Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Gómez, Juan Vicente

(Encyclopedia)Gómez, Juan Vicente gōˈmĕs [key], 1857–1935, caudillo of Venezuela (1908–35). Of indigenous and white parentage, Gómez was born on a ranch in the Western Andes and grew up a nearly illiterat...

judo

(Encyclopedia)judo jo͞oˈdō [key], sport of Japanese origin that makes use of the principles of jujitsu, a weaponless system of self-defense. Buddhist monks in China, Japan, and Tibet developed jujitsu over a per...

Coen Brothers

(Encyclopedia)Coen Brothers, American filmmakers Joel Coen, 1955–, and Ethan Coen, 1958–, both b. St. Louis Park, Minn. Joel studied at New York Univ. Film School (B.A., 1978), Ethan at Princeton (B.A., 1979). ...

Rohingya

(Encyclopedia)Rohingya, Muslim ethnic, cultural, and linguistic group living primarily in Rakhine State, W Myanmar. A minority of some 1.5 million in a country that is predominantly Buddhist, they speak a language ...

Vandals

(Encyclopedia)Vandals, ancient Germanic tribe. They originated in N Jutland and, along with other Germanic peoples, settled in the valley of the Oder about the 5th cent. b.c. They appeared in Pannonia and Dacia in ...

Exploits

(Encyclopedia)Exploits, river, c.150 mi (240 km) long, rising in the Long Range, SW Newfoundland, N.L., Canada, and flowing NE to Exploits Bay, an arm of Notre Dame Bay. On the river are Grand Falls and Bishop's Fa...

Caney Fork

(Encyclopedia)Caney Fork, river, 144 mi (232 km) long, rising in central Tenn. and flowing NW to the Cumberland River. On Caney Fork, part of the Tennessee Valley Authority, are Great Falls Dam and Center Hill Dam,...

locomotive

(Encyclopedia)locomotive, vehicle used to pull a train of unpowered railroad cars. Richard Trevithick, a British engineer and inventor, built and operated (1803–4) the first successful steam engine locomotive f...

Lettow-Vorbeck, Paul von

(Encyclopedia)Lettow-Vorbeck, Paul von poul fən lĕtˈō-fôrˈbĕk [key], 1870–1964, German general. In World War I he conducted a brilliant defense of German East Africa against vastly superior Allied power. ...

leviathan

(Encyclopedia)leviathan lēvīˈəthən [key], in the Bible, aquatic monster, presumably the crocodile, the whale, or a dragon. It was a symbol of evil to be ultimately defeated by the power of good. ...