Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Abydos, ancient town of Phrygia

(Encyclopedia)Abydos, ancient town of Phrygia, Asia Minor, on the Asian side of the Hellespont opposite Sestos, in present-day Turkey. It was originally a Milesian colony. Near there Xerxes built his bridge of boat...

medusa, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)medusa, in zoology, scientific name for the jellyfish, i.e., the free-swimming stage of various animals in the phylum Cnidaria. See polyp and medusa. ...

George Town

(Encyclopedia)George Town, town (1989 pop. 12,921), capital and administrative center of the Cayman Islands, in the West Indies. A major offshore banking and business center, it is the site of several hundred banks...

Florio, John

(Encyclopedia)Florio, John flôˈrēō [key], 1553?–1625, English author, b. London of Italian parentage. Educated at Oxford, Florio served in various capacities at the court of James I. He is chiefly remembered ...

East Siberian Sea

(Encyclopedia)East Siberian Sea, Rus. Vostochno-Sibirskoye More, part of the Arctic Ocean N of NE Siberia, Russia, bounded on the W by the New Siberian Islands and on the E by Wrangel Island. The Indigirka, Kolyma,...

Chongjin

(Encyclopedia)Chongjin or Chungjin both: chŭngˈjĕnˈ [key], Jap. Seishin, city, NE North Korea, an i...

Peary Land

(Encyclopedia)Peary Land, peninsula, N Greenland, extending into the Arctic Ocean. It terminates in Cape Bridgman in the northeast and Cape Morris Jesup in the north, the most northerly point of land yet discovered...

public domain

(Encyclopedia)public domain, in law, legal availability for public use, free of charge, of materials, processes, devices, skills, and plans that are not protected by copyright or patent, including those on which co...

Vanderbilt University

(Encyclopedia)Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tenn.; coeducational; chartered 1872 as Central Univ. of Methodist Episcopal Church, founded and renamed 1873, opened 1875 through a gift from Cornelius Vanderbilt...

Berchet, Giovanni

(Encyclopedia)Berchet, Giovanni jōvänˈnē bĕrkĕtˈ [key], 1783–1851, Italian patriot and poet. He conspired to free Lombardy from Austria and was exiled. He wrote stirring patriotic ballads of a romantic typ...