Columbia Encyclopedia

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libel and slander

(Encyclopedia)libel and slander, in law, types of defamation. In common law, written defamation was libel and spoken defamation was slander. Today, however, there are no such clear definitions. Permanent forms of d...

Ponca

(Encyclopedia)Ponca, Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). According to tradition the group lived in the Ohio valle...

Campbell, Robert, American fur trader and merchant

(Encyclopedia)Campbell, Robert, 1804–79, American fur trader and merchant, one of the mountain men, b. Ireland. He came to the United States c.1824. Having been advised to lead an outdoor life because of a lung a...

Northwest Passage

(Encyclopedia)Northwest Passage, water routes through the Arctic Archipelago, N Canada, and along the northern coast of Alaska between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Even though the explorers of the 16th cent. de...

McClure, Sir Robert John Le Mesurier

(Encyclopedia)McClure, Sir Robert John Le Mesurier, 1807–73, British arctic explorer. He entered the navy and in 1848 accompanied Sir James Clark Ross to the arctic. As a naval captain he was given command (1850)...

Portland, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Portland. 1 City (1990 pop. 64,358), seat of Cumberland co., SW Maine, situated on a small peninsula and adjacent land, with a large, deepwater harbor on Casco Bay; settled c.1632, set off from Falmou...

Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe

(Encyclopedia)Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe, 1793–1864, American ethnologist, b. near Albany, N.Y. He gave enormous impetus to the study of Native American culture and may be regarded as the foremost pioneer in Native ...

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(Encyclopedia)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civilian agency of the U.S. federal government with the mission of conducting research and developing operational programs in the areas of space e...

Ferdinand III, Spanish king of Castile and León

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand III, 1199–1252, Spanish king of Castile (1217–52) and León (1230–52), son of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguela of Castile. At the death (1217) of her brother, Henry I of Castile, Ber...

Missouri, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Missouri, river, c.2,565 mi (4,130 km) long (including its Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock headstream), the longest river of the United States and the principal tributary of the Mississippi River. The l...