Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Obuchi, Keizo

(Encyclopedia)Obuchi, Keizo kāˈzō ōbo͞oˈchē [key], 1937–2000, Japanese politician, prime minister of Japan (1998–2000), b. Nakanojo. The son of a silk manufacturer and politician, Obuchi graduated from W...

Oleg

(Encyclopedia)Oleg ôlĕkhˈ [key], d. c.912, founder of Kievan Rus. Succeeding his kinsman Rurik as leader of the Varangians at Novgorod, Oleg led forth his retainers to seize Kiev (c.879). He made Kiev his capita...

Ayacucho

(Encyclopedia)Ayacucho äyäko͞oˈchō [key], city, capital of Ayacucho dept., S central Peru. It is a commercial center in a rich mining region that produces gold, silver, and nickel....

Martineau, Harriet

(Encyclopedia)Martineau, Harriet märˈtĭnō [key], 1802–76, English author. A journalist rather than a writer of literature, she was an enormously popular author. Her success is the more remarkable since she wa...

Linh, Nguyen Van

(Encyclopedia)Linh, Nguyen Van nəwēˈĕn vän lĭn [key], 1915–98, Vietnamese political leader, b. near Hanoi as Nguyen Van Cuc. As a young man he was active in organizing Vietnam's Communist party and was twic...

llanos

(Encyclopedia)llanos yäˈnōs [key], Spanish-American term for prairies, specifically those of the Orinoco River basin of N South America, in Venezuela and E Colombia. The llanos of the Orinoco are a vast, hot reg...

Kwaśniewski, Aleksander

(Encyclopedia)Kwaśniewski, Aleksander kwäshnyĕfˈskē [key], 1954–, Polish politician, president of Poland (1995–), b. Bialogard. He studied economics at the Univ. of Gdańsk, joined the Communist party at 2...

Worcester, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Worcester, industrial city (1990 pop. 169,759), seat of Worcester co., central Mass., on the Blackstone River; inc. 1722. The canalization (1828) of the Blackstone River marked the beginning of Worces...

Walcheren

(Encyclopedia)Walcheren välˈkhərən [key], region, Zeeland prov., SW Netherlands, on the North Sea at the entrance to the Scheldt estuary. Middelburg is the chief city and is also the capital of Zeeland prov. Vl...

Zeman, Miloš

(Encyclopedia)Zeman, Miloš mēˈlōsh zĕˈmän [key], 1944–, Czech economist and political leader, president of the Czech Republic (2013–). He joined (1968) the Communist party during the Prague Spring and be...