Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Moss, Sir Stirling Craufurd

(Encyclopedia)Moss, Sir Stirling Craufurd, 1929–2020, British auto racing driver. Known for his sportsmanship, speed, and courage, Moss became a full-time driver on the Grand Prix circuit in 1953. He subsequently...

Monmouth, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Monmouth, battle of, in the American Revolution, fought June 28, 1778, near the village of Monmouth Courthouse (now Freehold, N.J.). Gen. George Washington chose this location to attack the British tr...

New Westminster

(Encyclopedia)New Westminster, city (1991 pop. 43,585), SW British Columbia, Canada, on the Fraser River, part of metropolitan Vancouver. Founded in 1859 as Queensborough, it was the capital of British Columbia unt...

Philby, Kim

(Encyclopedia)Philby, Kim (Harold Adrian Russell Philby), 1912–88, British double agent, son of Harry St. John Bridger Philby, studied Trinity College, Cambridge. A longtime high-ranking member of Britain's MI6 i...

Brangwyn, Sir Frank William

(Encyclopedia)Brangwyn, Sir Frank William brăngˈwĭn [key], 1867–1956, British painter, etcher, and designer, b. Belgium (to British parents). In his youth he worked in the studio of William Morris and later tr...

Suffren de Saint-Tropez, Pierre André de

(Encyclopedia)Suffren de Saint-Tropez, Pierre André de pyĕr äNdrāˈ də süfrĕnˈ də săN-trôpāˈ [key], 1726–88, French admiral. He participated in naval warfare in the War of the Austrian Succession and...

Shah Alam

(Encyclopedia)Shah Alam shä äˈləm [key], 1728–1806, Mughal emperor of India (1759–1806). Driven out of Delhi in 1758, he nonetheless proclaimed himself emperor after the murder (1759) of his father, Alamgir...

Sharjah

(Encyclopedia)Sharjah shärjäˈ [key], sheikhdom (1995 pop. 400,339), c.1,000 sq mi (2,590 sq km), part of the federation of seven United Arab Emirates, SE Arabia, on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. The mod...

Gupta

(Encyclopedia)Gupta go͝opˈtə [key], Indian dynasty, a.d. c.320–c.550, whose empire at its height encompassed much of N India. Ancient Indian culture reached a high point during this period. Gupta paintings ado...

Ottocar II

(Encyclopedia)Ottocar II or Přemysl Ottocar II, c.1230–1278, king of Bohemia (1253–78), son and successor of Wenceslaus I. Ottocar shrewdly exploited the disorders of the great interregnum in the Holy Roman Em...