Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tirunelveli

(Encyclopedia)Tirunelveli tĭro͞onĕlˈvĕlē [key], town (1991 pop. 366,869), Tamil Nadu state, SE India. Now an agricultural trading center with motor workshops and manufactures in textiles, jewelry, and cigaret...

Stevens, Phineas

(Encyclopedia)Stevens, Phineas, 1707–56, American colonial soldier, b. Sudbury, Mass. He moved with his family to Rutland (now Rutland, Vt.) and in 1723 was captured and imprisoned by the St. Francis Indians. Upo...

Princip, Gavrilo

(Encyclopedia)Princip, Gavrilo gävˈrēlō prēnˈtsēp [key], 1895–1918, Serbian political agitator, b. Bosnia. As a high-school student and a member of the Serbian nationalist secret society Union or Death (kn...

Pescara, Ferdinando Francesco d'Avalos, marchese di

(Encyclopedia)Pescara, Ferdinando Francesco d'Avalos, marchese di fārdēnänˈdō fränchāsˈkō däväˈlōs märkāˈzā ᵺē pāskäˈrä [key], 1490?–1525, Spanish-Neapolitan general in the Italian Wars. H...

Henry, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Henry, Alexander, two fur traders, uncle and nephew, of the Old Northwest, each of whom left a valuable journal of his travels and experiences. Alexander Henry, the elder, 1739–1824, b. New Brunswic...

Gombrowicz, Witold

(Encyclopedia)Gombrowicz, Witold vēˈtōld gŏmbrōˈvĭch [key], 1904–69, Polish writer. Gombrowicz is recognized as an original satirist, an existential innovator who mingled the real with the unreal to convey...

Mantel, Dame Hilary

(Encyclopedia)Mantel, Dame Hilary, 1952–, English novelist, b. Hilary Mary Thompson. After working as a social worker, she moved to Botswana with her geologist husband and later to Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, where she...

Kelvin, William Thomson, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Kelvin, William Thomson, 1st Baron, 1824–1907, British mathematician and physicist, b. Belfast. He was professor of natural philosophy at the Univ. of Glasgow (1846–99). He is known especially for...

Toombs, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Toombs, Robert, 1810–85, American statesman, Confederate leader, b. Wilkes co., Ga. A successful lawyer in Georgia, he entered politics as a Whig, serving in the state legislature and in Congress (1...

Thurmond, Strom

(Encyclopedia)Thurmond, Strom (James Strom Thurmond) thûrˈmənd [key], 1902–2003, U.S. senator from South Carolina (1954–2003), b. Edgefield, S.C. He read law while teaching school (1923–29) and was admitte...