Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Alert əlûrtˈ [key], settlement, on Ellesmere Island, extreme N Nunavut Territory, Canada, on the Arctic Ocean. It is the most northerly permanent settlement in the world. The settlement has a radio...

(Encyclopedia) Treasury, United States Department of the, federal executive department established in 1789. It is charged with advising the president on fiscal policy and acting as fiscal agent for the federal gover...

(Encyclopedia) Moselle, Ger. Mosel, river, 320 mi (515 km) long, rising in the Vosges Mts., NE France, and winding generally N past Épinal and Metz. Leaving France, it forms part of the border between Luxembourg an...

(Encyclopedia) United States Merchant Marine Academy, at Kings Point, N.Y.; for the training of merchant marine officers; established 1936, opened 1943. The academy became coeducational in 1974. Candidates must be b...

(Encyclopedia) Dearborn, Henry, 1751–1829, American general and cabinet member, b. Hampton, N.H. He was a physician and became a captain of militia. When the American Revolution broke out, he led his company in th...

(Encyclopedia) Canada balsam, yellow, oily, resinous exudation obtained from the balsam fir. It is an oleoresin (see resin) with a pleasant odor but a biting taste. It is a turpentine rather than a true balsam. On s...

(Encyclopedia) Marine Corps, United States, military corps that forms a separate service within the U.S. Dept. of the Navy. The commandant of the Marine Corps is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During conflic...

(Encyclopedia) Canada Act, also called the Constitutional Act of 1982, which made Canada a fully sovereign state. The British Parliament approved it on Mar. 25, 1982, and Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed it on Apr. 17,...

(Encyclopedia) Gleason, Henry Allan glēˈsən [key], 1882–1975, American botanist, plant geographer, and plant ecologist. His floristic studies of North American vegetation led to his “individualistic concept o...

(Encyclopedia) Bradstreet, John, c.1711–1774, British officer in the French and Indian Wars. A Nova Scotian, he was captured (1744) by the French and confined at Louisburg. After his exchange he described the weak...