Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

penguin

(Encyclopedia)penguin, originally the common name for the now extinct great auk of the N Atlantic and now used (since the 19th cent.) for the unrelated, generally antarctic diving birds of the Southern Hemisphere. ...

Anjou

(Encyclopedia)Anjou äNzho͞oˈ [key], region and former province, W France, coextensive roughly with Maine-et-Loire and parts of Indre-et-Loire, Mayenne, and Sarthe depts. Angers, the historic capital, and Saumur ...

Washington University

(Encyclopedia)Washington University, at St. Louis, Mo.; coeducational; est. as Eliot Seminary 1853, opened 1854, renamed 1857. It has a well-known medical school and school of social work as well as research center...

fur trade

(Encyclopedia)fur trade, in American history. Trade in animal skins and pelts had gone on since antiquity, but reached its height in the wilderness of North America from the 17th to the early 19th cent. The demand ...

Batoche

(Encyclopedia)Batoche bătŏshˈ [key], historic site, central Sask., Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. During Riel's Rebellion, Louis Riel made his headquarters there, and the rebels were routed on May 12, ...

Lemonnier, Pierre Charles

(Encyclopedia)Lemonnier, Pierre Charles pyĕr shärl ləmônyāˈ [key], 1715–99, French astronomer. For many years he was professor of physics at the Collège de France. He studied the moon and the influence of ...

Le Nain

(Encyclopedia)Le Nain lə năN [key], family of French painters consisting of three brothers: Antoine Le Nain, 1588?–1648, Louis Le Nain, 1593?–1648, and Mathieu Le Nain, 1607–77. They went to Paris from Laon...

Montez, Lola

(Encyclopedia)Montez, Lola mŏntĕzˈ [key], 1818?–1861, Irish adventurer, whose original name was Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert. Her early marriage to an army officer soon ended in divorce. She adopted the...

Gobelins, Manufacture nationale des

(Encyclopedia)Gobelins, Manufacture nationale des mänüfäktürˈ näsēônälˈ dā gôblăNˈ [key], state-controlled tapestry manufactory in Paris. It was founded as a dye works in the mid-15th cent. by Jean Go...

Hull, Brett Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Hull, Brett Andrew, 1956–, Canadian-American hockey player, son of Bobby Hull. Brett, an outstanding scoring right wing and a dual Canadian-U.S. citizen, played for the Univ. of Minnesota–Duluth (...

Browse by Subject