Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

banking

(Encyclopedia)banking, primarily the business of dealing in money and instruments of credit. Banks were traditionally differentiated from other financial institutions by their principal functions of accepting depos...

Augeas

(Encyclopedia)Augeas ôjēˈəs [key], in Greek mythology, son of Helios and king of Elis. He kept his huge herds of cattle in the Augean Stables. As his sixth labor, Hercules cleaned the stables in one day by dive...

Marshall, Thomas Riley

(Encyclopedia)Marshall, Thomas Riley, 1854–1925, U.S. Vice President (1913–21), b. North Manchester, Ind. A lawyer in Columbia City, Ind., he was Democratic governor of the state (1909–13) and sponsored much ...

Hepburn, William Peters

(Encyclopedia)Hepburn, William Peters, 1833–1916, American legislator, b. Wellsville, Ohio. He was raised in Iowa and entered law there. He was a Civil War cavalry officer. From 1881 to 1887 he served as a Republ...

Fletcher, Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Fletcher, Andrew, 1655–1716, Scottish politician, known as Fletcher of Saltoun. An opponent of the policies of the duke of Lauderdale and the duke of York (later James II) in Scotland, he fled to Ho...

Calamy, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Calamy, Edmund kălˈəmē [key], 1600–1666, English Presbyterian preacher. In 1636 his opposition to the observance of certain church ceremonies forced his withdrawal as lecturer at Bury St. Edmund...

Torrens, Sir Robert Richard

(Encyclopedia)Torrens, Sir Robert Richard tŏrˈənz [key], 1814–84, Australian statesman, b. Ireland. Son of Col. Robert Torrens (1780–1864), one of the founders of South Australia, he went to that colony in 1...

Cole, George Douglas Howard

(Encyclopedia)Cole, George Douglas Howard, 1889–1959, English economist, labor historian, and socialist. Educated at Oxford, he was long associated with the university and held a professorship from 1944 to 1957. ...

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

(Encyclopedia)Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, former waterway, c.185 mi (300 km) long, from Washington, D.C., to Cumberland, Md., running along the north bank of the Potomac River. A successor to the Potomac Company's (...

Haymarket Square riot

(Encyclopedia)Haymarket Square riot, outbreak of violence in Chicago on May 4, 1886. Demands for an eight-hour working day became increasingly widespread among American laborers in the 1880s. A demonstration, large...

Browse by Subject