Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Pitcairn, John

(Encyclopedia)Pitcairn, John pĭtˈkârn [key], 1722–75, British royal marine officer in the American Revolution. Major Pitcairn commanded the advance guard of the British troops at Lexington (see Lexington and C...

zoology

(Encyclopedia)zoology, branch of biology concerned with the study of animal life. From earliest times animals have been vitally important to man; cave art demonstrates the practical and mystical significance animal...

Shawnee, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Shawnee shôˈwənō [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Their earliest known hom...

Hunkers

(Encyclopedia)Hunkers, conservative faction of the Democratic party in New York state in the 1840s, so named because they were supposed to “hanker” or “hunker” after office. In opposition to them stood the ...

Henderson, Richard, American colonizer in Kentucky

(Encyclopedia)Henderson, Richard, 1735–85, American colonizer in Kentucky, b. Hanover co., Va. An associate justice of the North Carolina superior court (1769–73), Henderson was long interested in Western lands...

Hayne, Robert Young

(Encyclopedia)Hayne, Robert Young, 1791–1839, American statesman, b. Colleton District, S.C. Having served in the South Carolina legislature (1814–18) and as attorney general of South Carolina (1818–22), Hayn...

Nujoma, Sam

(Encyclopedia)Nujoma, Sam (Samuel Daniel Shafiishuna Nujoma) no͞oyōˈmä [key], 1929–, Namibian political leader. A railway worker in what was then the South African mandate of South West Africa, Nujoma became ...

Abzug, Bella Savitsky

(Encyclopedia)Abzug, Bella Savitsky səvĭtˈskē ăbˈzo͝og [key], 1920–98, U.S. politician, b. New York City. A lawyer and a Democrat, she helped found Women Strike for Peace (1961) and the reformist New Democ...

McIntosh, Lachlan

(Encyclopedia)McIntosh, Lachlan măkˈəntŏshˌ [key], 1725–1806, American Revolutionary general, b. Scotland. He was brought as a child to a Scottish settlement, which is now Darien, Ga. In 1776 he joined the ...

Kenosha

(Encyclopedia)Kenosha kĭnōˈshə [key], industrial city (2020 pop. 99,986), seat of Kenosha co., SE Wis., a ...

Browse by Subject