Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

321 results found

Indian Ocean

(Encyclopedia)Indian Ocean, third largest ocean, c.28,350,000 sq mi (73,427,000 sq km), extending from S Asia to Antarctica and from E Africa to SE Australia; it is c.4,000 mi (6,400 km) wide at the equator. It con...

McCloy, John Jay

(Encyclopedia)McCloy, John Jay, 1895–1989, U.S. government official, b. Philadelphia. A lawyer, he gained an international reputation when after a long investigation he fixed responsibility on the German governme...

Roanoke, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Roanoke, river, c.410 mi (660 km) long, rising in SW Va. and flowing generally southeast across the Blue Ridge Mts. and into Albemarle Sound, NE N.C. The lower river is navigable for small craft. A co...

Young, Whitney Moore, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Young, Whitney Moore, Jr., 1921–71, African-American civil-rights leader; b. Lincoln Ridge, Ky. A social worker by profession, he joined the National Urban League in 1947 as director of industrial r...

Statesville

(Encyclopedia)Statesville, city (1990 pop. 17,567), seat of Iredell co., W central N.C., on a plateau in the Blue Ridge foothills; founded 1789, inc. 1847. It is a commercial and industrial center in an agricultura...

Abramoff scandal

(Encyclopedia)Abramoff scandal, in U.S. history, political corruption scandal resulting from criminal conduct on the part of lobbyist Jack Abramoff (1959–) and his associates. Abramoff was a Republican activist w...

percussion instrument

(Encyclopedia)percussion instrument, any instrument that produces musical sound when its surface is struck with an implement (such as a mallet, stick, or disk) or with the hand. Perhaps the most universally familia...

Curtis, Samuel Ryan

(Encyclopedia)Curtis, Samuel Ryan, 1805–66, Union general in the Civil War, b. Clinton co., N.Y., grad. West Point, 1831. Curtis won a decisive victory at Pea Ridge (1862) and was therefore promoted to major gene...

New River

(Encyclopedia)New River, c.320 mi (510 km) long, rising in the Blue Ridge, NW N.C. It flows NE through SW Virginia, then NW into West Virginia where it joins with the Gauley River to form the Kanawha River. It is u...

Brevard

(Encyclopedia)Brevard brəvärdˈ [key], town (2020 pop. 8,004), seat of Transylvania co., SW N.C., near Fr...