Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Lilybaeum

(Encyclopedia)Lilybaeum lĭlĭbēˈəm [key], ancient city of Sicily, on the extreme western coast. It is the modern Marsala. It was founded (396 b.c.) by Carthage and became a stronghold. In the First Punic War it...

Rustin, Bayard

(Encyclopedia)Rustin, Bayard, 1910–87, African-American civil-rights leader, b. West Chester, Pa. He attended three colleges but did not obtain a degree. A Quaker, he was imprisoned as a conscientious objector fo...

Green, Duff

(Encyclopedia)Green, Duff, 1791–1875, American journalist and politician, b. Woodford co., Ky. After service in the War of 1812, he settled in Missouri, where he became (1824) editor of the St. Louis Enquirer. He...

Ku Klux Klan

(Encyclopedia)Ku Klux Klan ko͞oˌ klŭks klăn [key], designation mainly given to two distinct secret societies that played a part in American history, although other less important groups have also used the name....

Panmunjom

(Encyclopedia)Panmunjom, officially Panmunjeom pănˌmo͝onjômˈ [key], village, N South Korea. It lies south of the 38th parallel, the military demarcation line that partitions Korea. In the Korean War the truce ...

refugee

(Encyclopedia)refugee, one who leaves one's native land either because of expulsion or to escape persecution. The legal problem of accepting refugees is discussed under asylum; this article considers only mass disl...

Chad

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Chad chăd, chäd [key], officially Republic of Chad, republic (2020 est. pop. 16,425,864), ...

Pretorius, Martinus Wessel

(Encyclopedia)Pretorius, Martinus Wessel prātôrˈēəs [key], 1818?–1901, Boer (Afrikaner) statesman; son of Andries Pretorius. In 1857 he was elected the first president of the South African Republic (the Tra...

quagga

(Encyclopedia)quagga kwăgˈə [key], extinct type of zebra. It formerly inhabited open plains in S Africa, where its range overlapped that of the plains zebra, or common zebra (Equus quagga, formerly E. burchellii...

Orientale

(Encyclopedia)Orientale ōt-zäērˈ [key], former province, c.204,000 sq mi (528,360 sq km), N Congo (Kinshasa). Kisangani was the capital. Orientale bordered the Central African Republic and South Sudan on the no...