Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Neruda, Pablo

(Encyclopedia)Neruda, Pablo päˈblō nāro͞oˈᵺä [key], 1904–73, Chilean poet, diplomat, and Communist leader. He changed his original name, Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto, so that his railroad-work...

Odinga, Raila Amolo

(Encyclopedia)Odinga, Raila Amolo ōdĭnˈgä [key] 1945–, Kenyan political leader, son of Oginga Odinga, Kenya's first vice president. After earning (1970) a degree in mechanical engineering from the Univ. of M...

Carnot, Lazare Nicolas Marguerite

(Encyclopedia)Carnot, Lazare Nicolas Marguerite kärnōˈ [key], 1753–1823, French revolutionary, known as the organizer of victory for his role in the French Revolutionary Wars. A military engineer by training,...

Beneš, Eduard

(Encyclopedia)Beneš, Eduard ĕˈdo͝oärt bĕˈnĕsh [key], 1884–1948, Czechoslovakian president (1935–38, 1946–48). As a student at Prague Univ. he adopted the political and social philosophy of T. G. Masar...

Wazed, Hasina

(Encyclopedia)Wazed, Hasina häˌsēnäˈ wäzĕdˈ [key], 1947–, Bangladeshi political leader, grad. Univ. of Dhaka (1973). Popularly known as Sheikh Hasina, she is the daughter of Bangladesh's first prime minis...

Rohingya

(Encyclopedia)Rohingya, Muslim ethnic, cultural, and linguistic group living primarily in Rakhine State, W Myanmar. A minority of some 1.5 million in a country that is predominantly Buddhist, they speak a language ...

Sieyès, Emmanuel Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Sieyès, Emmanuel Joseph ĕmänüĕlˈ zhôzĕfˈ syāĕsˈ [key], 1748–1836, French revolutionary and statesman. He was a clergyman before the Revolution and was known as Abbé Sieyès. His pamphle...

Shevardnadze, Eduard Amvrosiyevich

(Encyclopedia)Shevardnadze, Eduard Amvrosiyevich ĕdˈwärd shəvˈärdnädˈzyə [key], 1928–2014, Georgian politician and diplomat. Known for pragmatism rather than polemicism, Shevardnadze served as the head o...

Rivette, Jacques Pierre Louis

(Encyclopedia)Rivette, Jacques Pierre Louis, 1928–2016, French filmmaker and critic b. Rouen. One of the French New Wave directors of the 1950s and 60s, he wrote criticism for the influential journal Cahiers du C...

Dole, Bob

(Encyclopedia)Dole, Bob (Robert Joseph Dole), 1923–2021, American political leader, b. Russell, Ks., Washburn Univ. (B.A. and L.L.D., 1952); husband of Elizabeth Ha...

Browse by Subject