Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Still, William

(Encyclopedia)Still, William, 1821–1902, American abolitionist, b. Burlington co., N.J. After he moved to Philadelphia (1844), he began working for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society (1847) and became head of ...

Binney, Horace

(Encyclopedia)Binney, Horace, 1780–1875, American lawyer, b. Philadelphia. A leading lawyer in Pennsylvania, Binney was appointed in 1808 a director of the First Bank of the United States. He served in Congress f...

Wharton, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Wharton, Francis, 1820–89, American clergyman and lawyer, b. Philadelphia, grad. Yale, 1839. Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1843, he became an authority on criminal law and wrote A Treatise on ...

Whiskey Rebellion

(Encyclopedia)Whiskey Rebellion, 1794, uprising in the Pennsylvania counties W of the Alleghenies, caused by Alexander Hamilton's excise tax of 1791. The settlers, mainly Scotch-Irish, for whom whiskey was an impor...

Louvain

(Encyclopedia)Louvain lo͞oväNˈ [key], Du. Leuven, city (1991 pop. 85,018), Flemish Brabant prov., central Belgium, on the Dijle River. It is a commercial, industrial, and cultural center, as well as a rail junct...

Limburg, province, Belgium

(Encyclopedia)Limburg lĭmˈbûrg, Du. lĭmˈbûrkh [key], Fr. Limbourg, province (1991 pop. 750,435), 930 sq mi (2,409 sq km), NE Belgium, bordering on the Netherlands in the north. The chief cities are Hasselt (t...

Trincomalee

(Encyclopedia)Trincomalee trĭngˌkəməlēˈ [key], town (1995 est. pop. 50,000), capital of Eastern prov., NE Sri Lanka, on the Bay of Bengal. Trincomalee has one of the world's finest natural harbors and can acc...

Stuyvesant, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Stuyvesant, Peter stīˈvəsənt [key], c.1610–1672, Dutch director-general of New Netherland. He served as governor of Curaçao and lost a leg in an expedition against St. Martin before succeeding ...

Horn, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Horn, Cape, headland, 1,391 ft (424 m) high, S Chile, southernmost point of South America, in the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego. It was discovered and first rounded by Willem Schouten, the Dutch nav...

Eeckhout, Gerbrand van den

(Encyclopedia)Eeckhout, Gerbrand van den gĕrˈbränt vän dĕn ākˈhout [key], 1621–74, Dutch painter and etcher. He was a pupil and close follower of Rembrandt, especially in his religious works. A fine drafts...