Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Hanson, John

(Encyclopedia)Hanson, John, 1715–83, first “President of the United States in Congress Assembled,” b. Charles co., Maryland. He served in the Maryland provincial legislature, was active in the patriot cause i...

Agnew, Spiro Theodore

(Encyclopedia)Agnew, Spiro Theodore spērˈō [key], 1918–96, 39th Vice President of the United States (1969–73), b. Baltimore. Admitted to the bar in 1949, he entered politics as a Republican and was elected (...

Potomac

(Encyclopedia)Potomac pətōˈmək [key], river, 285 mi (459 km) long, formed SE of Cumberland, Md., by the confluence of its North and South branches and flowing generally SE to Chesapeake Bay. It forms part of th...

Smithsonian Institution

(Encyclopedia)Smithsonian Institution, research and education center, mainly at Washington, D.C.; founded 1846 under the terms of the will of James Smithson of London, who in 1829 bequeathed his fortune to the Unit...

Brent, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Brent, Margaret, 1600?–1671?, early American feminist, b. Gloucester, England. With her two brothers and a sister, she left England to settle (1638) in St. Marys City, Md., where she acquired an ext...

Delmarva

(Encyclopedia)Delmarva dĕlmärˈvə [key], peninsula, c.180 mi (290 km) long, separating Chesapeake Bay on the west from Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean on the east; named for the three states (Delaware, Maryl...

Gorman, Arthur Pue

(Encyclopedia)Gorman, Arthur Pue, 1839–1906, American legislator, b. Woodstock, Md. After serving from 1869 to 1879 in the Maryland legislature, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1880. Gorman had by this time ...

Carroll, John

(Encyclopedia)Carroll, John, 1735–1815, American Roman Catholic churchman, b. Maryland. He studied as a child with Jesuits at Bohemia, Md., and later at Saint-Omer in Flanders, since Catholic secondary education ...

Calvert, Charles, 3d Baron Baltimore

(Encyclopedia)Calvert, Charles, 3d Baron Baltimore, 1637–1715, second proprietor of Maryland. He was sent over as deputy governor of that province in 1661 by his father, Cecilius Calvert, 2d Baron Baltimore, and ...

Tyson, Mike

(Encyclopedia)Tyson, Mike (Michael Gerald Tyson), 1966–, American boxer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. At the age of 12, Tyson was sent to reform school, where he began to box. In a whirlwind career begun in 1985 when he tur...