Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Chidley, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Chidley, Cape, headland on Killiniq Island, off NE Labrador-Ungava Peninsula, Canada, on the Newfoundland and Labrador–Nunavut border. Located at the entrance to Hudson Strait, it was named by the e...

Marcy, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Marcy, Mount, 5,344 ft (1,629 m) high, NE N.Y., in the Adirondack Mts.; highest peak in the state. Lake Tear of the Clouds, on its southern slope, is the source of the main headstream of the Hudson Ri...

Iberville, Pierre le Moyne, sieur d'

(Encyclopedia)Iberville, Pierre le Moyne, sieur d' pyĕr lə mwän syör dēbĕrvēlˈ [key], 1661–1706, French Canadian naval officer, founder of the French territory of Louisiana, b. Ville Marie (in present Mon...

Utrecht, Peace of

(Encyclopedia)Utrecht, Peace of, series of treaties that concluded the War of the Spanish Succession. It put an end to French expansion and signaled the rise of the British Empire. By the treaty between England and...

Coddington, William

(Encyclopedia)Coddington, William, 1601–78, one of the founders of Rhode Island, probably b. Boston, England. He came to America in 1630 as an officer of the Massachusetts Bay Company and was its treasurer from 1...

Erskine, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Erskine, Robert, 1735–80, geographer and surveyor general to the American Revolutionary army, b. Dunfermline, Scotland. His several hundred detailed maps of the region W of the Hudson River, showing...

Cliffside Park

(Encyclopedia)Cliffside Park, borough (2020 pop. 25,693), Bergen co., NE N.J., on the Palisades above the Hudson River, opposite New York City; inc. 1895. A residenti...

Carleton, Will

(Encyclopedia)Carleton, Will, 1845–1912, American poet, b. Hudson, Mich. He is best known for his sentimental poems of rural life, the most famous being “Over the Hill to the Poorhouse.” Among his works are F...

Antirent War

(Encyclopedia)Antirent War, in U.S. history, tenant uprising in New York state. When Stephen Van Rensselaer, owner of Rensselaerswyck, died in 1839, his heirs attempted to collect unpaid rents. Tenants on the estat...

Van Cortlandt, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Van Cortlandt, Stephen or Stephanus văn kôrtˈlənd [key], 1643–1700, colonial American merchant and politician, b. New Amsterdam (later New York City); brother of Jacobus Van Cortlandt. A succes...

Browse by Subject