Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

356 results found

Tompkins, Douglas Rainsford

(Encyclopedia)Tompkins, Douglas Rainsford, 1943–2015, American business executive, conservationist, and philanthropist, b. Conneaut, Ohio. In 1964, he and his first wife, Susie Tompkins Buell, founded The North F...

Calgary

(Encyclopedia)Calgary kălˈgərē [key], city (2020 pop. 1,239,220), S Alta., Canada, at the confluence of ...

Canberra

(Encyclopedia)Canberra kănˈbərə [key], city (2020 pop. 457,000), capital of Australia, in the Australian Capital Territory, SE ...

Matthew, Gospel according to

(Encyclopedia)Matthew, Gospel according to, 1st book of the New Testament. Scholars conjecture that it was written for the church at Antioch toward the end of the 1st cent. Traditonally regarded as the earliest Gos...

Kenyatta, Jomo

(Encyclopedia)Kenyatta, Jomo jōˈmō kĕnyäˈtə [key], 1893?–1978, African political leader, first president of Kenya (1964–78). A Kikuyu, he was one of the earliest and best-known African nationalist leader...

Allawi, Ayad

(Encyclopedia)Allawi, Ayad ĕyädˈ äläˈwē [key], 1946–, Iraqi political leader. A doctor and prominent secular Shiite, he was a Ba'ath party member but went into exile in 1971. After a 1978 assassination att...

Shiva

(Encyclopedia)Shiva or Siva shēˈvə [key], one of the greatest gods of Hinduism, also called Mahadeva. The “horned god” and phallic worship of the Indus valley civilization may have been a prototype of Shiva ...

Olympic Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Olympic Mountains, highest part of the Coast Ranges, on the Olympic Peninsula, NW Wash. Mt. Olympus (7,965 ft/2,427 m) is the highest point in the mountains, which are composed mainly of sedimentary r...

Vaughan, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Vaughan, Henry vôn [key], 1622–95, one of the English metaphysical poets. Born in Breconshire, Wales, he signed himself Silurist, after the ancient inhabitants of that region. After leaving Oxford,...

Schurz, Carl

(Encyclopedia)Schurz, Carl sho͝orts [key], 1829–1906, American political leader, b. Germany. He studied at the Univ. of Bonn and participated in the revolutionary uprisings of 1848–49 in Germany. Compelled to ...