Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

409 results found

Álvarez, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Álvarez, Juan hwän älˈvärās [key], 1780–1867, Mexican general of indigenous descent, president of Mexico (1855). He distinguished himself in battle under Morelos y Pavón and was later the fir...

Flores, town, Guatemala

(Encyclopedia)Flores flōrəs [key], town (1990 est. pop. 2,200), capital of Petén department, N Guatemala. Flores was built on an island in the southern part of Lake Petén Itzá and on the site of the Itzá Maya...

Oceanside

(Encyclopedia)Oceanside. 1 City (1990 pop. 128,398), San Diego co., S Calif., on the Gulf of Santa Catalina; inc. 1888. It is a commercial and trading center for an inland farm area and for nearby Camp Pendleton, a...

Benbow, John

(Encyclopedia)Benbow, John bĕnˈbō [key], 1653–1702, English admiral. Some of the stories of his exploits seem to be legendary, but he did command the fleet and successfully fight the French at La Hogue (1692),...

Wurster, William Wilson

(Encyclopedia)Wurster, William Wilson, 1895–1973, American architect, b. Stockton, Calif. Wurster was a major designer of town and country dwellings in the roomy and comfortable West Coast aesthetic termed “Bay...

Masaccio

(Encyclopedia)Masaccio mäzätˈchō [key], 1401–1428?, Italian painter. He is the foremost Italian painter of the Florentine Renaissance in the early 15th cent. Masaccio's original name was Tommaso Guidi. He was...

Giotto

(Encyclopedia)Giotto (Giotto di Bondone) jôtˈtō dē bōndôˈnā [key], c.1266–c.1337, Florentine painter and architect. He is noted not only for his own work, but for the lasting impact he had on the course o...

Heeger, Alan Jay

(Encyclopedia)Heeger, Alan Jay, 1936–, American physicist and chemist, b. Sioux City, Iowa, Ph.D. Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1961. Heeger has held faculty positions at the Univ. of Pennsylvania (1962–82) an...

Fort Leavenworth

(Encyclopedia)Fort Leavenworth lĕvˈənwûrthˌ [key], U.S. military post, 6,000 acres (2,430 hectares), on the Missouri River, NE Kans., NW of Leavenworth; est. 1827 by Col. Henry Leavenworth to protect travelers...

Lombardo

(Encyclopedia)Lombardo lōmbärˈdō [key], Italian family of sculptors and architects. Emigrants from Lombardy c.1470, they were leaders in the architectural Renaissance in Venice. Pietro Lombardo, c.1435–1515, ...