Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

British North America Act

(Encyclopedia)British North America Act, law passed by the British Parliament in 1867 that provided for the unification of the Canadian provinces into the dominion of Canada. Until 1982 the act also functioned as t...

Universalist Church of America

(Encyclopedia)Universalist Church of America, Protestant denomination originating in the 18th cent. and represented almost entirely in the United States. Universalism is the belief that it is God's purpose to save ...

Corumbá

(Encyclopedia)Corumbá ko͝oro͞ombäˈ [key], city, Mato Grosso do Sul state, SW Brazil, on the Paraguay River. A ...

Pownall, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Pownall, Thomas pouˈnəl [key], 1722–1805, English colonial governor in North America. In 1753 he went to New York as secretary to Sir Danvers Osborn, newly appointed governor. Following Osborn's s...

tagua

(Encyclopedia)tagua täˈgwä [key], fruit of the ivory, or ivory-nut, palms (Phytelephas species), which flourish in tropical America from Paraguay to Panama. The female palms bear large woody, burrlike fruits, ea...

Huron, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Huron hyo͝orˈänˌ [key], confederation of four Native North American groups who spoke the Wyandot language, which belongs to the Iroquoian branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native Am...

Brackenridge, Henry Marie

(Encyclopedia)Brackenridge, Henry Marie, 1786–1871, American writer, b. Pittsburgh; son of Hugh Henry Brackenridge. Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1806, he moved to St. Louis, where he was a lawyer and journ...

Kimberley, city, South Africa

(Encyclopedia)Kimberley kĭmˈbərlē [key], city, now part and seat of Sol Plaatje local municipality, Northern Cape prov., South Africa. Since the 19th cent. the city has been primarily a diamond-mining center, b...

Browse by Subject