Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Hernández, José

(Encyclopedia)Hernández, José hōsāˈ ārnänˈdĕs [key], 1834–86, Argentine poet, journalist, and soldier. Hernández lived in the pampas as a child. He was the author of the national classic of gaucho liter...

Mar, John Erskine, 1st (or 6th) earl of

(Encyclopedia)Mar, John Erskine, 1st (or 6th) earl of, d. 1572, regent of Scotland. As Lord Erskine he was keeper of Edinburgh and Stirling castles, a source of much political strength. In the struggle between the ...

Elizabeth I, queen of England

(Encyclopedia)Elizabeth I, 1533–1603, queen of England (1558–1603). After the Armada, Elizabeth's popularity began to wane. Parliament became less tractable and began to object to the abuse of royally grante...

King, Coretta Scott

(Encyclopedia)King, Coretta Scott, 1927–2006, American civil-rights leader, b. Heiberger, Ala.; the wife (1953–68) of Martin Luther King, Jr. After her husband's assassination, she carried on his civil-rights w...

Langside

(Encyclopedia)Langside, district of Glasgow, S central Scotland. At the battle of Langside (1568) the 1st earl of Murray defeated the forces of Mary Queen of Scots led by Archibald Campbell, 5th earl of Argyll. As ...

Mary I, 1516–58, queen of England

(Encyclopedia)Mary I (Mary Tudor), 1516–58, queen of England (1553–58), daughter of Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragón. During the spread of Protestantism in the reign of her half-brother, Edward VI, Mary w...

Mary II, 1662–94, queen of England

(Encyclopedia)Mary II, 1662–94, queen of England, wife of William III. The daughter of James II by his first wife, Anne Hyde, she was brought up a Protestant despite her father's adoption of Roman Catholicism. In...

Ward, Barbara Mary, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth

(Encyclopedia)Ward, Barbara Mary, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, 1914–81, British writer. Educated at the Sorbonne and at Oxford, she joined the staff of the Economist in 1939 and became foreign editor in 1940. F...

William and Mary in Virginia, College of

(Encyclopedia)William and Mary in Virginia, College of, mainly at Williamsburg; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1693, opened 1694 by Episcopalians under James Blair. It became a university in 1779. The se...

Kara Kum

(Encyclopedia)Kara Kum kärˌə ko͝omˈ [key], two deserts, one in Kazakhstan and one in Turkmenistan. The Caspian Kara Kum or Garagum, the larger desert (c.115,000 sq mi/297,900 sq km), is W of the Amu Darya Rive...