Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) North Atlantic Drift, warm ocean current in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a continuation of the Gulf Stream, the merging point being at lat. 40°N and long. 60°W. Off the British Isl...

(Encyclopedia) Iturrigaray, José de hōsāˈ ᵺā ēto͞oˈrēgäräˈē [key], 1742–1815, Spanish colonial administrator, viceroy of New Spain (1803–8). During his rule, all of Spanish America was disturbed b...

(Encyclopedia) Cretaceous period krĭtāˈshəs [key], third and last period of the Mesozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), lasting from approximately 144 to 65 millio...

(Encyclopedia) Paredes y Arrillaga, Mariano märyäˈnō pärāˈᵺās ē ärēyäˈgä [key], 1797–1849, Mexican general and president (1846). A leader of the ultraconservatives, he helped to put Antonio López ...

(Encyclopedia) tortoise tôrˈtəs [key], common name for a terrestrial turtle, especially one of the family Testudinidae. Tortoises inhabit warm regions of all continents except Australia. They have club-shaped fee...

(Encyclopedia) Gadsden Purchase gădzˈdən [key], strip of land purchased (1853) by the United States from Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) had described the U.S.-Mexico boundary vaguely, and Presiden...

(Encyclopedia) North Braddock, borough (1990 pop. 7,036), Allegheny co., W Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh, on the Monongahela River; inc. 1897. Andrew Carnegie's first steel plant was built there in 1875. The borough w...

(Encyclopedia) waterfowl, common term for members of the order Anseriformes, wild, aquatic, typically freshwater birds including ducks, geese, and screamers. In Great Britain the term is also used to designate speci...

(Encyclopedia) Confederate States of America: see Confederacy. ...

(Encyclopedia) United Way of America: see community chest. ...