Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

296 results found

Manitoba

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Manitoba mănĭtōˈbə [key], province (2001 pop. 1,119,583), 250,934 sq mi (650,930 sq km), including 39,215 sq mi (101,580 sq km) of water surface, W central Canada. The history of Manit...

Napoleon I

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Napoleonic Europe (1812) Napoleon I nəpōˈlēən, Fr. näpôlāōNˈ [key], 1769–1821, emperor of the French, b. Ajaccio, Corsica, known as “the Little Corporal.” The Napoleonic...

Dead Sea Scrolls

(Encyclopedia)Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient leather and papyrus scrolls first discovered in 1947 in caves on the NW shore of the Dead Sea. Most of the documents were written or copied between the 1st cent. b.c. and the...

Rubens, Peter Paul

(Encyclopedia)Rubens, Peter Paul, 1577–1640, foremost Flemish painter of the 17th cent., b. Siegen, Westphalia, where his family had gone into exile because of his father's Calvinist beliefs. Almost every princ...

oil industry

(Encyclopedia)oil industry, the business of discovering oil (petroleum), extracting it from the ground, refining it into a variety of products, and distributing it to the public. The development of the oil industry...

magic, in entertainment

(Encyclopedia)magic, in entertainment, the seeming manipulation and supernatural control of the natural world for the amusement and amazement of an audience. Entertainment magic can be divided into four main catego...

civil rights

(Encyclopedia)civil rights, rights that a nation's inhabitants enjoy by law. The term is broader than “political rights,” which refer only to rights devolving from the franchise and are held usually only by a c...

Brazilian literature

(Encyclopedia)Brazilian literature, the writings of both the European explorers of Brazil and its later inhabitants. In 1902 Euclides da Cunha wrote his masterly description of an uprising in the Brazilian northe...

skyscraper

(Encyclopedia)skyscraper, modern building of great height, constructed on a steel skeleton. The form originated in the United States. By convention, a skyscraper is a building that is used primarily for human h...

Spanish-American War

(Encyclopedia)Spanish-American War, 1898, brief conflict between Spain and the United States arising out of Spanish policies in Cuba. It was, to a large degree, brought about by the efforts of U.S. expansionists. ...
 

Browse by Subject