Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

French Revolutionary Wars

(Encyclopedia)French Revolutionary Wars, wars occurring in the era of the French Revolution and the beginning of the Napoleonic era, the decade of 1792–1802. The wars began as an effort to defend the Revolution a...

French West Africa

(Encyclopedia)French West Africa, former federation of eight French overseas territories. The constituent territories were Dahomey (now Benin), French Guinea (now Guinea), French Sudan (now Mali), Côte d'Ivoire, M...

Condé, French family

(Encyclopedia)Condé kôNdāˈ [key], family name of a cadet branch of the French royal house of Bourbon. The name was first borne by Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé, 1530–69, Protestant leader and general. ...

dauphin, French title

(Encyclopedia)dauphin dôˈfĭn, Fr. dōfăNˈ [key] [Fr.,=dolphin], French title, borne first by the counts of Vienne (also called Viennois) and later by the eldest son of the king of France, or, if the dauphin ca...

Rachel, French actress

(Encyclopedia)Rachel ālēˈzä fālēksˈ [key], 1821–58, French actress, b. Switzerland. Exploited by her father in her childhood, she sang in the streets with her sister Sarah. In Paris, showing great promise ...

Canadian literature, French

(Encyclopedia)Canadian literature, French, the body of literature of the French-speaking population of Canada. Except for the narratives of French explorers (such as Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Esprit Radisson) ...

Salonen, Esa-Pekka

(Encyclopedia)Salonen, Esa-Pekka, 1958–, Finnish conductor and composer. Originally a French horn player, he studied (1973–77) at Helsinki's Sibelius Academy. He made his conducting debut (1979) with the Finnis...

cornucopia

(Encyclopedia)cornucopia kôrˌnyo͞okōˈpēə [key], in Greek mythology, magnificent horn that filled itself with whatever meat or drink its owner requested. Some legends designate it as a horn of the river god A...

antler

(Encyclopedia)antler: see horn.

Browse by Subject