Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Angel Island

(Encyclopedia)Angel Island, largest island in San Francisco Bay, W Calif. Explored by the Spanish in 1775, it came under U.S. control in 1851. The U.S. army used the island as a base from 1863 to 1946, and from 195...

Geneva Conventions

(Encyclopedia)Geneva Conventions, series of treaties signed (1864–1949) in Geneva, Switzerland, providing for humane treatment of combatants and civilians in wartime. The first convention, signed by 16 nations, c...

Cavell, Edith

(Encyclopedia)Cavell, Edith kăvˈəl [key], 1865–1915, English nurse. When World War I broke out, she was head of the nursing staff of the Berkendael Medical Institute in Brussels. In 1915 she was arrested by th...

La Guaira

(Encyclopedia)La Guaira lä gwīˈrä [key], city (1990 pop. 23,831), capital of Vargas state, N Venezuela, on the Caribbean Sea NW of Caracas. It is the principal international port of Venezuela; cacao, coffee, an...

Slatin, Rudolf Carl, Freiherr von

(Encyclopedia)Slatin, Rudolf Carl, Freiherr von päˈshä [key], 1857–1932, Austrian adventurer in British and Egyptian service. Called to Egypt by C. G. Gordon, Slatin became governor of Dara (1879) and governor...

anti–Vietnam War movement

(Encyclopedia)anti–Vietnam War movement, domestic and international reaction (1965–73) in opposition to U.S. policy during the Vietnam War. During the four years following passage of the Tonkin Gulf resolution ...

Gall, Sioux war chief

(Encyclopedia)Gall gôl [key], c.1840–1894, war chief of the Sioux, b. South Dakota. He refused to accept the treaty of 1868 (by which he would have been confined to a reservation), joined Sitting Bull and other ...

Korean War Veterans Memorial

(Encyclopedia)Korean War Veterans Memorial: see National Parks and Monuments (table)national parks and monuments (table). ...

War Department, United States

(Encyclopedia)War Department, United States, federal executive department organized (1789) to administer the military establishment. It was reconstituted (1947) as the Dept. of the Army when the military administra...

World War II Memorial

(Encyclopedia)World War II Memorial: see National Parks and Monuments (table)national parks and monuments (table). ...

Browse by Subject