Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Bragg, Braxton

(Encyclopedia)Bragg, Braxton, 1817–76, Confederate general in the U.S. Civil War, b. Warrenton, N.C. A graduate of West Point, he fought the Seminole and in the Mexican War was promoted to lieutenant colonel for ...

Papua, province, Indonesia

(Encyclopedia)Papua ĭrˈēän jīˈyə [key], province (2014 est pop. 3,486,000), 123,180 sq mi (319,036 sq km), Indonesia. Comprising most of the western half of New Guinea and a number of offshore islands, it is...

Denmark Strait

(Encyclopedia)Denmark Strait, passage, c.300 mi (480 km) long and 180 mi (290 km) wide at the narrowest point, between Greenland and Iceland. The cold E Greenland current passes through the strait and carries icebe...

Helles, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Helles, Cape hĕlˈəs [key], southernmost point of the Gallipoli peninsula, NW Turkey. It commands the entrance to the Dardanelles. ...

Karcag

(Encyclopedia)Karcag kŏrˈtsŏg [key], city (1991 est. pop. 23,650), E Hungary. A road and rail junction, Karcag is an important communications point. ...

Adenauer, Konrad

(Encyclopedia)Adenauer, Konrad kônˈrät äˈdənouˌər [key], 1876–1967, West German chancellor. A lawyer and a member of the Catholic Center party, he was lord mayor of Cologne and a member of the provincial ...

Cumberland Gap

(Encyclopedia)Cumberland Gap, natural passage through the Cumberland Mts., near the point where Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee meet. The gap was formed by the erosive action of a stream that once flowed there. I...

Lobachevsky, Nikolai Ivanovich

(Encyclopedia)Lobachevsky, Nikolai Ivanovich nyĭkəlīˈ ēväˈnəvĭch ləbəchĕfˈskē [key], 1793–1856, Russian mathematician. A pioneer in non-Euclidean geometry, he challenged Euclid's fifth postulate tha...

Pratt, Matthew

(Encyclopedia)Pratt, Matthew, 1734–1805, American portrait painter, b. Philadelphia. After he was an apprentice to his uncle, a painter in Philadelphia, he practiced portrait painting and then studied under Benja...

Berlin Wall

(Encyclopedia)Berlin Wall, 1961–89, a barrier first erected in Aug., 1961, by the East German government along the border between East and West Berlin, and later along the entire border between East Germany and W...

Browse by Subject