Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

week

(Encyclopedia)week, period of time shorter than the month, commonly seven days. The ancient Egyptians used a 10-day period, as did the French under the short-lived French Revolutionary calendar. In many regions a f...

Ferdinand, emperor of Austria

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand, 1793–1875, emperor of Austria (1835–48), son and successor of Emperor Francis I (who also, as Francis II, had been the last Holy Roman emperor). A well-meaning monarch in his lucid mome...

Nen, river, China

(Encyclopedia)Nen nônˈnē [key], river, 740 mi (1,191 km) long, rising in the Yilehuli (Ilkuri) Mts., N Heilongjiang prov., NE China, and flowing south along the east side of the Da Hinggan (Great Khingan) range ...

Gnassingbé, Faure Essozimna

(Encyclopedia)Gnassingbé, Faure Essozimna, 1966–, Togolese political leader, president of Togo, (2005–), b. Afagnan. The son of President Gnassingbé Eyadèma, he studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and at George...

Ledóchowski, Count Mieczisław

(Encyclopedia)Ledóchowski, Count Mieczisław myĕchĭsˈläf lĕdo͞okhôfˈskē [key], 1822–1902, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, b. Russian Poland. He became (1865) archbishop of Gniezno and Poznań (th...

Russell, Mary Annette (Beauchamp) Russell, Countess

(Encyclopedia)Russell, Mary Annette (Beauchamp) Russell, Countess, pseud. Elizabeth, 1866–1941, English novelist, b. Sydney, Australia; cousin of Katherine Mansfield. In 1890 she married Count Henning von Arnim a...

Monitor and Merrimack

(Encyclopedia)Monitor and Merrimack, two American warships that fought the first engagement between ironclad ships. When, at the beginning of the Civil War, the Union forces abandoned the Norfolk Navy Yard at Ports...

Sabbath

(Encyclopedia)Sabbath [Heb.,=repose], in Judaism, last day of the week (Saturday), observed as a rest day for the twenty-five hours commencing with sundown on Friday. In the biblical account of creation (Gen. 1) th...

Cossa, Francesco

(Encyclopedia)Cossa, Francesco, or Francesco del Cossa fränchĕsˈkō dĕl kôsˈsä [key], c.1435–1477?, Italian painter. He was a leading representative of the Ferrarese school and was regarded, with Ercole de...

Browse by Subject