Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Vedanta Societies

(Encyclopedia)Vedanta Societies, first and most influential Hindu organization in the West, founded by Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902), a disciple of Indian mystic Ramakrishna (1836–86). Vivekananda attended an i...

national parks and monuments

(Encyclopedia)CE5 national parks and monuments. The National Park Service, a bureau of the U.S. Dept. of the Interior, was established in 1916 to oversee the administration of 40 national parks and monuments und...

Zionism

(Encyclopedia)Zionism, modern political movement for reconstituting a Jewish national state in Palestine. After World War II the Zionist movement intensified its activities. The sufferings of the European Jews at...

Wahid, Abdurrahman

(Encyclopedia)Wahid, Abdurrahman, 1940–2009, Indonesian religious and political leader popularly called Gus Dur, president of Indonesia (1999–2001). A Muslim scholar and political moderate who supported separat...

protection

(Encyclopedia)protection, practice of regulating imports and exports with the purpose of shielding domestic industries from foreign competition. To accomplish that end, certain imports may be excluded entirely, imp...

Arctic Council

(Encyclopedia)Arctic Council, intergovernmental forum established to promote cooperation, coordination, and interaction among the arctic nations, with the involvement of indigenous peoples and others inhabiting the...

employment bureau

(Encyclopedia)employment bureau, a government-run establishment for bringing together the employer offering work and the employee seeking it. As a not-for-profit service, employment bureaus operate differently from...

Sunderland

(Encyclopedia)Sunderland, city and metropolitan borough (1991 pop. 195,064), NE England, at the mouth of the Wear River. The city was established as a shipbuilding center and a coal-shipping port in the 14th cent; ...

World Wildlife Fund

(Encyclopedia)World Wildlife Fund (WWF), international organization formed to raise money for conservation projects, est. 1961. The international organization, believing that its name no longer reflected the scope ...

Lie, Trygve Halvdan

(Encyclopedia)Lie, Trygve Halvdan trügˈvə hälvˈdän lē [key], 1896–1968, Norwegian statesman, first secretary-general of the United Nations. A lawyer and Labor party leader, he was Norwegian minister of jus...

Browse by Subject