Skip to main content

Search results

500 results found

Stanhope, Philip Henry Stanhope, 5th Earl

(Encyclopedia) Stanhope, Philip Henry Stanhope, 5th Earl, 1805–75, English historian. He was undersecretary for foreign affairs (1834–35) in Sir Robert Peel's first ministry and secretary of the board of control...

Wilson, Henry Maitland Wilson, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia) Wilson, Henry Maitland Wilson, 1st Baron, 1881–1964, British field marshal. He served in the South African War and World War I and in 1939 became commander of the British forces in Egypt. He led the...

Bjørnøya

(Encyclopedia) Bjørnøya byörnˈöyä [key], island, 69 sq mi (179 sq km), in the Barents Sea, c.275 mi (440 km) N of Norway; southernmost island of Svalbard. It rises to 1,759 ft (536 m). There are polar fox and ...

Thames, battle of the

(Encyclopedia) Thames, battle of the, engagement fought on the Thames River near Chatham, Ont. (Oct. 5, 1813), in the War of 1812. Gen. William H. Harrison led an American force of about 3,000 against a British army...

Melville, Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia) Melville, Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount, 1742–1811, British lawyer and politician. He was solicitor general for Scotland (1766–75), entered Parliament in 1774, and became lord advocate in 1775. Durin...

Barentz, Willem

(Encyclopedia) Barentz or Barents, Willem both: vĭˈləm bäˈrənts [key], d. 1597, Dutch navigator. He made three voyages (1594, 1595, 1596–97) in search of the Northeast Passage to Asia. He reached Novaya Zeml...

Marquesas Islands

(Encyclopedia) Marquesas Islands märkāˈsäs [key], volcanic group (2002 pop. 8,712), South Pacific, a part of French Polynesia. There are 12 islands in the group, which lies c.930 mi (1,500 km) NE of Tahiti. The ...

Janszoon, Willem

(Encyclopedia) Janszoon, Willem vĭˈləm yänˈsōn [key] fl. late 16th–early 17th cent., Dutch navigator and colonial governor; his name also appears was Jansz or Janssen. Janszoon served (1603–11, 1612–16, ...

Eudoxus of Cyzicus

(Encyclopedia) Eudoxus of Cyzicus sĭzˈĭkəs [key], fl. 130 b.c., Greek navigator in the service of the Ptolemies. He explored the Arabian Sea for Ptolemy VIII. After being blown from his course to the east coast ...

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

(Encyclopedia) Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807–82, American poet, b. Portland, Maine, grad. Bowdoin College, 1825. He wrote some of the most popular poems in American literature, in which he created a new body o...
✖
 

Browse by Subject