Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Whitney, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Whitney, Mount, peak, 14,494 ft (4,418 m) high, E Calif., in the Sierra Nevada at the eastern border of Sequoia National Park; the highest peak in the contiguous 48 states (Denali [Mt. McKinley], Alas...

Barstow

(Encyclopedia)Barstow bärˈstō [key], city (2020 pop. 25,415), San Bernardino co., SE Calif., on the dry ...

Scranton, George Whitefield

(Encyclopedia)Scranton, George Whitefield, 1811–61, American manufacturer, b. Madison, Conn. With his brother Selden he bought (1839) the lease and stock of the ironworks of Oxford Furnace, near Washington, N.J. ...

coccidioidomycosis

(Encyclopedia)coccidioidomycosis kŏksĭdˌēoiˌdōmīkōˈsĭs [key], systemic fungus disease (see fungal infection) endemic to arid regions of the Americas, contracted by inhaling dust containing spores of the f...

Isaacs, Jorge

(Encyclopedia)Isaacs, Jorge hôrˈhā ēˈsäks [key], 1837–95, Colombian novelist. The son of a prosperous Englishman and a creole, Isaacs witnessed the ruin and premature death of his parents and the despoilmen...

Cluny Museum

(Encyclopedia)Cluny Museum, 14th- and 15th-century Gothic and Renaissance structure in Paris, built by Pierre de Chaslus, abbot of Cluny, and rebuilt by Jacques d'Ambroise. The site is that of the ancient Roman bat...

Chaldaea

(Encyclopedia)Chaldaea or Chaldea both: kăldēˈə [key], properly the southernmost portion of the valley of the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Sometimes it is extended to include Babylonia and thus comprises al...

Boyd, Belle

(Encyclopedia)Boyd, Belle, 1844–1900, Confederate spy in the Civil War, b. Martinsburg, Va. (now W.Va.). Operating (probably unofficially) in Martinsburg and Front Royal, she provided Gen. T. J. (Stonewall) Jacks...

Toggenburg

(Encyclopedia)Toggenburg tôgˈənbo͝orkh [key], region in the Thur valley, St. Gall canton, NE Switzerland. Dairying, livestock breeding, and textile production are its main industries, and tourism is significant...

Browse by Subject