Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

474 results found

Seven Years War

(Encyclopedia)Seven Years War, 1756–63, worldwide war fought in Europe, North America, and India between France, Austria, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and (after 1762) Spain on the one side and Prussia, Great Britain,...

Denmark

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Denmark dĕnˈmärk [key], Dan. Danmark, officially Kingdom of Denmark, kingdom (2015 est. pop. 5,689,000), 16,629 sq mi (43,069 sq km), N Europe. It borders on Germany in the south, the North ...

Livonian Brothers of the Sword

(Encyclopedia)Livonian Brothers of the Sword or Livonian Knights lĭvōˈnēən [key], German military and religious order, founded in 1202 by Bishop Albert of Livonia for the purpose of conquest and Christianizati...

Kollontai, Aleksandra Mikhaylovna

(Encyclopedia)Kollontai, Aleksandra Mikhaylovna əlyĭksänˈdrə mēkhīˈləvnə kələntīˈ [key], 1872–1952, Russian revolutionary, diplomat, and novelist, whose maiden name was Aleksandra M. Domontovich. Th...

Narva, city, Estonia

(Encyclopedia)Narva närˈvə [key], city (1994 pop. 79,094), NE Estonia, on the left bank of the Narva River. A leading textile center, it also has machinery plants, sawmills, flax and jute factories, and food-pro...

iceboating

(Encyclopedia)iceboating, sport of sailing a specially prepared boat equipped with runners over ice. The first iceboats were probably sailed by the Dutch during the 18th cent., although the Finns and Sami (Lapps) m...

Jakobson, Roman

(Encyclopedia)Jakobson, Roman rəmänˈ yäkˈôbsən [key], 1896–1982, Russian-American linguist and literary critic, b. Moscow. He coined the term structural linguistics and stressed that the aim of historical ...

Poltava

(Encyclopedia)Poltava pəltäˈvə [key], city (1989 pop. 315,000), capital of Poltava region, E Ukraine, on the Kiev-Kharkiv highway and on the Vorskla River, a tributary of the Dnieper. It is an industrial center...

Zamojski, Jan

(Encyclopedia)Zamojski or Zamoyski, Jan both: yän zämoiˈskē [key], 1542–1605, Polish statesman, general, and author. He championed the rights of the lesser nobility; after the extinction (1572) of the Jagiell...

Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne

(Encyclopedia)Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne byörnˈstyĕrnə byörnˈsōn [key], 1832–1910, Norwegian writer and political leader, one of the major figures of Norwegian literature. He was an influential journalist, w...