Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tyson, Cecily

(Encyclopedia) Tyson, Cecily, 1924-2021, American actress, b. East Harlem, N.Y. Of Caribbean heritage, Tyson began working as a model while studying acting in the la...

staff tree

(Encyclopedia)staff tree, common name for some temperate members of the Celastraceae, a family of trees and shrubs (many of them climbing forms), widely distributed except in polar regions. These plants typically b...

Kamchatka

(Encyclopedia)Kamchatka kămchătˈkə [key], peninsula, 104,200 sq mi (269,878 sq km), Kamchatka Territory, Russian Far East, separating the Sea of Okhotsk in the west from the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean in ...

Little America

(Encyclopedia)Little America, base for Antarctic exploring expeditions, Antarctica, on the Ross Ice Shelf, S of the Bay of Whales. Richard E. Byrd, a U.S. explorer, established and named Little America in 1929 and ...

Leichhardt, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig

(Encyclopedia)Leichhardt, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig frēˈdrĭkh vĭlˈhĕlm lo͞odˈvĭkh līkhˈhärt [key], 1813–1848?, Prussian explorer of Australia. He led (1844–45) an expedition from Moreton Bay to Port ...

Laodicea

(Encyclopedia)Laodicea lāōdˌĭsēˈə [key], name of several Greek cities of Asia and Asia Minor built by the Seleucids in the 3d cent. b.c. The most important, Laodicea ad Lycum, was N of Colossae near the pres...

Midland Canal

(Encyclopedia)Midland Canal, Ger. Mittelland Kanal, artificial waterway system of Germany, extending eastward c.200 mi (320 km) along the North German plain from the Dortmund-Ems Canal, Germany, to Magdeburg, Germa...

Atlin Lake

(Encyclopedia)Atlin Lake ătˈlĭn [key], long, irregular mountain lake, c.300 sq mi (780 sq km), NW British Columbia, Canada, touching the Yukon boundary. It is the source of the Yukon River. The town of Atlin is ...

Licinius, Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Licinius, 250–325, Roman emperor. He became coemperor with Galerius, being given the rule of Illyricum (308); after the death of Galerius he added Greece and Thrace to his territories. He allied him...

Ligurian Sea

(Encyclopedia)Ligurian Sea lĭgyo͝orˈēən [key], arm of the Mediterranean Sea, between the Ligurian coast (Italian Riviera) and the islands of Corsica and Elba; the Gulf of Genoa is its northernmost part. The se...