Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Abuja

(Encyclopedia)Abuja äbo͞oˈjə [key], city and federal capital territory (2021 metropolitan area est. pop. 3,278,000), central Nigeria. Plans to move the capital from Lagos were appro...

Sibley, Henry Hastings

(Encyclopedia)Sibley, Henry Hastings, 1811–91, first governor of Minnesota, b. Detroit. After two years of law study, he was (1830–34) a clerk for the American Fur Company. He later became (1834) a partner and ...

sphere of influence

(Encyclopedia)sphere of influence, term formerly applied to an area over which an outside power claims hegemony with the intention of subsequently gaining more definite control, as in colonization, or with the inte...

Durance

(Encyclopedia)Durance düräNsˈ [key], river, c.180 mi (290 km) long, rising in SE France at the foot of Montgenèvre Pass on the Italian border and flowing southwest then northwest before entering the Rhône Rive...

Chautauqua Lake

(Encyclopedia)Chautauqua Lake shətôˈkwə [key], 18 mi (29 km) long and from 1 to 3 mi (1.6–4.8 km) wide, W N.Y., SW of Buffalo, in a resort, vineyarding, and orcharding area. Jamestown lies at its southeast en...

Nicoya, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)Nicoya, Gulf of nēkōˈyä [key], inlet of the Pacific Ocean, Central America, between the Nicoya Peninsula and the northwest mainland of Costa Rica. The catch from the fine fishing in the gulf is ca...

Arno

(Encyclopedia)Arno, river, c.150 mi (240 km) long, rising in the Northern Apennines, Tuscany, central Italy, and flowing south to Arezzo where it turns northwest; it proceeds generally west, through Florence and Pi...

De Smet, Pierre Jean

(Encyclopedia)De Smet, Pierre Jean pyĕr zhäN də smĕtˈ [key], 1801–73, Jesuit missionary in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, b. Belgium. He emigrated to the United States in 1821, served his novitiate in Florissan...

Iqaluit

(Encyclopedia)Iqaluit ĭkälo͞oˈĭt [key], town, Nunavut Territory, Canada, at the NE head of Frobisher Bay on ...

Bir Tawil

(Encyclopedia)Bir Tawil, unclaimed territory, c.795 sq mi (2,060 km), along the E Egypt-Sudan border W of the Halayeb Triangle. Its unclaimed status arose from the peculiarities the disputed border: Bir Tawil lies ...