Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

geography

(Encyclopedia)geography, the science of place, i.e., the study of the surface of the earth, the location and distribution of its physical and cultural features, the areal patterns or places that they form, and the ...

Pennsylvania

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Pennsylvania pĕnsəlvāˈnyə [key], one of the Middle Atlantic states of the United States. It is bordered by New Jersey, across the Delaware River (E), Delaware (SE), Maryland (S), West Virg...

physical geography

(Encyclopedia)physical geography: see geography. ...

Pennsylvania Dutch

(Encyclopedia)Pennsylvania Dutch [Ger. Deutsch=German], people of E Pennsylvania of German descent who migrated to the area in the 18th cent., particularly those in Northampton, Berks, Lancaster, Lehigh, Lebanon, Y...

Pennsylvania Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Pennsylvania Railroad, former U.S. transportation company; inc. 1846 by the Pennsylvania legislature. It opened in 1854 as a single-track line between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Beginning in 1857, t...

atlas, in geography

(Encyclopedia)atlas, in geography, collection of maps or charts. It usually includes data on various features of a country, e.g., its topography, natural resources, climate, and population, as well as its agricultu...

antipodes, in geography

(Encyclopedia)antipodes [Gr.,=having feet opposite], people or places diametrically opposite on the globe. Thus antipodes must be separated by half the circumference of the earth (180°), and one must be as far nor...

America, in geography

(Encyclopedia)America [for Amerigo Vespucci], the lands of the Western Hemisphere—North America, Central (or Middle) America, and South America. The world map published in 1507 by Martin Waldseemüller is the fir...

Goode, John Paul

(Encyclopedia)Goode, John Paul go͝od [key], 1862–1932, American geographer and cartographer, b. Stewartville, Minn., grad. Univ. of Minnesota, 1889, Ph.D. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1901. He taught geography at the ...

Pennsylvania, University of

(Encyclopedia)Pennsylvania, University of, in Philadelphia; private with some state support; coeducational. It dates to 1740 and plans for a charity school, and the first predecessor opened in 1751 as an academy, l...