Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Fort Pulaski

(Encyclopedia)Fort Pulaski pəlăsˈkē [key], brick fortification on Cockspur Island, SE Ga., at the mouth of the Savannah River; built 1829–47 by the U.S. government and named for Casimir Pulaski. The fort was ...

Hayne, Robert Young

(Encyclopedia)Hayne, Robert Young, 1791–1839, American statesman, b. Colleton District, S.C. Having served in the South Carolina legislature (1814–18) and as attorney general of South Carolina (1818–22), Hayn...

Cabrillo, Juan Rodríguez

(Encyclopedia)Cabrillo, Juan Rodríguez hwän rôᵺrēˈgāth käbrēˈlyō [key], Port. João Rodrigues Cabrilho, d. 1543, Spanish conquistador and discoverer of California, b. Portugal. In 1520 he landed in Mexi...

Boston Strangler

(Encyclopedia)Boston Strangler, American serial killer who terrorized the Boston, Mass., area during a killing spree (Jun., 1962–Jan, 1964) that claimed the lives of at least 11 women. The first six victims were ...

Yonai, Mitsumasa

(Encyclopedia)Yonai, Mitsumasa, 1880–1948, Japanese naval officer and political leader, b. Morioka. He attended the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy (grad. 1901) and the Naval War College, served in the Russo-Japa...

Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Aleksey Petrovich, Count

(Encyclopedia)Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Aleksey Petrovich, Count əlyĭksyāˈ pētrôˈvĭch byĭsto͞oˈzhĕv-rēo͞oˈmyĭn [key], 1693–1766, Russian statesman. With the accession (1741) of Czarina Elizabeth, he was a...

Wickremesinghe, Ranil Shriyan

(Encyclopedia)Wickremesinghe, Ranil Shriyan ränēlˈ shrēyänˈ wĭkrəməsĭngˈhä [key], 1949–, Sri Lankan political leader. A member of the United National party and party leader (1994–), he was first ele...

Roehm, Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Roehm or Röhm, Ernst both: ĕrnst röm [key], 1887–1934, German National Socialist leader. An army officer in World War I, he met (1919) Adolf Hitler, whose political career he helped to launch. Ro...

Rutte, Mark

(Encyclopedia)Rutte, Mark rŭtˈtə [key], 1967–, Dutch politician, prime minister of the Netherlands (2010–), b. The Hague. He studied at Leiden Univ. (M.A., 1992), where he joined the youth organization of th...

Ruysbroeck, John

(Encyclopedia)Ruysbroeck, John, Dutch Jan van Ruusbroec yän vän roisˈbro͞ok [key], 1293–1381, Roman Catholic mystic, b. Brabant (now in Belgium and the Netherlands). He was an Augustinian canon. In middle age...
 

Browse by Subject