Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Spruance, Raymond Ames

(Encyclopedia)Spruance, Raymond Ames spro͞oˈəns [key], 1886–1969, American admiral, b. Baltimore. Commissioned in the navy in 1908, he reached the rank of rear admiral in 1939. In World War II he distinguished...

Crédit Mobilier of America

(Encyclopedia)Crédit Mobilier of America krĕˈdĭt mōbĭlyāˈ, krādēˈ [key], ephemeral construction company, connected with the building of the Union Pacific RR and involved in one of the major financial sca...

Lewis and Clark expedition

(Encyclopedia)Lewis and Clark expedition, 1803–6, U.S. expedition that explored the territory of the Louisiana Purchase and the country beyond as far as the Pacific Ocean. The men were gathered and in the winte...

grouper

(Encyclopedia)grouper, common name for a large carnivorous member of the family Serranidae (sea bass family), abundant in tropical and subtropical seas and highly valued as food fish. There are several genera, nota...

Villard, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Villard, Henry vĭlärdˈ [key], 1835–1900, American journalist and financier, b. Germany. His first name was originally Hilgard. He attended universities in Germany, and after he reached (1853) the...

Diego Garcia

(Encyclopedia)Diego Garcia, coral island, 11 sq mi (28 sq km). Indian Ocean, largest island of the Chagos Archipelago, SW of Sri Lanka. Part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, the island was leased (1970) to th...

Gulf Stream

(Encyclopedia)Gulf Stream, warm ocean current of the N Atlantic Ocean, off E North America. It was first described (1513) by Spanish explorer Ponce de León. The Gulf Stream originates in the Gulf of Mexico and, as...

submersible

(Encyclopedia)submersible, small, mobile undersea research vessel capable of functioning in the ocean depths. Development of a great variety of submersibles during the later 1950s and 1960s came about as a result o...

Colombo Plan

(Encyclopedia)Colombo Plan, international economic organization created in a cooperative attempt to strengthen the economic and social development of the nations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Officially the Co...

Montes, Ismael

(Encyclopedia)Montes, Ismael ēsmäēlˈ mōnˈtās [key], 1861–1933, Bolivian statesman, president of Bolivia (1904–9, 1913–17). He interrupted the study of law in 1879 to fight against Chile in the War of t...