Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Nicolet, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Nicolet, Jean zhäN nēkôlāˈ [key], 1598?–1642, French explorer in the Old Northwest. He came to New France with Samuel de Champlain in 1618. In 1634, under the direction of Champlain, he took a ...

Neagle, John

(Encyclopedia)Neagle, John nēˈgəl [key], 1796–1865, American portrait painter, b. Boston. He was reared in Philadelphia, where he was apprentice to a coach painter. After travel in the West, he settled in Phil...

mangosteen

(Encyclopedia)mangosteen mangˈgəstēnˌ [key], the edible fruit of Garcinia mangostana, of the family Clusiaceae (Guttiferae), an evergreen tree native to SE Asia. The purple fruit is similar to an orange in size...

Maritsa

(Encyclopedia)Maritsa märēˈtsä [key], river, c.300 mi (480 km) long, rising in the Rila Mts., W Bulgaria, and flowing SE between the Balkans and Rhodope Mts., past Plovdiv, to Edirne, Turkey, where it turns sou...

Kittim

(Encyclopedia)Kittim or Chittim both: kĭtˈĭm [key]. 1 Biblical term for Cyprus; often extended to include lands W of Syria. The name originally designated the Phoenician port of Citium in Cyprus. 2 Term appearin...

Kaministikwia

(Encyclopedia)Kaministikwia kəmĭnˌĭstĭkˈwēə [key], river, c.60 mi (100 km) long, rising in Dog Lake, W Ont., Canada, and flowing S, then E into Lake Superior at Thunder Bay. In fur trade days it was the chi...

Winzer, Otto

(Encyclopedia)Winzer, Otto ôˈtō vĭntsˈər [key], 1902–75, East German political leader. A member of the German Communist party from 1925, he left Germany in 1935 during the Hitler era and returned after Worl...

tapioca

(Encyclopedia)tapioca tăpēōˈkə [key], widely used starchy food, obtained from the fleshy root of the bitter cassava. Tapioca is sold in flake or flour form and as the pellet pearl tapioca. Tapioca flour is wid...

Tewkesbury

(Encyclopedia)Tewkesbury tyo͞oksˈbərē [key], town (1991 pop. 9,454), Gloucestershire, W central England, on the Avon River near its junction with the Severn. Once noted for mustard production, its main industri...

Schimper, Karl Friedric

(Encyclopedia)Schimper, Karl Friedric shĭmˈpər [key], 1803–67, German botanist. He did important work in plant morphology and originated the theory, called phyllotaxis, that there is a fixed order to the arran...