Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

capital punishment

(Encyclopedia)capital punishment, imposition of a penalty of death by the state. Since the 1970s almost all capital sentences in the United States have been imposed for homicide. There has been intense debate reg...

Ordinance of 1787

(Encyclopedia)Ordinance of 1787, adopted by the Congress of Confederation for the government of the Western territories ceded to the United States by the states. It created the Northwest Territory and is frequently...

immigration

(Encyclopedia)immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, al...

Trucial States

(Encyclopedia)Trucial States: see United Arab Emirates. ...

Pliocene epoch

(Encyclopedia)Pliocene epoch plīˈəsēn [key], fifth epoch of the Cenozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), from 5.1 to 2 million years ago. By the beginning of the P...

Moore, John Bassett

(Encyclopedia)Moore, John Bassett, 1860–1947, American authority on international law, b. Smyrna, Del. He was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1883. He was (1885–86) a law clerk in the Dept. of State and was (18...

Dewey, Melvil

(Encyclopedia)Dewey, Melvil, 1851–1931, American library pioneer, originator of the Dewey decimal system, b. Adams Center, N.Y., grad. Amherst (B.A., 1874; M.A., 1877). A man of originality and of enormous energy...

Fulton

(Encyclopedia)Fulton, city (2020 pop. 12,490), seat of Callaway co., central Mo., in an agricultural and farm area; inc. 1859. It has printing plants and factories th...

Treasury, United States Department of the

(Encyclopedia)Treasury, United States Department of the, federal executive department established in 1789. It is charged with advising the president on fiscal policy and acting as fiscal agent for the federal gover...

Mulhacén

(Encyclopedia)Mulhacén mo͞olāˈ-äthānˈ [key], peak, 11,411 ft (3,478 m) high, Granada prov., Spain; highest point of the Sierra Nevada and of Spain. ...
 

Browse by Subject