Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ribeiro, Darcy

(Encyclopedia)Ribeiro, Darcy rēbāˈrü [key], 1922–97, Brazilian anthropologist, statesman, and author. An expert on the indigenous peoples of Brazil, he wrote many books, notably the six-volume 1960s work, Stu...

Low, Juliette Gordon

(Encyclopedia)Low, Juliette Gordon, 1860–1927, American founder of the Girl Scouts, b. Savannah, Ga., as Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon. From a prominent Southern family, she met Robert Baden-Powell, founder of th...

Fifty-four forty or fight

(Encyclopedia)Fifty-four forty or fight, in U.S. history, phrase commonly used by extremists in the controversy with Great Britain over the Oregon country. The rights of the United States, they maintained, extended...

Kruger, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Kruger, Paul (Stephanas Johannes Paulus) kro͞oˈgər, Afrikaans stāfäˈnəs yōhäˈnəs pouˈləs krüˈgər [key], 1825–1904, South African Transvaal statesman, known as Oom Paul. As a child he...

Martí, José

(Encyclopedia)Martí, José hōsāˈ märtēˈ [key], 1853–95, Cuban essayist, poet, and patriot, leader of the Cuban struggle for independence. One of the greatest prose writers of Spanish America, he is noted f...

Durham, John George Lambton, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Durham, John George Lambton, 1st earl of dûrˈ əm [key], 1792–1840, British statesman. A stormy liberal career in Parliament (1813–32), which earned him the nickname Radical Jack, culminated in ...

Bouquet, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Bouquet, Henry bo͞okāˈ [key], 1719–65, British army officer in the French and Indian Wars. A French Swiss, he came to America in 1756 and distinguished himself as second in command to Gen. John F...

Mar del Plata

(Encyclopedia)Mar del Plata mär ᵺĕl pläˈtä [key], city (1991 pop. 519,707), E central Argentina, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the most popular seaside resorts in South America. Fishing and fish proces...

isolationism

(Encyclopedia)isolationism, a national policy of abstaining from political, military, or economic alliances or agreements with other countries. Isolationism may be adopted in order to devote a country's energies to...

La Guajira

(Encyclopedia)La Guajira lä gwähēˈrä [key], peninsula, c.100 mi (160 km) long, N Colombia, extending into the Caribbean Sea. Punta Gallinas, at the tip, is the northernmost point of South America. On the spars...