Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

chief

(Encyclopedia)chief or chieftain, political leader of a band, tribe, or confederation of tribes. At the simpler levels of social organization, the band or tribe usually lacks centralized authority and is ruled by t...

gall bladder

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Gall bladder gall bladder, small pear-shaped sac that stores and concentrates bile. It is connected to the liver (which produces the bile) by the hepatic duct. When food containing fat reaches...

gall fly

(Encyclopedia)gall fly: see fruit fly.

Saint Gall, former Benedictine abbey, Switzerland

(Encyclopedia)Saint Gall, former Benedictine abbey, at St. Gall, Switzerland. Originating in a cell built c.614 by St. Gall, an Irish missionary (see Columban, Saint), it became an abbey under Charles Martel (8th c...

Crazy Horse

(Encyclopedia)Crazy Horse, d. 1877, war chief of the Oglala Sioux. He was a prominent leader in the Sioux resistance to white encroachment in the mineral-rich Black Hills. When Crazy Horse and his people refused to...

Black Hawk War

(Encyclopedia)Black Hawk War, conflict between the Sac and Fox and the United States in 1832. After the War of 1812, whites settling the Illinois country exerted pressure on the Native Americans. A treaty of 1804, ...

war

(Encyclopedia)war, armed conflict between states or nations (international war) or between factions within a state (civil war), prosecuted by force and having the purpose of compelling the defeated side to do the w...

Social War

(Encyclopedia)Social War or Marsic War [Lat. socii=allies], 91b.c.–88 b.c., struggle brought on by demands of the Italian allies for the privileges of Roman citizenship. The allies had fought on the side of Rome ...

Pontiac, Ottawa chief

(Encyclopedia)Pontiac, fl. 1760–66, Ottawa chief. He may have been the chief met by Robert Rogers in 1760 when Rogers was on his way to take possession of the Western forts for the English. Although the Native Am...

Browse by Subject