Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Freedom Riders

(Encyclopedia)Freedom Riders, American civil-rights demonstrators who engaged (1961) in nonviolent protests against segregation of public interstate buses and terminals in the South. From the 1940s several federal ...

Johannesburg

(Encyclopedia)Johannesburg jōhănˈĭsbörgˌ, yōhäˈnəsbörkhˌ [key], city, now part and seat of City of Johannesburg metropolitan municipality, Gauteng prov., NE South Africa, on the southern slopes of the W...

Houston, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Houston, Samuel, 1793–1863, American frontier hero and statesman of Texas, b. near Lexington, Va. In 1836 Houston was elected the first president of the new Republic of Texas. The independence of ...

Himalayas

(Encyclopedia)Himalayas hĭmälˈəyəz, hĭməlāˈəz [key] [Sanskrit,=abode of snow], great Asian mountain system, extending c.1,500 mi (2,410 km) E from the Indus River in Pakistan through India, the Tibet regi...

Nanjing

(Encyclopedia)Nanjing nănˈkĭngˈ [key] [southern capital], city (1994 est. pop. 2,224,200), capital of Jiangsu prov., E central China, in a bend of the Chang (Yangtze) River. It has served at times in the past a...

Saint Paul

(Encyclopedia)Saint Paul, city (1990 pop. 272,235), state capital and seat of Ramsey co., E Minn., on bluffs along the Mississippi River, contiguous with Minneapolis, forming the Twin Cities metropolitan area; inc....

David, T. W. E.

(Encyclopedia)David, T. W. E. (Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth), 1858–1935, Australian geologist and explorer, b. near Cardiff, Wales. David came to Australia in 1882 as an assistant geological surveyor. In 1891 he...

Hammond, James Henry

(Encyclopedia)Hammond, James Henry, 1807–64, American statesman, b. Newberry co., S.C. A lawyer and the owner of large plantations on the Savannah River, Hammond was an early believer in secession. He voiced this...

Bandung Conference

(Encyclopedia)Bandung Conference, meeting of representatives of 29 African and Asian nations, held at Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955. The aim—to promote economic and cultural cooperation and to oppose colonialism—...

Brand, Sir John Henry

(Encyclopedia)Brand, Sir John Henry, or Jan Hendrik Brand yän hĕnˈdrək bränt [key], 1823–88, South African politician, president of the Orange Free State, b. Capetown. He was called to the English bar in 184...