Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey

(Encyclopedia)Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey mûrˈkĭsən [key], 1792–1871, British geologist. He served in the Napoleonic Wars but after the peace turned his attention to science. In the 1830s he undertook the i...

North West

(Encyclopedia)North West, province (2011 pop. 3,509,953), 40,495 sq mi (104,882 sq km), N central South Africa. In 1994, under South Africa's post-apartheid constitution, North West was created from parts of the fo...

Tarim

(Encyclopedia)Tarim dārēmˈ [key], Mandarin Dayan, chief river of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, NW China, c.1,300 mi (2,090 km) long, formed by the union of the Aksu and the Yarkant rivers at the western end ...

Taurus, mountain chain, Turkey

(Encyclopedia)Taurus tôrōsˈ [key], mountain chain, S Turkey, extending c.350 mi (560 km) roughly parallel to the Mediterranean coast of S Asia Minor. It forms the southern border of the Anatolian plateau. Its no...

Thompson, David

(Encyclopedia)Thompson, David, 1770–1857, Canadian geographer, fur trader, and explorer, b. London, England. In 1784 he came to Fort Churchill, Canada, as an apprentice of the Hudson's Bay Company, and until 1797...

Sacajawea

(Encyclopedia)Sacajawea –kəwēˈə [key], c.1788–1812?, Native North American woman who accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition, the only woman in the party. She is generally called the Bird Woman in Englis...

Catlin, George

(Encyclopedia)Catlin, George, 1796–1872, American traveler and artist, b. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Educated as a lawyer, he practiced in Philadelphia for two years but turned to art study and became a portrait painter i...

Queiroz, José Maria Eça de

(Encyclopedia)Queiroz or Queirós, José Maria Eça de zho͝ozĕˈ mərēˈə āˈsə dĭ kāro͝ozˈ [key], 1845–1900, Portuguese writer. Trained in law, he moved to Lisbon in 1866 and was part of a group devote...

Quetta

(Encyclopedia)Quetta kwĕˈtə [key], city (1998 pop. 560,307), capital of Baluchistan prov., W central Pakistan, at an altitude of c.5,500 ft (1,675 m), ringed by mountains. Deriving its name from the Pashto word ...

rhododendron

(Encyclopedia)rhododendron rōˌdədĕnˈdrən [key] [Gr.,=rose tree], any plant of the genus Rhododendron, shrubs of the family Ericaceae (heath family) found chiefly in mountainous areas of the arctic and north t...