Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wall, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Wall, Richard, 1694–1778, Spanish statesman. Born in France of Irish parents, Wall entered the Spanish military service as a young man and later held important diplomatic posts. He helped negotiate ...

Soufrière, volcano, Guadeloupe

(Encyclopedia)Soufrière so͞ofrēĕrˈ [key], active volcano, 4,813 ft (1,467 m) high, on Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean Sea. Called also La Grande Soufrière, it is the highest mountain in the Lesser A...

Streator

(Encyclopedia)Streator strēˈtər [key], city (1990 pop. 14,121), La Salle and Livingston counties, N central Ill., on the Vermillion River; inc. 1882. It is an industrial center with diverse manufactures. Coal, d...

Starved Rock

(Encyclopedia)Starved Rock, cliff, 140 ft (43 m) high, overlooking the Illinois River between La Salle and Ottawa, N Ill. Legend says that in the 18th cent. the Ottawas drove a band of Illinois onto the cliff, wher...

Sulphur, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Sulphur, city (1990 pop. 20,125), Calcasieu parish, SW La.; inc. 1914. It is a trade center for an area producing natural gas, oil, and timber as well as sorghum, soybeans, cattle, and crawfish. Indus...

Silone, Ignazio

(Encyclopedia)Silone, Ignazio ēnyäˈtsyō sēlōˈnā [key], 1900–1978, Italian novelist and journalist, whose original name was Secondo Tranquilli. A Socialist and for a time a Communist, he broke with Stalin ...

Aco, Michel

(Encyclopedia)Aco or Accault, Michel both: mēshĕlˈ äkōˈ [key], fl. 1680–1702, French explorer. He became La Salle's lieutenant, being favored by that explorer because of his courage, prudence, and wide acqu...

Rossini, Gioacchino Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Rossini, Gioacchino Antonio jōäk-kēˈnō äntôˈnyō rōs-sēˈnē [key], 1792–1868, Italian operatic composer, one of the great masters of the Italian opera buffa. His parents were both musicia...

Ramus, Petrus

(Encyclopedia)Ramus, Petrus pyĕr də lä rämāˈ [key], 1515–72, French humanist and philosopher. Attempting to break through Aristotelian and scholastic traditions, Ramus wrote a number of works that became in...

Spanish-American literature

(Encyclopedia)Spanish-American literature, the writings of both the European explorers of Spanish America and its later inhabitants. See also Spanish literature; Portuguese literature; Brazilian literature. T...