Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

369 results found

Pleiku

(Encyclopedia)Pleiku or Play Ku both: plāko͞oˈ [key], town, central Vietnam. A highway junction for roads going east (to Quy Nhon), west (to Cambodia), north (to Da Nang), and south (to Ho Chi Minh City), it was...

Bassano, Jacopo

(Encyclopedia)Bassano, Jacopo yäˈkōpō bäs-säˈnō [key], c.1515–1592, Venetian painter, whose original name was Jacopo, or Giacomo, da Ponte, b. Bassano, Italy. Bassano first studied with his father, France...

De Predis, Ambrogio

(Encyclopedia)De Predis, Ambrogio ämbrōˈjō dā prāˈdēs [key] c.1455–c.1506, Milanese painter. He worked under Leonardo da Vinci and copied many of his paintings. He also executed several portraits of the S...

Dong Nai

(Encyclopedia)Dong Nai or Donnai both: dôngˈnīˈ [key], river, c.300 mi (480 km) long, rising as the Da Dung in the mountains of S central Vietnam. It flows SW past Bien Hoa and joins with the Saigon River below...

Guarda

(Encyclopedia)Guarda gwärˈdə [key], city, capital of Guarda dist., N central Portugal, in Beira Alta. On...

silverpoint

(Encyclopedia)silverpoint, method of drawing whereby a silver-tipped instrument is dragged across paper prepared with ground bone dust and gum water and then tinted with a pigment. The procedure results in drawings...

Lee, Spike

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Spike (Shelton Jackson Lee), 1957–, African-American filmmaker, b. Atlanta, Ga. As a student at New York Univ., he won recognition with his gradu...

aria

(Encyclopedia)aria ärˈēə [key], elaborate and often lengthy solo song with instrumental accompaniment. In the 16th cent. it was a melody improvised over a strophic bass line, and a distinction was made between ...

Mozambique, country, Africa

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Mozambique mōˌzəmbēkˈ [key], officially Republic of Mozambique, republic (2015 est. pop. 25,303,000), 302,659 sq mi (784,090 sq km), SE Africa. It borders on the Indian Ocean in the east; ...

Ferdinand II, king consort of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand II, 1816–85, king consort of Portugal (1837–53). The eldest son of Ferdinand, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, he married Maria II (Maria da Glória) of Portugal in 1836. After her death (1853...

Browse by Subject