Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

seal, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)seal, carnivorous aquatic mammal with front and hind feet modified as flippers, or fin-feet. The name seal is sometimes applied broadly to any of the fin-footed mammals, or pinnipeds, including the wa...

Trujillo Molina, Rafael Leonidas

(Encyclopedia)Trujillo Molina, Rafael Leonidas räfäĕlˈ lāōnēˈᵺäs tro͞ohēˈyō mōlēˈnä [key], 1891–1961, president of the Dominican Republic (1930–38, 1942–52). Trained by U.S. marines during ...

Montego Bay

(Encyclopedia)Montego Bay mŏntēˈgō [key], city (1991 pop. 82,002), NW Jamaica. One of the most popular resorts in the Caribbean with highly developed tourism facilities, Montego Bay is also a port and commercia...

Îles du Salut

(Encyclopedia)Îles du Salut ēl dü sälüˈ [key] or Safety Islands, small archipelago, off French Guiana in the Caribbean. The best-known of the islands is Devils Island. ...

Panama Canal

(Encyclopedia)Panama Canal, waterway across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Atlantic (by way of the Caribbean Sea) and Pacific oceans, built by the United States (1904–14, on territory leased from the repub...

manifest destiny

(Encyclopedia)manifest destiny, belief held by many Americans in the 1840s that the United States was destined to expand across the continent, by force, as used against Native Americans, if necessary. The controver...

Barrow, Errol

(Encyclopedia)Barrow, Errol, 1920–87, prime minister of Barbados (1966–76, 1986–87). After serving as a British Royal Air Force pilot and navigator (1940–47), he obtained (1949) a law degree in London, retu...

San Cristóbal, city, Dominican Republic

(Encyclopedia)San Cristóbal sän krēstōˈbäl [key], city (1993 pop. 88,376), S Dominican Republic, on a Caribbean coastal plain. The city was founded in the late 16th cent. The first Dominican constitution was ...

Puerto Rico, University of

(Encyclopedia)Puerto Rico, University of, main campus at Río Piedras, near San Juan; land-grant and commonwealth; coeducational; founded 1903 as successor to a normal school. The Río Piedras campus has faculties ...

Castries

(Encyclopedia)Castries kästrēˈ, käsˈtrēs [key], town (2021 est. metro. area pop. 184,706), capital and commercial ...

Browse by Subject