Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Keith, Minor Cooper

(Encyclopedia)Keith, Minor Cooper, 1848–1929, American magnate, a founder of the United Fruit Company, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. In the face of incredible hardships he built (1871–90) a railroad from the port of Limón...

Vologda

(Encyclopedia)Vologda vôˈləgdə [key], city (1989 pop. 283,000), capital of Vologda region, N central European Russia, on the Vologda River. It is a major river and rail junction in a dairying region. There are ...

Wadi Halfa

(Encyclopedia)Wadi Halfa wäˈdē hălˈfə [key], town, N Sudan, on Lake Nubia (Lake Nasser). It is the terminus of a railroad from Khartoum and is the point at which cotton, wheat, livestock, and other goods are ...

right of way

(Encyclopedia)right of way, in land and air traffic and in sea navigation, rules that determine precedence in the use of traffic lanes. The rules are framed in the simplest possible terms and with nearly absolute u...

Polynesia

(Encyclopedia)Polynesia pŏlĭnēˈzhə, –shə [key] [Gr.,=many islands], one of the three main divisions of Oceania, in the central and S Pacific Ocean. The larger islands are volcanic; the smaller ones are gene...

Stern, Andrew L.

(Encyclopedia)Stern, Andrew L., 1950–, American labor leader, b. West Orange, N.J., grad., Univ. of Pennsylvania (B.A., 1971). A charismatic and frequently controversial reformer, he became a significant figure i...

Tasman Sea

(Encyclopedia)Tasman Sea, arm of the S Pacific Ocean between Australia and New Zealand; named for Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. Sydney, Australia, is the largest city on the sea. ...

Owen Sound

(Encyclopedia)Owen Sound, city (1991 pop. 21,674), SE Ont., Canada, on Owen Sound. It is a port and railroad terminal in a farming region, and it has large grain elevators. There are printing and other industries. ...

Island No. 10

(Encyclopedia)Island No. 10, former island in the Mississippi River, between NW Tenn. and SE Mo.; site of an important western campaign of the Civil War. With the advance of Union Gen. U. S. Grant up the Tennessee ...

Western Federation of Miners

(Encyclopedia)Western Federation of Miners (WFM), a radical labor union that organized the miners and smelter workers of the Rocky Mountain states. Created in 1893 by the merger of several local miners' unions, the...