Columbia Encyclopedia

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Cyril and Methodius, Saints

(Encyclopedia)Cyril and Methodius, Saints məthōˈdēəs [key], d. 869 and 884, respectively, Greek missionaries, brothers, called Apostles to the Slavs and fathers of Slavonic literature. Their history and influe...

Jiménez de Quesada, Gonzalo

(Encyclopedia)Jiménez de Quesada, Gonzalo gōnthäˈlō hēmāˈnĕth dā kāsäˈᵺä [key], c.1499–1579, Spanish conquistador in Colombia. Chief magistrate of Santa Marta, he was commissioned to explore the M...

Archaeopteryx

(Encyclopedia)Archaeopteryx ärˌkēŏpˈtərĭks [key] [Gr.,=primitive wing], a 150 million-year-old fossil animal first discovered in 1860 in the late Jurassic limestone of Solnhofen, Bavaria, and described the f...

Eikon Basilike

(Encyclopedia)Eikon Basilike īˈkŏn bəsĭlˈĭkē [key] [Gr.,=royal image], subtitled “the Portraiture of His Sacred Majesty in His Solitudes and Sufferings,” a work published soon after the execution of Cha...

Ecbatana

(Encyclopedia)Ecbatana ĕkbătˈənə, ĕkbətäˈnə [key], capital of ancient Media, later the summer residence of Achaemenid and Parthian kings, beautifully situated at the foot of Mt. Elvend and NE of Behistun....

demonetization

(Encyclopedia)demonetization dēˌmŏnˌətəzāˈshən [key], governmental withdrawal of the monetary quality from particular coinage or precious metal. By demonetization former money is no longer legal tender, al...

Doha

(Encyclopedia)Doha dōˈhä [key], city (2021 est. metro area pop. 646,000), capital of Qatar, SE Arabia, o...

dragon's blood

(Encyclopedia)dragon's blood, name for a red resin obtained from a number of different plants. It was held by early Greeks, Romans, and Arabs to have medicinal properties; Dioscorides and other early writers descri...

Drury Lane

(Encyclopedia)Drury Lane, street and district of London, at first a place of fine residences, among which was that of the Drury family. It was the site of the original Drury Lane Theatre, which was built by Thomas ...

Allegheny

(Encyclopedia)Allegheny ălˈəgāˌnē, ălˈəgäˌnē [key], river, 325 mi (523 km) long, rising in N central Pa., and flowing NW into N.Y., then SW through Pa. to the Monongahela, with which it forms the Ohio R...