Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cartesian coordinates

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Cartesian coordinates Cartesian coordinates kärtēˈzhən [key] [for René Descartes], system for representing the relative positions of points in a plane or in space. In a plane, the point P...

Villars, Claude Louis Hector, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Villars, Claude Louis Hector, duc de klōd lwē ĕktôrˈ dük də vēlärˈ [key], 1653–1734, marshal of France, the last of the great generals of Louis XIV. He fought in the Dutch War (1672–78) ...

Alberoni, Giulio

(Encyclopedia)Alberoni, Giulio jo͞oˈlyō älbārōˈnē [key], 1664–1752, Italian statesman in Spanish service, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Appointed (1713) representative of the duke of Parma at the...

Chandragupta

(Encyclopedia)Chandragupta (Chandragupta Maurya) chändrəgo͝opˈtə [key], fl. c.321 b.c.–c.298 b.c., Indian emperor, founder of the Maurya dynasty and grandfather of Aśoka. He conquered the Magadha kingdom (i...

Gayoom, Maumoon Abdul

(Encyclopedia)Gayoom, Maumoon Abdul mämo͞onˈ äbˈdo͞ol gīo͞omˈ [key], 1937–, Maldivian political leader, president of the Maldives (1978–2008), b. Malé. He studied at Al-Azhar Univ. in Cairo, then was ...

Ali Pasha

(Encyclopedia)Ali Pasha älēˈ päshäˈ [key], 1744?–1822, Turkish pasha [military governor] of Yannina (now Ioánnina, Greece), a province of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). He was called the Arslan [lion] of Yan...

Erfurt

(Encyclopedia)Erfurt ĕrˈfo͝ort [key], city, capital of Thuringia, central Germany, on the Gera River. It...

Van Zeeland, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Van Zeeland, Paul pōl vän zāˈlänt [key], 1893–1973, Belgian political leader. He was a professor of law and later director of the institute of economic science at the Univ. of Louvain and vice ...

Hertzog, James Barry Munnik

(Encyclopedia)Hertzog, James Barry Munnik hûrtˈsŏg, hĕrtˈsôkh [key], 1866–1942, South African military and political leader. Before the South African War, in which he commanded a division of the Boer forces...

Egbert

(Encyclopedia)Egbert, d. 839, king of Wessex (802–39). His name also appears as Ecgberht. He was descended from Cerdic and was apparently an unsuccessful aspirant for the crown of Wessex against Beohtric (reigned...