the Bird Woman in Englis...

Morse, John Torrey

(Encyclopedia)Morse, John Torrey, 1840–1937, American lawyer and biographer, b. Boston. Admitted to the bar in 1862, he practiced law in Boston until 1880, when he turned all his attention to writing. With Henry ...

Machpelah

(Encyclopedia)Machpelah măkpēˈlə [key], cave, near Hebron; also called the Cave of the Patriarchs. The Book of Genesis relates that it was bought by Abraham from Ephron, son of Zohar the Hittite, for a family b...

Cartwright, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Cartwright, Peter, 1785–1872, American Methodist preacher, b. Virginia. He was a circuit rider in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois for nearly 50 years. In 1846 he was defeated as a c...

Browse by Subject