Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Biddle, Nicholas, American financier

(Encyclopedia)Biddle, Nicholas, 1786–1844, American financier, b. Philadelphia. After holding important posts in the American legations in France and England, he returned to the United States in 1807 and became o...

fair trade

(Encyclopedia)fair trade, a trading arrangement intended to provide more equitable international trade by creating better conditions for disadvantaged or marginalized producers of goods. Fair trade practices includ...

Gage, Thomas, English traveler

(Encyclopedia)Gage, Thomas, d. 1656, English traveler. He went (1612) to Spain to study and became a Dominican. He lived and traveled among the Native populations of Central America from 1625 to 1637, when he retur...

Spanish-American literature

(Encyclopedia)Spanish-American literature, the writings of both the European explorers of Spanish America and its later inhabitants. See also Spanish literature; Portuguese literature; Brazilian literature. T...

Romani

(Encyclopedia)Romani or Romany both: rŏmˈənē, rōˈ– [key], people known historically in English as Gypsies and their language. 1 A traditionally nomadic people with particular folkways and a unique language,...

alien

(Encyclopedia)alien, in law, any person residing in one political community while owing allegiance to another. A procedure known as naturalization permits aliens to become citizens. Each nation establishes conditio...

Penutian

(Encyclopedia)Penutian pəno͞oˈshən [key], linguistic family, or stock, of Native Americans of North and Central America. See Native American languages. ...

Fleming, Walter Lynwood

(Encyclopedia)Fleming, Walter Lynwood, 1874–1932, American historian, b. near Brundidge, Ala. He taught at West Virginia Univ. (1904–7) and at Louisiana State Univ. (1907–17) before becoming professor of hist...

Smith, Goldwin

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Goldwin, 1823–1910, English educator, historian, and journalist. Educated at Oxford, he took a prominent part in executing reforms at the university and became (1858) professor of modern hist...

Winsor, Justin

(Encyclopedia)Winsor, Justin, 1831–97, American librarian and historian. He was superintendent (1868–77) of the Boston Public Library and afterward librarian (1877–97) of Harvard. In addition to important bib...