Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Skagerrak

(Encyclopedia)Skagerrak skăˈgərăk [key], strait, c.150 mi (240 km) long and 85 mi (140 km) wide, between Norway and Denmark, linking the North Sea and the Baltic Sea by way of the Kattegat. It is shallow on the...

Elliott, Jesse Duncan

(Encyclopedia)Elliott, Jesse Duncan, 1782–1845, American naval officer, b. Hagerstown, Md. In the War of 1812, he helped capture two British vessels on Lake Erie and was made commander of the lake. He began build...

Thames , river, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Thames tĕmz [key], river, c.160 mi (260 km) long, rising NW of Woodstock, S Ont., Canada, and flowing SW past London and Chatham to Lake St. Clair. It is navigable to Chatham, near which was fought (...

Byrhtnoth

(Encyclopedia)Byrhtnoth brīkhtˈnōth [key], d. 991, alderman of the East Saxons. Leader of the English forces in the battle of Maldon, he was killed in the battle and was buried at Ely. ...

Ypres, battles of

(Encyclopedia)Ypres, battles of, three major engagements of World War I fought in and around the town of Ypres in SW Belgium. The first battle of Ypres (Oct.–Nov., 1914) was the last of the series of engagements ...

Coral Sea

(Encyclopedia)Coral Sea, southwest arm of the Pacific Ocean, between Australia, New Guinea, and Vanuatu. The Great Barrier Reef lies along its western edge. During World War II it was the scene of the battle of the...

Derby, Thomas Stanley, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Derby, Thomas Stanley, 1st earl of därˈbē [key], 1435?–1504, English nobleman. During the Wars of the Roses, Stanley was ostensibly a supporter of the Lancastrian Henry VI, but he had Yorkist sym...

Tannenberg

(Encyclopedia)Tannenberg täˈnənbĕrkˌ [key], Pol. Stębark, village, Warmińsko-Mazurskie prov., NE Poland, near Olsztyn. Formerly in East Prussia, it was transferred (1945) by the Potsdam Conference to Polish ...

Abrantes

(Encyclopedia)Abrantes əbränˈtĭsh [key], town, Santarém dist., W central Portugal, in Ribatejo, on the Tagus River. It is the commercial center of a fruit growing region. Historica...

Codrington, Sir Edward

(Encyclopedia)Codrington, Sir Edward kŏdˈrĭngtən [key], 1770–1851, British admiral. He held various commands in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, taking part in the battle of Trafalgar (1805) and ...