Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

arborvitae

(Encyclopedia)arborvitae ärˌbərvīˈtē [key] [Lat.,=tree of life], aromatic evergreen tree of the genus Thuja of the family Cupressaceae (cypress family), with scalelike leaves borne on flattened branchlets of ...

Cabot, John

(Encyclopedia)Cabot, John, fl. 1461–98, English explorer, probably b. Genoa, Italy. He became a citizen of Venice in 1476 and engaged in the Eastern trade of that city. This experience, it is assumed, was the sti...

Hood, John Bell

(Encyclopedia)Hood, John Bell, 1831–79, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Owingsville, Ky. He resigned from the army (Apr., 1861) and entered the Confederate service 1862. He fought in the Peninsu...

Chabanel, Noël

(Encyclopedia)Chabanel, Noël (St. Noël Chabanel) nôĕlˈ shäbänĕlˈ [key], 1613–49, French missionary in North America, a Jesuit. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1630, came as a missionary to New France ...

Huastec

(Encyclopedia)Huastec wäsˈtĕk [key], indigenous people of the Pánuco River basin, E Mexico. They speak a Mayan language but are isolated from the rest of the Mayan stock, from whom they may have been separated ...

Tarahumara

(Encyclopedia)Tarahumara täräo͞omäˈrä [key], indigenous people of N Mexico, mostly in Chihuahua state. About 60,000 strong, they live for the most part in the barren wilderness of the Sierra Madre Occidental,...

West Nile virus

(Encyclopedia)West Nile virus, microorganism and the infection resulting from it, which typically produces no symptoms or a flulike condition. The virus is a flavivirus and is related to a number of viruses that ca...

Kananga

(Encyclopedia)Kananga lo͞olwäbo͞orˈ [key], city (1984 pop. 298,693), capital of Kasai-Central prov., S central Congo (Kinshasa), on the Lulua River. It is the commercial and transportation center of a region wh...

magnolia, in botany

(Encyclopedia)magnolia, common name for plants of the genus Magnolia, and for the Magnoliaceae, a family of deciduous or evergreen trees and shrubs, often with showy flowers. They are principally of north temperate...

Yukon, river, Canada and the United States

(Encyclopedia)Yukon yo͞oˈkŏn [key], river, c.2,000 mi (3,220 km) long, rising in Atlin Lake, NW British Columbia, Canada, and receiving numerous headwater streams; one of the longest rivers of North America. It ...