Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

443 results found

Quiroga, Juan Facundo

(Encyclopedia)Quiroga, Juan Facundo kērōˈgä [key], 1790–1835, Argentine caudillo. One of the most brutal of the early gaucho chieftains, he was called el tigre de los llanos (the tiger of the plains). After ...

Yosemite National Park

(Encyclopedia)Yosemite National Park yōsĕmˈĭtē [key], 748,436 acres (302,881 hectares), E central Calif.; est. 1890 as a result of the efforts of conservationist John Muir. Located in the Sierra Nevada, it is ...

Zeffirelli, Franco

(Encyclopedia)Zeffirelli, Franco frängˈkō zāf-fērĕlˈlē [key], 1923–2019, Italian opera, stage, and film director and designer, b. Florence as Gianfranco Corsi Zeffirelli. Zeffirelli had his first successe...

Roche, Kevin

(Encyclopedia)Roche, Kevin, 1922–2019, Irish-American architect, b. Dublin, grad. National Univ. of Ireland, Dublin (1943) and, after immigrating (1948) to the United States, studied Illinois Institute of Technol...

San Juan, city, Puerto Rico

(Encyclopedia)San Juan, city (1990 pop. 437,745), capital, largest city, chief port, and commercial and cultural center of Puerto Rico, NE Puerto Rico. Coffee, tobacco, sugar, and fruit are exported from the busy p...

Honduras

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Honduras hŏndo͝orˈəs, –dyo͝orˈ–; Span., ōndo͞oˈräs [key], officially Republic of Honduras, republic (2015 est. pop. 8,961,000), 43,277 sq mi (112,088 sq km), Central America. Seco...

Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y

(Encyclopedia)Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y rôᵺrēˈgāth ᵺā sēlˈvä ē vāläthˈkāth [key], 1599–1660, b. Seville. He was the most celebrated painter of the Spanish school. Velázquez's dev...

jaguar

(Encyclopedia)jaguar jăgˈwär [key], large New World carnivore of the cat family, Panthera onca. Jaguars range from the SW United States to S central Argentina, though there have been no resident breeding females...

Morsi, Mohamed

(Encyclopedia)Morsi, Mohamed môrˈsē [key], 1951–2019, Egyptian engineer and political leader, grad. Cairo Univ. (B.A. 1975. M.A. 1978), Univ. of Southern California (Ph.D. 1982). He taught engineering at Calif...

Nicaragua Canal

(Encyclopedia)Nicaragua Canal, proposed waterway between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. One often considered route would be 172.8 mi (278 km) long and would generally follow the San Juan River, then go throug...

Browse by Subject