Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) ampelopsis ămˌpĭlŏpˈsəs [key] [Gr.,=looking like a vine], botanic name for woody ornamental vines of the genus Ampelopsis, but in horticulture also traditionally applied to the Virginia creeper,...

(Encyclopedia) Veneti, people of ancient Italy. They occupied the shore of the Adriatic from Trieste to the mouth of the Po River and spoke an Illyrian language. Friendly toward Rome, they came under Roman rule in t...

(Encyclopedia) North, Roger, 1653–1734, English biographer. A lawyer, he wrote excellent biographies of his brothers: Francis North, Lord Guilford, Keeper of the Great Seal (1742); Dudley North, a merchant (1744);...

(Encyclopedia) Chouteau sho͞otōˈ [key], family of American fur traders. René Auguste Chouteau, 1749–1829, b. New Orleans, accompanied (1763) his stepfather, Pierre Laclede, on a trading expedition to the Illin...

(Encyclopedia) Andaman and Nicobar Islands ănˈdəmən, nĭkˈōbär [key], union territory (2001 provisional pop. 356,265), India, in the Bay of Bengal. Port Blair, in the Andamans, is...

(Encyclopedia) Red River Settlement, agricultural colony in present Manitoba, North Dakota, and Minnesota. It was the undertaking of Thomas Douglas, 5th earl of Selkirk. Wishing to relieve the dispossessed and impov...

(Encyclopedia) Guaraní gwäränēˈ [key], indigenous group living in the eastern lowland area of South America, related to the Tupí of the Rio São Francisco and the Tupinambá on the Atlantic coast. The Guaraní...

(Encyclopedia) North Cape or Nordkapp nōrˈkäp [key], promontory, rising steeply c.1,000 ft (300 m) from the Arctic Ocean, near but not at the north end of Magerøya island, Finnmark co., N Norway. Although Mager�...

(Encyclopedia) North Pole, northern end of the earth's axis, by convention at lat. 90°N. Because the earth's rotational axis wobbles slightly over time, the location where the northern end of the axis intersects th...

(Encyclopedia) mound, prehistoric earthwork erected as a memorial or landmark over a burial place, a defensive embankment, or a site for ceremonial or religious rites or other functions. Such structures are found in...