Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Gatschet, Albert Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Gatschet, Albert Samuel găˈchĭt [key], 1832–1907, American ethnologist, b. Switzerland. He was trained as a linguist in the universities of Bern and Berlin, and after his arrival in the United St...

Klamath, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Klamath klămˈəth [key], Native North Americans who in the 19th cent. lived in SW Oregon. They speak a language of the Sahaptin-Chinook branch of the Penutian linguistic stock (see Native American l...

American Revolution

(Encyclopedia)American Revolution, 1775–83, struggle by which the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic seaboard of North America won independence from Great Britain and became the United States. It is also called th...

Nootka

(Encyclopedia)Nootka no͝otˈkə [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Wakashan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). The Nootka proper are a smal...

Neutral Nation

(Encyclopedia)Neutral Nation, group of Native North American tribes of the Iroquoian branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the early 17th cent. they occupied the territory ...

Cayuse

(Encyclopedia)Cayuse kīyo͞osˈ [key], Native North Americans who formerly occupied parts of NE Oregon and SE Washington. They were closely associated with the Nez Percé and spoke a language belonging to the Saha...

Gros Ventre

(Encyclopedia)Gros Ventre grō văNˈtrə [key] [Fr.,=big belly], name used by the French for two quite distinct Native North American groups. One was the Atsina, a detached band of the Arapaho, whose language belo...

Makah

(Encyclopedia)Makah mäkôˈ [key], Native North Americans who in the early 19th cent. inhabited Cape Flattery, NW Wash. According to Lewis and Clark they then numbered some 2,000. The Makah are the southernmost of...

Malecite

(Encyclopedia)Malecite or Maliseet both: mălˈəsīt [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In th...

Massachuset

(Encyclopedia)Massachuset măsəcho͞oˈsĭt [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the early 1...