Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Faulkner, Brian

(Encyclopedia)Faulkner, Brian fôkˈnər [key], 1921–77, Northern Irish politician. A Protestant businessman, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Parliament as a Unionist in 1949. As minister of home affairs (...

Manassas

(Encyclopedia)Manassas mənăsˈəs [key], town (1990 pop. 27,957), seat of Prince William co., N Va., in a farm area; inc. 1873, rechartered 1938. Manassas has become a growing residential town with retail shoppin...

Karlsruhe

(Encyclopedia)Karlsruhe kärlsˈro͞oə [key], city (1994 pop. 278,000), Baden-Württemberg, SW Germany, on the northern fringes of the Black Forest, connected by canal with a port on the nearby Rhine River. It is ...

Alvarado, Juan Bautista

(Encyclopedia)Alvarado, Juan Bautista hwän boutēsˈtä älväräˈᵺō [key], 1809–82, governor of Alta California (1836–42), b. Monterey, Calif. Out of the chaotic times in the neglected Mexican province of...

Igbo

(Encyclopedia)Igbo ēˈbō [key], one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria, deriving mainly from SE Nigeria, numbering around 15 million. Originally settled in many autonomous villages, the Igbo nevertheless had...

Fisk, James

(Encyclopedia)Fisk, James, 1834–72, American financial speculator, b. Pownal, Vt. In his youth he worked for a circus and as a wagon peddler of merchandise. During the Civil War he became wealthy purchasing cotto...

Nuevo Laredo

(Encyclopedia)Nuevo Laredo nwāˈvō lärāˈᵺō [key], city (1990 pop. 218,413), Tamaulipas state, NE Mexico, across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Tex. Linked with the United States by automobile and railroad brid...

Knights of the Golden Circle

(Encyclopedia)Knights of the Golden Circle, secret order of Southern sympathizers in the North during the Civil War. Its members were known as Copperheads. Dr. George W. L. Bickley, a Virginian who had moved to Ohi...

Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Federation of

(Encyclopedia)Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Federation of, SE Africa, 1953–63, composed of the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia and the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The ca...

Dvina, river, Russia

(Encyclopedia)Dvina dvēnäˈ [key] or Northern Dvina, Rus. Severnaya Dvina, river, c.465 mi (750 km) long, N European Russia. It is formed near Veliki Ustyug by the union of the Sukhona and Yug rivers, flows N pas...