Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Vandenberg, Arthur Hendrick

(Encyclopedia)Vandenberg, Arthur Hendrick, 1884–1951, American politician, b. Grand Rapids, Mich. He was editor and publisher of the Grand Rapids Herald from 1906 to 1928, when he was appointed to fill a U.S. Sen...

Saca González, Elías Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Saca González, Elías Antonio ālēˈäs äntōˈnēō säˈkä gōnsälˈās [key], 1965–, Salvadoran political leader, president of El Salvador (2004–9), b. Usulután. “Tony” Saca worked as...

Portman, John Calvin, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Portman, John Calvin, Jr., 1924–2017, American architect and developer, b. Walhalla, S.C., grad. Georgia Institute of Technology (1950). In the 1960s and 70s, he radically changed the look of the ho...

El Dorado, legendary country of South America

(Encyclopedia)El Dorado ĕlˈdəräˈdō, –rāˈ– [key] [Span.,=the gilded man], legendary country of the Golden Man sought by adventurers in South America. The legend supposedly originated in a custom of the C...

Organization of American States

(Encyclopedia)Organization of American States (OAS), international organization, created Apr. 30, 1948, at Bogotá, Colombia, by agreement of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican R...

Dickinson, Edwin Walter

(Encyclopedia)Dickinson, Edwin Walter, 1891–1978, American painter, b. Seneca Falls, N.Y. He studied in New York City with William Merritt Chase, and spent most of his life on Cape Cod. Working during the moderni...

Fargo, William George

(Encyclopedia)Fargo, William George, 1818–81, American pioneer expressman, b. Pompey, N.Y. He had been successively a postrider, freight agent, messenger, and resident agent (1843) for an express company in Buffa...

Farrell, Eileen

(Encyclopedia)Farrell, Eileen fârˈəl [key], 1920–2002, American dramatic soprano, b. Willimantic, Conn. Farrell received her early musical training from her vaudvillian mother. Having begun singing on the radi...

Granada, city, Nicaragua

(Encyclopedia)Granada gränäˈᵺä [key], city, W Nicaragua, on Lake Nicaragua. It is Nicaragua's third l...

Kaiser, Henry John

(Encyclopedia)Kaiser, Henry John, 1882–1967, American industrialist, b. Sprout Brook, N.Y. He organized his first construction company in 1913, soon entered the road-paving business, and by 1930 was a leader in t...

Browse by Subject