Columbia

Columbia is a name used in the English language for the many things and places. The name is dervived from that of Christopher Columbus.

Columbia, late 19th century
from a Columbia Records phonograph cylinder package

The name "Columbia" is/was a poetic name for the United States of America, which largely fell out of use in the early 20th century. Columbia was also a female personification of the USA, similar to the male Uncle Sam, often seen in political cartoons through the early 20th century.

The term Columbian has been occasionally used as an alternative for "American" when refering to someone from the United States: see Usian.

Places named "Columbia" include:

• Columbia River
• British Columbia
• District of Columbia
• Columbia, Connecticut
• Columbia, Illinois
• Columbia, Maryland
• Columbia, Mississippi
• Columbia, Missouri
• Columbia, New Jersey[?]
• Columbia, New York
• Columbia, North Carolina
• Columbia, Pennsylvania
• Columbia, South Carolina
• Columbia, Tennessee
• Columbia City, Indiana
• Columbia County, Arkansas
• Columbia County, New York
• Columbia Heights, Minnesota
• Columbia Station, Ohio[?]
• Columbia Township, Michigan

Things named Columbia include:

• Columbia University
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
• Columbia Records (now part of Sony Music Entertainment)
• Columbia Pictures, film production company
• Space Shuttle Columbia
• USS Columbia, several ships of the US Navy

Columbia shouldn't be confused with Colombia, a country in South America, (also named after Christopher Columbus).

There is also the constellation Columba, the dove.