Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Mercosur

(Encyclopedia)Mercosur or Mercosul, officially the Common Market of the South, Latin American trade organization established in 1991 to increase economic cooperation among the countries of E South America. It is co...

National Organization for Women

(Encyclopedia)National Organization for Women (NOW), group founded (1966) to support “full equality for women in America in a truly equal partnership with men.” Its founder and first president was feminist lead...

Nicolls, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Nicolls, Richard, 1624–72, first English governor of New York, b. Bedfordshire, England. He served in the English civil war as a royalist and followed the Stuarts into exile, where he entered the se...

norm

(Encyclopedia)norm, authoritative rule or standard by which something is judged and on that basis approved or disapproved. Examples of norms include standards of right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, and truth and ...

Núñez Vela, Blasco

(Encyclopedia)Núñez Vela, Blasco bläˈskō no͞oˈnyās vāˈlä [key], d. 1546, first viceroy of Peru (1544–46). Sent to replace Vaca de Castro and to enforce the New Laws of Bartolomé de Las Casas, he had a...

Mansfield, Michael Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Mansfield, Michael Joseph, 1903–2001, U.S. senator (1953–77), b. New York City. After working (1922–31) as a mining engineer, he taught (1933–42) history at Montana State Univ. before serving ...

Kirchhoff, Gustav Robert

(Encyclopedia)Kirchhoff, Gustav Robert go͝osˈtäf rōˈbĕrt kĭrkhˈhôf [key], 1824–87, German physicist. He served as professor of physics at the universities of Breslau (1850–54), Heidelberg (1854–74), ...

Ladislaus I, king of Hungary

(Encyclopedia)Ladislaus I or Saint Ladislaus lädˈĭslousˌ [key], 1040–95, king of Hungary (1077–95). He supported Pope Gregory VII against Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, but rejected Gregory's suggestion that ...

Carvajal, Francisco de

(Encyclopedia)Carvajal, Francisco de fränthēsˈkō dā kärvähälˈ [key], 1464?–1548, Spanish conquistador. For 40 years he fought in European wars before going to Mexico and subsequently to Peru, where he ai...

Varona y Pera, Enrique José

(Encyclopedia)Varona y Pera, Enrique José ānrēˈkā hōsāˈ värōˈnä ē pāˈrä [key], 1849–1933, Cuban philosopher and vice president of Cuba (1913–17). Varona was a professor at the Univ. of Havana an...