Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Qaddafi, Muammar al-

(Encyclopedia)Qaddafi, Muammar al- mo͞oäm-märˈ äl-käd-däˈfē [key], 1942–2011, Libyan army officer and dictator. He graduated from the Univ. of Libya in 1963 and became an army officer in 1965. In 1969 he...

International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

(Encyclopedia)International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), formerly World Conservation Union, international organization founded in 1948 to encourage the preservation of wildlife...

Willkie, Wendell Lewis

(Encyclopedia)Willkie, Wendell Lewis, 1892–1944, American industrialist and political leader, b. Elwood, Ind. After graduating from Indiana Univ. law school (1916), he practiced law in Ohio and then New York (192...

Honda, Soichiro

(Encyclopedia)Honda, Soichiro, 1906–91, Japanese automobile executive. A mechanic and race car driver, he was a self-taught engineer. Honda founded a motorcycle company in the 1940s and began producing cars in th...

White, John, English colonizer

(Encyclopedia)White, John, 1575–1648, English colonizer. An Anglican priest of moderate Puritan belief, White wished to establish a colony for Puritans. He helped form (1628) the New England Company, which later ...

Dease, Peter Warren

(Encyclopedia)Dease, Peter Warren dēs [key], 1788–1863, Canadian explorer. He was in the North West Company before its merger with the Hudson's Bay Company and later was a Hudson's Bay Company trader. He was a m...

Fort Garry

(Encyclopedia)Fort Garry, two trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company, built on the present-day site of Winnipeg, Man., Canada, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. The first, Upper Fort Garry, wa...

Lee Kun-Hee

(Encyclopedia)Lee Kun-Hee, 1942–2020, Korean business executive. After graduating from Waseda Univ., Tokyo, he went to work at Samsung, which his father had started (1938) as trading company dealing in food produ...

Witherspoon, Herbert

(Encyclopedia)Witherspoon, Herbert wĭᵺˈərspo͞on [key], 1873–1935, American basso, b. Buffalo, N.Y.; grad. Yale, 1895, studied music with Edward MacDowell. He studied both painting and singing in New York Ci...

Tetrazzini, Luisa

(Encyclopedia)Tetrazzini, Luisa lwēˈzä tāträt-tsēˈnē [key], 1871–1940, Italian coloratura soprano. She made her debut in Florence in 1890. After appearances in Spain, Portugal, Russia, and Latin America, ...