Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Middle Kingdom

(Encyclopedia)Middle Kingdom or Middle Country, Mandarin Zhongguo, Chinese name for China. It dates from c.1000 b.c., when it designated the Chou empire situated on the North China Plain. The Chou people, unaware o...

Ramgoolam, Sir Seewoosagur

(Encyclopedia)Ramgoolam, Sir Seewoosagur, 1900–1985, Mauritian political leader. A physician, he was a leader of the Labor party and active in the Mauritian independence movement. Ramgoolam served as chief minist...

Ne Win, U

(Encyclopedia)Ne Win, U o͞o nā wĭn [key], 1911–2002, Burmese soldier and political leader. He abandoned his original name, Shu Maung, in 1941 when he joined a Japanese-supported nationalist military group. Bec...

Wynette, Tammy

(Encyclopedia)Wynette, Tammy wīnĕtˈ [key], 1942–98, American singer and songwriter, often called “th...

gorilla

(Encyclopedia)gorilla, an ape, genus Gorilla, native to the lowland and mountain forests of western and central equatorial Africa. The two gorilla species are the western, comprising the western lowland (G. gorilla...

Denonville, Jacques René de Brisay, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Denonville, Jacques René de Brisay, marquis de zhäk rənāˈ də brēzāˈ märkēˈ də dənôNvēlˈ [key], d. 1710, governor of New France (1685–89). To subdue the Iroquois he led a force of 3,...

Do Muoi

(Encyclopedia)Do Muoi, 1917–2018, Vietnamese political leader, originally named Nguyen Duy Cong. He joined the fight against French rule as a teenager, became a Communist party member in 1939, and was imprisoned ...

Jewett, Sarah Orne

(Encyclopedia)Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849–1909, American novelist and short-story writer, b. South Berwick, Maine. Her studies of small-town New England life are perceptive, sympathetic, and gently humorous. After c...

Mbuji-Mayi

(Encyclopedia)Mbuji-Mayi bäkwängˈgä [key], city (1984 pop. 486,235), capital of Kasai-Oriental prov., S central Congo (Kinshasa), on the Sankuru River. A commercial center in Luba country, it handles most of th...

Ulloa, Antonio de

(Encyclopedia)Ulloa, Antonio de äntôˈnyō ᵺā o͞olyōˈä [key], 1716–95, Spanish scientist and naval officer. As a young man he went to Peru with a scientific expedition, remaining in the country from 1736...