Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Saint Paul

(Encyclopedia)Saint Paul, city (1990 pop. 272,235), state capital and seat of Ramsey co., E Minn., on bluffs along the Mississippi River, contiguous with Minneapolis, forming the Twin Cities metropolitan area; inc....

limestone

(Encyclopedia)limestone, sedimentary rock wholly or in large part composed of calcium carbonate. It is ordinarily white but may be colored by impurities, iron oxide making it brown, yellow, or red and carbon making...

Mammoth Cave National Park

(Encyclopedia)Mammoth Cave National Park, 52,830 acres (21,396 hectares), central Kentucky, authorized 1926, est. 1941. Located in a hilly, forested region, it offers numerous outdoor activities. It is the site of ...

Hrabal, Bohumil

(Encyclopedia)Hrabal, Bohumil, 1914–97, one of the most important and popular Czech writers of the 20th cent., b. Brünn, Austria-Hungary (now Brno, Czech Republic). After working at a number of jobs, he became a...

Roebling, John Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Roebling, John Augustus rōˈblĭng [key], 1806–69, German-American engineer, b. Mulhouse. He studied engineering in Berlin and in 1831 came to the United States. He demonstrated the practicability ...

Prachanda

(Encyclopedia)Prachanda po͞oshˈpä kəmälˈ dəhäl [key], 1954–, Nepalese military and political leader, prime minister of Nepal (2008–9, 2016–17). Born into a Brahmin family, he earned a degree in agricu...

Yucca Mountain

(Encyclopedia)Yucca Mountain, mountain in the SW Nevada desert about 100 mi (161 km) northwest of Las Vegas. It is the proposed site of a Dept. of Energy (DOE) repository for up to 77,000 metric tons of nuclear was...

Jilin, city, China

(Encyclopedia)Jilin kēˈrĭnˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 1,117,800), central Jilin prov., China, on the Songhua River. It is a shipping port, a railroad junction, and a commercial and industrial center, with lar...

Machilipatnam

(Encyclopedia)Machilipatnam bŭnˈdər [key], city (1991 pop. 159,110), Andhra Pradesh state, E central India, a port on the Bay of Bengal. In the 17th cent. it was a center of French, British, and Dutch trade. It ...

Mann, James Robert

(Encyclopedia)Mann, James Robert, 1856–1922, American legislator, b. McLean co., Ill. A Chicago lawyer, he held many local offices before serving (1897–1922) as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Represen...