Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Hengist and Horsa

(Encyclopedia)Hengist and Horsa hĕngˈgĭst, hôrˈsə [key], names of two brothers who, according to tradition, led the Jutish invasion of Britain and founded the kingdom of Kent. Hengist would more properly be w...

Vlissingen

(Encyclopedia)Vlissingen flŭshˈĭng [key], city (1994 pop. 44,211), Zeeland prov., SW Netherlands, on the southern coast of the former island of Walcheren. Its manufactures include shipbuilding, chemicals, and ge...

Reed, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Reed, Joseph, 1741–85, American Revolutionary political leader and army officer, b. Trenton, N.J. He studied law, was admitted (1763) to the bar, and then went to London to study at the Middle Templ...

Arlington, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Arlington. 1 Town, Middlesex co., E Mass., a residential suburb of Boston; settled c.1630 as Menotomy, inc. as West Cambridge 1807, renamed Arlington 1867. The area was the scene of ...

Fort Fisher

(Encyclopedia)Fort Fisher, Confederate earthwork fortification, built by Gen. William Whiting in 1862 to guard the port of Wilmington, N.C.; scene of one of the last large battles of the Civil War. Because Wilmingt...

Johnson, Tom Loftin

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Tom Loftin, 1854–1911, American municipal reformer, mayor of Cleveland (1901–10), b. Georgetown, Ky. He acquired a substantial fortune from streetcar and steel interests, and, deeply infl...

Laurens, John

(Encyclopedia)Laurens, John, 1754–82, American Revolutionary soldier, b. Charleston, S.C.; son of Henry Laurens. In 1777 he joined George Washington's staff as a volunteer aide-de-camp, fought at Brandywine and i...

Woods, Granville Taylor

(Encyclopedia)Woods, Granville Taylor,, 1856–1910, African-American inventor, b. Columbus, Ohio. He worked in a railroad shop as a youth, becoming a machinist and blacksmith. He subsequently worked on trains, fir...

Toulon

(Encyclopedia)Toulon to͞olôNˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 170,167), Var dept., SE France, in Provence, on the Mediterranean Sea. An important commercial port and industrial center, Toulon is France's principal naval ...

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 ...

Browse by Subject