Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

249 results found

Falun Gong

(Encyclopedia)Falun Gong dä-fä [key], movement promoting physical and spiritual well-being that became widespread China in the 1990s. Founded in 1992 by Li Hongzhi (1951?–), a former Changchun grain clerk, it c...

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...

nonconformists

(Encyclopedia)nonconformists, in religion, those who refuse to conform to the requirements (in doctrine or discipline) of an established church. The term is applied especially to Protestant dissenters from the Chur...

Reform party, in the United States

(Encyclopedia)Reform party, in the United States, political party founded in 1995 by H. Ross Perot as an alternative to the Democratic and Republican parties. The Reform party's aims originally included mandating h...

common law

(Encyclopedia)common law, system of law that prevails in England and in countries colonized by England. The name is derived from the medieval theory that the law administered by the king's courts represented the co...

check

(Encyclopedia)check or cheque, bill of exchange (see draft) drawn upon a bank or trust company or broker connected with a clearinghouse (see clearing). Upon presentation of a check, the bank or other drawee pays ca...

Epicurus

(Encyclopedia)Epicurus ĕpĭkyo͝orˈəs [key], 341–270 b.c., Greek philosopher, b. Samos; son of an Athenian colonist. He claimed to be self-taught, although tradition states that he was schooled in the systems ...

Moses

(Encyclopedia)Moses mōˈzĭs [key], Hebrew lawgiver, probably b. Egypt. The prototype of the prophets, he led his people in the 13th cent. b.c. out of bondage in Egypt to the edge of Canaan. The narrative in the B...

Germanic laws

(Encyclopedia)Germanic laws, customary law codes of the Germans before their contact with the Romans. They are unknown to us except through casual references of ancient authors and inferences from the codes compile...

Elam

(Encyclopedia)Elam ēˈləm [key], ancient country of Asia, N of the Persian Gulf and E of the Tigris, now in W Iran. A civilization seems to have been established there very early, probably in the late 4th millenn...