Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Hu Jintao

(Encyclopedia)Hu Jintao ho͞oˈ jĭnˈtouˈ [key], 1942–, Chinese political leader, b. Jixi, Anhui prov. A hydroelectric engineering graduate (1965) of Tsinghua Univ., he joined the Chinese Communist party in 196...

Kaaba

(Encyclopedia)Kaaba or Caaba both: käˈbə or käˈəbə [key] [Arab.,=cube], the central, cubic, stone structure, covered by a black cloth, within the Great Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The sacred nature of the...

Schuyler, Philip John

(Encyclopedia)Schuyler, Philip John skīˈlər [key], 1733–1804, American Revolutionary general, b. Albany, N.Y. He was a member of one of the wealthiest colonial New York families. After serving in the French an...

Pilgrimage of Grace

(Encyclopedia)Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536, rising of Roman Catholics in N England. It was a protest against the government's abolition of papal supremacy (1534) and confiscation (1536) of the smaller monastic propert...

bagpipe

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Scottish bagpipe bagpipe, musical instrument whose ancient origin was probably in Mesopotamia from which it was carried east and west by Celtic migrations. It was used in ancient Greece and Ro...

St. Clair, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)St. Clair, Arthur, 1734–1818, American general, b. Thurso, Scotland. He left the Univ. of Edinburgh to become (1757) an ensign in the British army and served in the French and Indian War at Louisbur...

Tiananmen Square

(Encyclopedia)Tiananmen Square, large public square in Beijing, China, on the southern edge of the Inner or Tatar City. The square, named for its Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen), contains the monument to the her...

Manitoba, University of

(Encyclopedia)Manitoba, University of, at Winnipeg, Man., Canada; provincially supported, coeducational; chartered 1877. It has faculties of arts and sciences, graduate studies, law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, ...

Mountain Ash, town, Wales

(Encyclopedia)Mountain Ash, Welsh Aberpennar, town (1981 pop. 26,231), Rhondda Cynon Taff, S Wales. A former mining community, it depended upon the great coal mines nearby, which were developed in the 19th cent. A ...

Mount Allison University

(Encyclopedia)Mount Allison University, at Sackville, N.B., Canada; nonsectarian; founded 1839; opened 1843 as Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy; Mount Allison College organized 1862. It achieved university status in ...