Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Gorboduc

(Encyclopedia)Gorboduc gôrˈbədək [key], legendary early British king mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth. In his lifetime he divided his kingdom between his sons Ferrex and Porrex, thereby creating great civil st...

Mann, Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Mann, Heinrich hīnˈrĭkh män [key], 1871–1950, German novelist; older brother of Thomas Mann. He was a prolific author; themes of social criticism dominate his works. The Poor (1917, tr. 1917) an...

fur trade

(Encyclopedia)fur trade, in American history. Trade in animal skins and pelts had gone on since antiquity, but reached its height in the wilderness of North America from the 17th to the early 19th cent. The demand ...

Bartholin

(Encyclopedia)Bartholin bärˈtōlēn [key], renowned Scandinavian family. Kaspar Bartholin, 1585–1629, b. Sweden, was a Danish physician. He was professor of medicine and later of theology at the Univ. of Copenh...

Tristram and Isolde

(Encyclopedia)Tristram and Isolde trĭsˈtrəm, ĭsōlˈdə, ĭzōlˈ– [key], medieval romance. The earliest extant version (incomplete) was written (c.1185) by Thomas of Britain in Anglo-Norman French verse. Abo...

Hemings, Sally

(Encyclopedia)Hemings, Sally, 1773–1835, African-American slave owned by Thomas Jefferson, b. Charles City co., Va.; her original name was probably Sarah. Her father was John Wayles, Jefferson's father-in-law; he...

Virgin Islands

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Virgin Islands, group of about 100 small islands, West Indies, E of Puerto Rico. The islands are divided politically between the United States and Great Britain. Although constituting the weste...

Didymus

(Encyclopedia)Didymus: see Thomas, Saint.

Merry Mount

(Encyclopedia)Merry Mount: see Morton, Thomas.

Lally, Thomas Arthur, baron de Tollendal, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Lally, Thomas Arthur, baron de Tollendal, comte de tômäˈ ärtürˈ bärôN də tôläNdälˈ kôNt də lälēˈ [key], 1702–66, French general; son of an Irish Jacobite resident in France. As com...

Browse by Subject