Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

176 results found

Göta älv

(Encyclopedia)Göta älv yöˌtä ĕlvˈ [key], river, 56 mi (90 km) long, SW Sweden, draining Vänern lake into the Kattegat. It is part of the Göta Canal, a 240-mi (386-km) system of rivers, lakes, and canals, w...

Bull Run

(Encyclopedia)Bull Run, small stream, NE Va., c.30 mi (50 km) SW of Washington, D.C. Two important battles of the Civil War were fought there: the first on July 21, 1861, and the second Aug. 29–30, 1862. Both bat...

Tapajós

(Encyclopedia)Tapajós täpäzhôsˈ [key], river, c.600 mi (970 km) long, formed at the border of Mato Grosso, Pará, and Amazonas states, central Brazil, by the confluence of the Juruena and Teles Pirez rivers. I...

Lachine

(Encyclopedia)Lachine ləshēnˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 35,266), S Que., Canada, on Montreal island, at the east end of Lake St. Louis just SW of Montreal. Its industries include iron and steel foundries and the ma...

Wägner, Elin

(Encyclopedia)Wägner, Elin āˈlĭn vĕgˈnĕr [key], 1882–1949, Swedish novelist. Wägner was a leading feminist of her day. In early works such as Pennskaftet [the penholder] (1910), she deals with the social,...

Niagara Falls, waterfall, United States and Canada

(Encyclopedia)Niagara Falls, in the Niagara River, W N.Y. and S Ont., Canada; one of the most famous spectacles in North America. The falls are on the international line between the cities of Niagara Falls, N.Y., a...

Sowerby, Leo

(Encyclopedia)Sowerby, Leo sōˈərbē [key], 1895–1968, American composer and organist, b. Grand Rapids, Mich. Sowerby studied at the American Conservatory, Chicago, and with Percy Grainger. In 1921 an American ...

Mackenzie

(Encyclopedia)Mackenzie, river, c.1,120 mi (1,800 km) long, issuing from Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada, and flowing generally NW to the Arctic Ocean through a great delta. Between Great Slave Lake...

taiga

(Encyclopedia)taiga tīˈgə [key], northern coniferous-forest belt of Eurasia, bordered on the north by the treeless tundra and on the south by the steppe. This vast belt, comprising about one third of the forest ...

Banks, Nathaniel Prentiss

(Encyclopedia)Banks, Nathaniel Prentiss, 1816–94, American politician and Union general in the Civil War, b. Waltham, Mass. After serving in the Massachusetts legislature (1849–53), Banks entered Congress as a ...