Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Walpole, Robert, 1st earl of Orford

(Encyclopedia)Walpole, Robert, 1st earl of Orford, 1676–1745, English statesman. Walpole is usually described as the first prime minister of Great Britain, but he was not a prime minister in the modern sense. A...

Ottawa, city, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Ottawa ŏtˈəwə [key], city (1991 pop. 313,987), capital of Canada, SE Ont., at the confluence of the Ottawa and Rideau rivers and across the Ottawa from Gatineau, Que. The Rideau Canal separates th...

Barnum, P. T.

(Encyclopedia)Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor Barnum) fĭnˈēəs, bärˈnəm [key], 1810–91, American showman, b. Bethel, Conn. As a youth Barnum worked at diverse sales jobs and managed a boardinghouse. He made h...

Kluckhohn, Clyde Kay Maben

(Encyclopedia)Kluckhohn, Clyde Kay Maben klŭckˈhōn [key], 1905–60, American anthropologist, b. LeMars, Iowa, grad. Univ. of Wisconsin, 1928, M.A. Oxford, 1932, Ph.D. Harvard, 1936. He taught at the Univ. of Ne...

Mary, 1867–1953, queen consort of George V of England

(Encyclopedia)Mary, 1867–1953, queen consort of George V of England. Daughter of the duke of Teck and great-granddaughter of George III, she was engaged first to George's elder brother, the duke of Clarence, who ...

Fillmore, Millard

(Encyclopedia)Fillmore, Millard, 1800–1874, 13th President of the United States (July, 1850–Mar., 1853), b. Locke (now Summer Hill), N.Y. Because he was compelled to work at odd jobs at an early age to earn a l...

Horsham

(Encyclopedia)Horsham hôrˈshəm [key], town and district, West Sussex, SE England. Horsham is known prima...

Glenn, John Herschel, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Glenn, John Herschel, Jr., 1921–2016, American astronaut and politician, b. Cambridge, Ohio. On Feb. 20, 1962, he became the first American and the third person to orbit the earth, circling the glob...

Saltillo

(Encyclopedia)Saltillo sältēˈyō [key], city (1990 pop. 420,947), capital of Coahuila state, N Mexico. It is located in an alluvial valley almost surrounded by mountains. Saltillo is a commercial and industrial ...

Lange, Dorothea

(Encyclopedia)Lange, Dorothea, 1895–1965, American photographer, b. Hoboken, N.J. as Dorothea Nutzhorn, adopted her mother's maiden name in her twenties. From 1916 until 1932, Lange operated a portrait studio in ...