Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Northeast Boundary Dispute

(Encyclopedia)Northeast Boundary Dispute, controversy between the United States and Great Britain concerning the Maine–New Brunswick boundary. The treaty of 1783 ending the American Revolution had described the n...

Seeckt, Hans von

(Encyclopedia)Seeckt, Hans von häns fən zākt [key], 1866–1936, German general. He fought in Poland, Serbia, Romania, and Turkey during World War I. In 1920 he was made chief of the Reichswehr—the German army...

Limerick, city, Republic of Ireland

(Encyclopedia)Limerick, city (1991 pop. 56,083), seat of Co. Limerick, SW Republic of Ireland, at the head of the Shannon estuary. The city has a port with two docks. The primary imports are grain, timber, and coal...

Rijswijk

(Encyclopedia)Rijswijk rīsˈvīk [key], city (1994 pop. 46,807), South Holland prov., W Netherlands, near The Hague. It has varied industries. The Treaty of Ryswick (see Ryswick, Treaty of) was signed in 1697. The...

sea, law of the

(Encyclopedia)sea, law of the, international agreement regulating the use and exploitation of the world's oceans. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982) calls for limited, and strictly controlled, mining of...

Guerrero, Vicente

(Encyclopedia)Guerrero, Vicente vēsānˈtā gār-rāˈrō [key], 1782–1831, Mexican revolutionist and president (Apr.–Dec., 1829). He fought under the command of Morelos y Pavón, spreading the revolution in t...

McGillivray, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)McGillivray, Alexander məgĭlˈĭvrā [key], 1759–93, Native American chief. He was born in the Creek country now within the borders of the state of Alabama, the son of Lachlan McGillivray, a Scots...

Opium Wars

(Encyclopedia)Opium Wars, 1839–42 and 1856–60, two wars between China and Western countries that marked the shift of wealth and power from East to West. The first was between Great Britain and China. Early in t...

International Campaign to Ban Landmines

(Encyclopedia)International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), global network of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working toward the eradication of antipersonnel land mines. Established in 1992 by the Vietnam Ve...

Browse by Subject