Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Upshur, Abel Parker

(Encyclopedia)Upshur, Abel Parker ŭpˈshər [key], 1790–1844, American cabinet officer, b. Northampton co., Va. Admitted (1810) to the bar, he practiced law in Richmond, Va., and held state offices. When most of...

Bailey, F. Lee

(Encyclopedia) Bailey, F. Lee (Francis Lee Bailey), 1933-2021, American lawyer, b. Waltham, Ma., Boston Univ. Law School (J.D., 1960). Bailey attended Harvard for two...

Pramoedya Ananta Toer

(Encyclopedia)Pramoedya Ananta Toer, 1925–2006, modern Indonesia's preeminent writer of fiction, b. Blora, Java. The son of a nationalist headmaster, he was a longtime journalist, involved left-wing politics from...

Warren, Robert Penn

(Encyclopedia)Warren, Robert Penn, 1905–89, American novelist, poet, and critic, b. Guthrie, Ky., grad. Vanderbilt Univ. 1925; M.A., Univ. of California 1927; B.Litt., Oxford 1930. At Vanderbilt he became associa...

Ch'in, dynasty of China (221–206 b.c.)

(Encyclopedia)Ch'in chĭn [key], dynasty of China, which ruled from 221 b.c. to 206 b.c. The word China is derived from Ch'in, the first dynasty to unify the country by conquering the warring feudal states of the l...

Peters, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Peters, Samuel, 1735–1826, American clergyman and historian, b. Hebron, Conn. Because of his Loyalist sympathies, he fled to England in 1774. There he wrote for English periodicals and published A G...

Nuzi

(Encyclopedia)Nuzi no͞oˈzē [key], site near Kirkuk, N Iraq. Thousands of clay tablets unearthed there bear inscriptions said to have been made by the Horims (or Horites) of the Bible. The tablets, which are in A...

gun control

(Encyclopedia)gun control, government limitation of the purchase and ownership of firearms. The availability of guns is controlled by nations and localities throughout the world. In the United States the “right o...

Magnus I

(Encyclopedia)Magnus I (Magnus the Good), 1024–47, king of Norway (1035–47) and Denmark (1042–47), son of Olaf II. He was recalled from exile in 1035 by the former opponents of Olaf when they rebelled against...

Licinius, Roman plebian gens

(Encyclopedia)Licinius līsĭnˈēəs [key], Roman plebeian gens, of which several men were noteworthy. Caius Licinius Calvus Stolo, fl. 375 b.c., was tribune of the people with Lucius Sextius. Roman historians att...