Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

315 results found

Kennedy, John Fitzgerald

(Encyclopedia)Kennedy, John Fitzgerald, 1917–63, 35th President of the United States (1961–63), b. Brookline, Mass.; son of Joseph P. Kennedy. On Nov. 22, 1963, President Kennedy was shot and killed while ...

abolitionists

(Encyclopedia)abolitionists, in U.S. history, particularly in the three decades before the Civil War, members of the movement that agitated for the compulsory emancipation of the slaves. Abolitionists are distingui...

Panama Canal

(Encyclopedia)Panama Canal, waterway across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Atlantic (by way of the Caribbean Sea) and Pacific oceans, built by the United States (1904–14, on territory leased from the repub...

South, the

(Encyclopedia)South, the, region of the United States embracing the southeastern and south-central parts of the country. Traditionally, all states S of the Mason-Dixon Line and the Ohio River (except West Virginia)...

Popes of the Roman Catholic Church (table)

(Encyclopedia)Popes of the Roman Catholic ChurchIn the following list, the date of election, rather than of consecration, is given. Before St. Victor I (189), dates may err by one year. Antipopes—i.e., those men...

health insurance

(Encyclopedia)health insurance, prepayment plan providing services or cash indemnities for medical care needed in times of illness or disability. It is effected by voluntary plans, either commercial or nonprofit, o...

German art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)German art and architecture, artistic works produced within the region that became politically unified as Germany in 1871 generally followed the stylistic currents of Western Europe. The sentimental...

Dominican Republic

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Dominican Republic dəmĭnˈĭkən [key], republic (2015 est. pop. 10,528,000), 18,700 sq mi (48,442 sq km), West Indies, on the eastern two thirds of the island of Hispaniola. The capital and ...

Egypt

(Encyclopedia)CE5 CE5 Egypt ēˈjĭpt [key], Arab. Misr, biblical Mizraim, officially Arab Republic o...

Washington, D.C.

(Encyclopedia)Washington, D.C., capital of the United States, coextensive (since 1878, when Georgetown became a part of Washington) with the District of ...