Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

215 results found

Antiochus III

(Encyclopedia)Antiochus III (Antiochus the Great), d. 187 b.c., king of Syria (223–187 b.c.), son of Seleucus II and younger brother of Seleucus III, whom he succeeded. At his accession the Seleucid empire was in...

Grey, Lady Jane

(Encyclopedia)Grey, Lady Jane, 1537–54, queen of England for nine days. She was the daughter of Henry Grey, marquess of Dorset (later duke of Suffolk), and Frances Brandon, daughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary. S...

Ladislaus V

(Encyclopedia)Ladislaus V or Ladislaus Posthumus, 1440–57, king of Hungary (1444–57) and, as Ladislaus I, king of Bohemia (1453–57). Ladislaus, duke of Austria by birth as the posthumous son of Albert of Haps...

King, B. B.

(Encyclopedia)King, B. B., 1925–2015, African-American blues singer and guitarist, b. near Indianola, Miss., as Riley B. King. He grew up poor in the Mississippi Delta region, began playing the guitar at 12, was ...

Wilder, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls

(Encyclopedia)Wilder, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls, 1867–1957, American author of the classic Little House series of children's books, b. Pepin, Wis. She and her pioneer family traveled (1869–79) throughout the Midw...

Rove, Karl Christian

(Encyclopedia)Rove, Karl Christian, 1950–, U.S. political consultant and government official, b. Denver, Colo. Politically active in high school, he joined College Republicans while at the Univ. of Utah and becam...

Dahl, Roald

(Encyclopedia)Dahl, Roald däl [key], 1916–90, British writer known for inventive, often macabre children's books and horror-tinged adult fiction. Dahl spurned a university education in favor of world travel, jo...

Haydn, Franz Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Haydn, Franz Joseph fränts yōˈzĕf hīˈdən [key], 1732–1809, Austrian composer, one of the greatest masters of classical music. As a boy he sang in the choir at St. Stephen's, Vienna, where he ...

Abrahams, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Abrahams, Peter, 1919–2017, South African novelist and journalist, b. Peter Henry Abrahams Deras. Though he lived mostly in exile, he exposed the injustices of the apartheid system and the politics ...

Frobisher, Sir Martin

(Encyclopedia)Frobisher, Sir Martin frōˈbĭshər [key], 1535?–1594, English mariner. He went to sea as a boy, and spent much of his youth in the African trade. He later gained the friendship of Sir Humphrey Gil...

Browse by Subject