Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Fort Garry

(Encyclopedia)Fort Garry, two trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company, built on the present-day site of Winnipeg, Man., Canada, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. The first, Upper Fort Garry, wa...

Ghana, former empire, Africa

(Encyclopedia)Ghana gäˈnə [key], ancient empire, W Africa, in the savanna region of what is now E Senegal, SW Mali, and S Mauritania. The empire was founded c.6th cent. by Soninke peoples and lay astride the tra...

Thorbecke, Jan Rudolf

(Encyclopedia)Thorbecke, Jan Rudolf yän ro͞oˈdôlf tôrˈbĕkə [key], 1798–1872, Dutch statesman. An eminent jurist and the leading liberal politician of his day, he was one of the men appointed in 1848 by Ki...

Wägner, Elin

(Encyclopedia)Wägner, Elin āˈlĭn vĕgˈnĕr [key], 1882–1949, Swedish novelist. Wägner was a leading feminist of her day. In early works such as Pennskaftet [the penholder] (1910), she deals with the social,...

Wandering Jew, in legend

(Encyclopedia)Wandering Jew, in literary and popular legend, a Jew who mocked or mistreated Jesus while he was on his way to the cross and who was condemned therefore to a life of wandering on earth until Judgment ...

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

(Encyclopedia)Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, 30,300 acres (12,272 hectares), W central Colorado, in the Rocky Mts. The park embraces the most spectacular stretch of the 53-mi (85-km) long Black Canyon,...

carol

(Encyclopedia)carol, popular hymn, of joyful nature, in celebration of an occasion such as May Day, Easter, or Christmas. The earliest English carols date from the 15th cent. The carol is characterized by simplicit...

Casilinum

(Encyclopedia)Casilinum kăsĭlīˈnəm [key], ancient town, Campania, S Italy, 18 mi (29 km) N of present-day Naples. It probably was founded (c.600 b.c.) by the Etruscans. It was captured (215 b.c.) from Carthage...

Mun, Albert, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Mun, Albert, comte de älbĕrˈ kôNt də möN [key], 1841–1914, French Roman Catholic leader and politician. A monarchist at first, he later loyally supported the Third Republic. He was one of the ...

March, Fredric

(Encyclopedia)March, Fredric, 1897–1975, American actor, b. Racine, Wis., as Frederick McIntyre Bickel. Equally distinguished on stage and screen, he won Academy Awards for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) and The ...
 

Browse by Subject