Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Chinook jargon

(Encyclopedia)Chinook jargon, lingua franca of early traders on the Northwest Coast of the United States and Canada. It included Chinook, Nootka, English, and French words, with various borrowings. ...

Chagas' disease

(Encyclopedia)Chagas' disease, disease of South and Central America caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. It usually affects children and young adults and is transmitted by the feces of infected insects, typica...

Heliogabalus

(Encyclopedia)Heliogabalus ĕləgăbˈələs [key], c.205–222, Roman emperor (218–22). He was a priest of the local sun god, Elagabalus, at Emesa and was named Varius Avitus Bassianus. He was a cousin of Caraca...

komondor

(Encyclopedia)komondor kŏmˈəndôrˌ [key] (pl. komondorok), breed of large, powerful working dog recognized as a distinct breed in Hungary since the 9th cent. It stands from 231⁄2 to 311⁄2 in. (60–80 cm) h...

Calderón de la Barca, Pedro

(Encyclopedia)Calderón de la Barca, Pedro pāˈᵺrō käldārōnˈ dā lä bärˈkä [key], 1600–1681, Spanish dramatist, last important figure of the Spanish Golden Age, b. Madrid. Educated at a Jesuit school ...

Ravalomanana, Marc

(Encyclopedia)Ravalomanana, Marc märk rävälōmänänˈ [key], 1949–, Malagasy political leader. He made a fortune manufacturing dairy products and began his political career in 1999 when he was elected mayor o...

Ainu

(Encyclopedia)Ainu īˈno͞o [key], aborigines of Japan who may be descended from a Caucasoid people who once lived in N Asia. More powerful invaders from the Asian mainland gradually forced the Ainu to retreat to ...

Deerfield Beach

(Encyclopedia)Deerfield Beach, town (2020 pop. 86,859), Broward co., SE Fla., on the Atlantic coast; inc. 1925. The development of high-technology industry and commer...

Detroit, river, United States and Canada

(Encyclopedia)Detroit, river, 32 mi (52 km) long, flowing from Lake St. Clair S into Lake Erie between Detroit, Mich., and Windsor, Ont.; it forms part of the U.S.-Canada boundary. It is one of the most heavily ind...

Darling Range

(Encyclopedia)Darling Range, Western Australia state, Australia, at the edge of the Western Plateau, extending 200 mi (322 km) parallel with the southwest coast and rising to 1,910 ft (582 m) in Mt. Cooke. Gold and...

Browse by Subject