Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Griffenfeld, Peder Schumacher, Count

(Encyclopedia)Griffenfeld, Peder Schumacher, Count pāˈᵺər sho͞oˈmäkhər, grĭfˈənfĕlt [key], 1635–99, Danish politician. The son of a merchant, he became (1665) secretary to Frederick III. In 1665 Grif...

Constance, Holy Roman empress

(Encyclopedia)Constance, 1154–98, Holy Roman empress, wife of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI; daughter of King Roger II of Sicily. She was named heiress of Sicily by her nephew King William II. On his death, however...

Charles Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Charles Augustus, 1757–1828, duke and, after 1815, grand duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach; friend and patron of Goethe, Schiller, and Herder. Though his duchy was small, he was important in German polit...

Frederick William I

(Encyclopedia)Frederick William I, 1688–1740, king of Prussia (1713–40), son and successor of Frederick I. He continued the administrative reforms and the process of centralization begun by Frederick William, t...

Bernstorff, Johann Hartwig Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Bernstorff, Johann Hartwig Ernst bĕrnsˈtôrf [key], 1712–72, Danish politician, of German (Hanoverian) origin. As minister of foreign affairs (1751–70) under Frederick V and Christian VII, he s...

Southfield

(Encyclopedia)Southfield, city (1990 pop. 75,728), Oakland co., SE Mich., a suburb of Detroit, on the Rouge River; laid out 1817, inc. as a city 1958. There are electronics research, meat-processing, and printing f...

Quantrill, William Clarke

(Encyclopedia)Quantrill, William Clarke kwŏnˈtrĭl [key], 1837–65, Confederate guerrilla leader, b. Canal Dover (now Dover), Ohio. In the Civil War his band of guerrillas was active in Missouri and Kansas. He w...

Tadoussac

(Encyclopedia)Tadoussac tădˈo͝osăk [key], village (1991 pop. 832), S Que., Canada, at the confluence of the Saguenay and the St. Lawrence rivers. It is a summer resort in a dairying and lumbering region. The si...

Etty, William

(Encyclopedia)Etty, William, 1787–1849, English painter. He studied with Sir Thomas Lawrence and later in Italy, where Venetian painting made a lasting impression on him. Etty is best known for his spirited figur...

Îsle-aux-Coudres

(Encyclopedia)Îsle-aux-Coudres ēl-ō-ko͞oˈdrə [key], island, c.6 mi (9.7 km) long and 2.5 mi (4 km) wide, in the St. Lawrence River, SE Que., Canada. It was named by Jacques Cartier in 1535 for the hazelnuts g...
 

Browse by Subject