Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Stanley, Sir Henry Morton

(Encyclopedia)Stanley, Sir Henry Morton, 1841–1904, Anglo-American journalist, explorer, and empire builder, b. Denbigh, Wales. He grew up in poverty and came to America as a worker on a ship, which he jumped (18...

Bishop, Sir Henry Rowley

(Encyclopedia)Bishop, Sir Henry Rowley, 1786–1855, English operatic conductor, composer or arranger of 120 dramatic works. He is known today for a setting of Shakespeare's “Lo, here the gentle lark” and the m...

Buller, Sir Redvers Henry

(Encyclopedia)Buller, Sir Redvers Henry bŭlˈər [key], 1839–1908, British general. His military career began in China, and he later took part in the suppression of the Red River Rebellion (1870) in Canada. In A...

Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry

(Encyclopedia)Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry, 1836–1908, British statesman. Entering Parliament (1868) as a Liberal, he served as secretary to the admiralty (1882–84), secretary of state for Ireland (1884), and ...

Whiting, William Henry Chase

(Encyclopedia)Whiting, William Henry Chase, 1825–65, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Biloxi, Miss. He served in the U.S. army until Feb., 1861, when he resigned and entered the Confederate servi...

Dias, Bartolomeu

(Encyclopedia)Dias, Bartolomeu bärˌto͝olo͝omāˈo͝o dēˈəsh [key], d. 1500, Portuguese navigator. He was the first European to round (1488) the Cape of Good Hope, which he called Cabo Tormentoso [cape of sto...

Sydney, city, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Sydney, city (1991 pop. 26,063), Cape Breton Island, N.S., Canada, on the northeast coast at the head of the South Arm of Sydney Harbour. It is the port and the commercial, trade, and industrial cente...

Barrow, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Barrow, Sir John, 1764–1848, British geographer, promoter of arctic exploration. His early travels as secretary to Earl Macartney (who was ambassador to China and governor of the Cape of Good Hope c...

Trek, Great

(Encyclopedia)Trek, Great trĕk [key], the journey by Afrikaner farmers (Boers) who left the Cape Colony to escape British domination and eventually founded Natal, Transvaal, and the Orange Free State. Trek is an A...

Borchgrevink, Carsten Egeberg

(Encyclopedia)Borchgrevink, Carsten Egeberg kärˈstən āˈgəbĕrˈ bôrkˈgrāˌvĭngk [key], 1864–1934, Norwegian-Australian antarctic explorer. He emigrated to Australia in 1888, and in 1894 he went south in...