Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Covarrubias, Miguel

(Encyclopedia)Covarrubias, Miguel mēgālˈ kōvär-ro͞oˈbēäs [key], 1902–57, American artist and writer, b. Mexico City. Largely self-taught, he went to New York City in 1923 and won prompt recognition as a ...

Albany Congress

(Encyclopedia)Albany Congress, 1754, meeting at Albany, N.Y., of commissioners representing seven British colonies in North America to treat with the Iroquois, chiefly because war with France impended. A treaty was...

Cochin

(Encyclopedia)Cochin kōˌchĭnˈ [key], former princely state, 1,493 sq mi (3,867 sq km), SW India, on the ...

Chalukya

(Encyclopedia)Chalukya chäˈlo͝okyə [key], several S Indian dynasties that ruled in the Deccan. They claimed descent from Pulakesin I (reigned 543–566), who established himself at Badami (in N Karnataka). The ...

Evans, Lewis

(Encyclopedia)Evans, Lewis, c.1700–1756, colonial surveyor and geographer, b. Wales. Evans carried out several assignments for Benjamin Franklin. His travels and studies of the colonies nearest him bore fruit in ...

Farah

(Encyclopedia)Farah färäˈ [key], town, capital of Farah prov., W Afghanistan, on the Farah River. Surrou...

Île-aux-Noix

(Encyclopedia)Île-aux-Noix ēl-ō-nwä [key], island, 210 acres (85 hectares), in the Richelieu River near St. Jean, S Que., Canada; location of Fort Lennox National Historic Site (est. 1921). During the French an...

Antsiranana

(Encyclopedia)Antsiranana dē-āˈgō-swärˈĕs [key], town, N Madagascar, on Antsiranana Bay. The bay, an arm of the Indian Ocean, is one of the world's finest natural harbors; its lo...

Husain, M. F.

(Encyclopedia)Husain, M. F. (Maqbool Fida Husain), 1915–2011, Indian painter. Often called the Picasso of India, he is known for brightly colored modernist paintings of mythical and religious figures. Although a ...

Harrod, James

(Encyclopedia)Harrod, James, 1742–93, American frontiersman, b. Bedford co., Pa. He fought in the French and Indian Wars and in 1773 made a journey down the Ohio River to Kentucky. In 1774 he returned to Kentucky...