Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Red Cross

(Encyclopedia)Red Cross, international organization concerned with the alleviation of human suffering and the promotion of public health; the world-recognized symbols of mercy and absolute neutrality are the Red Cr...

AARP

(Encyclopedia)AARP, a nonprofit, nonpartisan national organization dedicated to “enriching the experience of aging”; membership is open to people age 50 or older. Founded in 1958 by Ethel Percy Andrus as Americ...

Wagner, Robert Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Wagner, Robert Ferdinand wăgˈnər [key], 1877–1953, American legislator, b. Germany. He arrived with his family in the United States in 1885 and grew up in poor surroundings in New York City. Afte...

trachoma

(Encyclopedia)trachoma trəkōˈmə [key], infection of the mucous membrane of the eyelids caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. Trachoma affects at least 86 million people worldwide. An estimated 1.9 mill...

B'nai B'rith

(Encyclopedia)B'nai B'rith bənāˈ brĭth [key] [Heb.,= Sons of the Covenant], oldest and largest Jewish service organization in the world, founded (1843) in New York by American Jews “to provide service to thei...

Annan, Kofi Atta

(Encyclopedia)Annan, Kofi Atta kōˈfē äˈtä ănˈən [key] 1938–2018, Ghanaian diplomat, the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations (1997–2006) and the first person to hold that office who came fro...

Four-H

(Encyclopedia)Four-H or 4-H, organization for boys and girls, generally from 8 to 18 years of age; some states offer programs for younger children, and there are also collegiate programs. 4-H teaches young people l...

Caribbean Community and Common Market

(Encyclopedia)Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), organization founded by the Treaty of Chaguaramas (Trinidad; 1973, revised 2001) and including Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica...

Group of Seventy Seven

(Encyclopedia)Group of Seventy Seven (G77), international organization, established in 1967 to promote economic cooperation and greater influence in world affairs among developing countries. Originally consisting o...

Flint, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Flint, city (2020 pop. 81,252), seat of Genesee co., SE Mich., on the Flint River; inc. 1855. Since 1902 it has been an automobile-manufacturing centers...