Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Rupert's Land

(Encyclopedia)Rupert's Land, Canadian territory held (1670–1869) by the Hudson's Bay Company, named for Prince Rupert, first governor of the company. Under the charter granted (1670) to the company by Charles II,...

Vänern

(Encyclopedia)Vänern vĕˈnərn [key], lake, c.2,145 sq mi (5,560 sq km), SW Sweden, fed by the Klarälven and drained by the Götaälv SW into the Kattegat. It is the largest lake in Sweden and the third largest ...

Baykal

(Encyclopedia)Baykal or Baikal both: bīkälˈ [key], lake, 12,160 sq mi (31,494 sq km), SE Siberian Russia. It is the largest freshwater lake of Eurasia, with a width up to 50 mi (80 km) and a length of c.395 mi (...

McDougall, William, Canadian statesman

(Encyclopedia)McDougall, William, 1822–1905, Canadian leader in the movement for Canadian confederation, b. Ontario. He was elected (1858) to the Legislative Assembly, and in 1864 he entered the “great coalitio...

Marsh, Charles Wesley

(Encyclopedia)Marsh, Charles Wesley, 1834–1918, American inventor and editor, b. Ontario. In 1849 his family moved to De Kalb co., Ill. Assisted by his brother William, he designed a hand-binding harvester and ob...

Algonquin

(Encyclopedia)Algonquin ălgŏngˈkwĭn, –kĭn [key], small group of Native North Americans. The name of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (to which they belonged) is derived from ...

Chesapeake & Ohio Railway

(Encyclopedia)Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O), former U.S. transportation company with railroad lines in eight states, Washington, D.C., and Ontario, Canada. Founded as the Louisa RR Company in Virginia in ...

Shelby, Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Shelby, Isaac, 1750–1826, American frontiersman, b. Washington co. (then part of Frederick co.), Md. Around 1773 he settled in the Holston River country in what is now E Tennessee. In the American R...

Simcoe, John Graves

(Encyclopedia)Simcoe, John Graves sĭmˈkō [key], 1752–1806, British army officer, first governor of Upper Canada (Ontario). He served with the British in the American Revolution. Upon the division of Quebec int...

Strickland, Donna Theo

(Encyclopedia)Strickland, Donna Theo, 1959–, Canadian physicist, Ph.D. Univ. of Rochester, New York, 1989. Strickland held research positions at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa from 1988 to 1991...