Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Antsiranana

(Encyclopedia)Antsiranana dē-āˈgō-swärˈĕs [key], town, N Madagascar, on Antsiranana Bay. The bay, an arm of the Indian Ocean, is one of the world's finest natural harbors; its lo...

James, Thomas, English navigator and explorer

(Encyclopedia)James, Thomas, 1593?–1635?, English navigator and explorer (1631) of James Bay. Financed by Bristol merchants, he sailed in command of the Henrietta Maria in the spring of 1631 to find the Northwest...

bore

(Encyclopedia)bore, inrush of water that advances upstream with a wavelike front, caused by the progress of incoming tide from a wide-mouthed bay into its narrower portion. The tidal movement tends to be retarded b...

Pylos

(Encyclopedia)Pylos pīˈlŏs [key], ancient harbor, Messenia, SW Greece, on a bay of the Ionian Sea. Excavations have revealed a great Mycenaean palace of the 13th cent. b.c., perhaps the dwelling of King Nestor. ...

Hudson, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Hudson, Henry, fl. 1607–11, English navigator and explorer. He was hired (1607) by the English Muscovy Company to find the Northeast Passage to Asia. He failed, and another attempt (1608) to find a ...

June beetle

(Encyclopedia)June beetle or May beetle, a blackish or mahogany-colored beetle of the scarab beetle family, widely distributed in North America and especially abundant in the NE United States and the adjacent parts...

Arden, John

(Encyclopedia)Arden, John ärˈdən [key], 1930–2012, English playwright and novelist best known for his politically engaged work of the 1950s and 60s, a period during which he was considered one of Britain's maj...

Pinkie

(Encyclopedia)Pinkie, battlefield, E of Edinburgh, Scotland. There the English under Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, defeated a larger Scottish force on Sept. 10, 1547. Somerset's invasion of Scotland, to enforce...

Guadalcanal

(Encyclopedia)Guadalcanal gwädəlkənălˈ [key], volcanic island, c.2,510 sq mi (6,500 sq km), South Pacific, ...

Guantánamo

(Encyclopedia)Guantánamo gwäntäˈnämō [key], city (1994 est. pop. 200,000), capital of Guantánamo prov., SE Cuba, on the Guaso River. It is the processing center for a rich sugar- and coffee-producing region ...