Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Joubert, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Joubert, Joseph zhôzĕfˈ zho͞obĕrˈ [key], 1754–1824, French moralist. His Pensées (of which there are many English translations) rank with those of La Rochefoucauld in their finished style but...

Border, the

(Encyclopedia)Border, the, region surrounding the boundary between England and Scotland. From the coast near Berwick along the Tweed River through the Cheviot Hills and on to Solway Firth, the narrow, rugged countr...

Afanasyev, Aleksandr Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Afanasyev, Aleksandr Nikolayevich əlyĭksänˈdər nyĭkəlīˈəvĭch əfənäˈsyəf [key], 1826–71, Russian folklorist. His collections, published from 1866 on, were instrumental in introducing ...

Bates, Katharine Lee

(Encyclopedia)Bates, Katharine Lee, 1859–1929, American author, b. Falmouth, Mass., grad. Wellesley, 1880. She was professor of English literature at Wellesley (1891–1925). Her hymn, “America the Beautiful,�...

District of Columbia, University of the

(Encyclopedia)District of Columbia, University of the, at Washington, D.C.; coeducational; land-grant and federally supported; est. 1976 with the merger of three existing colleges; predominantly African American. I...

Horn of Africa

(Encyclopedia)Horn of Africa, peninsula, NE Africa, opposite the S Arabia Peninsula. Also known as the Somali Peninsula, it encompasses Somalia and E Ethiopia and is the easternmost extension of the continent, sepa...

Hayes, Roland

(Encyclopedia)Hayes, Roland, 1887–1976, American tenor, b. Curryville, Ga. The son of a former slave, Hayes studied at Fisk Univ. and with private teachers in Boston and in Europe. As one of the foremost interpre...

Uele

(Encyclopedia)Uele or Welle both: wĕˈlā [key], river, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, rising in NE Congo (Kinshasa), central Africa, and flowing west to merge with the Bomu River and thus form the Ubangi River at the ...

Bontemps, Arna

(Encyclopedia)Bontemps, Arna, 1902–73, African-American writer, b. Alexandria, La. He is best remembered as the author of the novel God Sends Sunday (1931), the basis of the play St. Louis Woman (1946); and of Bl...

Rainey, Joseph Hayne

(Encyclopedia)Rainey, Joseph Hayne, 1832–87, first African American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, b. Georgetown, S.C. The son of a free man, he fled to the West Indies during the Civil War. Return...