Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

202 results found

Mirabeau, Honoré Gabriel Riquetti, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Mirabeau, Honoré Gabriel Riquetti or Riqueti, comte de ōnôrāˈ gäbrēĕlˈ rēkĕtēˈ kôNt də mēräbōˈ [key], 1749–91, French revolutionary and political leader; son of Victor de Mirabeau...

Brazil

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Brazil brəzĭlˈ [key], Port. Brasil, officially Federative Republic of Brazil, repub...

Iran-contra affair

(Encyclopedia)Iran-contra affair, in U.S. history, secret arrangement in the 1980s to provide funds to the Nicaraguan contra rebels from profits gained by selling arms to Iran. The Iran-contra affair was the produc...

Ruth, Babe

(Encyclopedia)Ruth, Babe (George Herman Ruth), 1895–1948, American baseball player, considered by many the greatest of all baseball players, b. Baltimore. Ruth, a left hander, proved to be (1914–19) a formida...

Counter Reformation

(Encyclopedia)Counter Reformation, 16th-century reformation that arose largely in answer to the Protestant Reformation; sometimes called the Catholic Reformation. Although the Roman Catholic reformers shared the Pr...

Democratic party

(Encyclopedia)Democratic party, American political party; the oldest continuous political party in the United States. In 1960, John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon, in the ...

impressionism, in painting

(Encyclopedia)impressionism, in painting, late-19th-century French school that was generally characterized by the attempt to depict transitory visual impressions, often painted directly from nature, and by the use ...

Harding, Warren Gamaliel

(Encyclopedia)Harding, Warren Gamaliel gəmāˈlēəl [key], 1865–1923, 29th President of the United States (1921–23), b. Blooming Grove (now Corsica), Ohio. After study (1879–82) at Ohio Central College, he ...

Union Pacific Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Union Pacific Railroad, transportation company chartered (1862) by Congress to build part of the nation's first transcontinental railroad line. Under terms of the Pacific Railroads Act, the Union Paci...

cross

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Types of crosses cross, widely used symbol. In various forms, it can be found in such diverse cultures as those of ancient India, Egypt, and pre-Columbian North America. It also is found in th...