Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Rachel, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Rachel rāˈchəl [key], in the Bible, wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. She is one of the four Jewish matriarchs. An alternate form is Rahel. ...

U-2 incident

(Encyclopedia)U-2 incident, in U.S. and Soviet history, the events following the Soviet downing of an American U-2 high altitude reconnaissance aircraft over Soviet territory on May 1, 1960. The incident led to the...

Haywood, William Dudley

(Encyclopedia)Haywood, William Dudley, 1869–1928, American labor leader, known as Big Bill Haywood, b. Salt Lake City, Utah. He began work as a miner at 15 years of age. In 1896 he joined the newly organized West...

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 ...

Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyy

(Encyclopedia)Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyy byĭlˈhərət-dnĕstrôfˈskyē [key], Rus. Belgorod-Dnestrovsky, city, S Ukraine, a port ...

Marxism

(Encyclopedia)Marxism, economic and political philosophy named for Karl Marx. It is also known as scientific (as opposed to utopian) socialism. Marxism has had a profound impact on contemporary culture; modern comm...

Wrangel Island

(Encyclopedia)Wrangel Island or Wrangell Island răngˈgəl [key], Rus. Ostrov Vrangelya, island, 1,740 sq mi (4,507 sq km), in the Arctic Ocean, between the East Siberian Sea and the Chukchi Sea, off NE Russia. It...

D'Alema, Massimo

(Encyclopedia)D'Alema, Massimo mäsˈsēmōˌ dälāˈmä [key], 1949–, Italian politician, premier (1998–2000) of Italy. A member of the Italian Communist party (PCI) since 1968, he worked as a journalist and ...

Browse by Subject