Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wałęsa, Lech

(Encyclopedia)Wałęsa, Lech lĕkh väwĕnˈzə [key], 1943–, Polish labor and political leader. He worked as an electrician at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk but was dismissed in 1976 for his antigovernment prote...

war debts

(Encyclopedia)war debts. This article discusses the obligations incurred by foreign governments for loans made to them by the United States during and shortly after World War I. For international obligations arisin...

Twenty-one Demands

(Encyclopedia)Twenty-one Demands (1915), instrument by which Japan secured temporary hegemony over China. Japan used its declaration of war against Germany (Aug., 1914) as grounds for invading Kiaochow, the German ...

Puducherry

(Encyclopedia)Puducherry pôNdēshārēˈ [key], union territory (2001 provisional pop. 973,829), 183 sq mi (474 sq km), India. It comprises the noncontiguous enclaves of former French India: Puducherry (formerly P...

Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali

(Encyclopedia)Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali zo͝olˈfĭkär älēˈ bo͞otˈtō [key], 1928–79, Pakistani political leader. Member of a wealthy landowning family, he entered politics as the protégé of General Ayub Khan....

Yazoo land fraud

(Encyclopedia)Yazoo land fraud, name given to the sale in 1795 by an act of the Georgia legislature of vast holdings in the Yazoo River country to four land companies following the wholesale bribery of the legislat...

Zedillo Ponce de León, Ernesto

(Encyclopedia)Zedillo Ponce de León, Ernesto ĕrnĕsˈtō zĕdēˈyō pōnˈsā ᵺā lāônˈ [key], 1951–, Mexican politician, president of Mexico (1994–2000). Educated as an economist in Mexico and the Unit...

San Joaquin

(Encyclopedia)San Joaquin săn wäkēnˈ [key], river, c.320 mi (510 km) long, rising in the Sierra Nevada, E Calif., and flowing W then N through the S Central Valley to form a large delta with the Sacramento Rive...

grammar

(Encyclopedia)grammar, description of the structure of a language, consisting of the sounds (see phonology); the meaningful combinations of these sounds into words or parts of words, called morphemes; and the arran...

Palestine Liberation Organization

(Encyclopedia)Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), coordinating council for Palestinian organizations, founded (1964) by Egypt and the Arab League and initially controlled by Egypt. Composed of various guerrill...