Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

33 results found

Browning, Orville Hickman

(Encyclopedia)Browning, Orville Hickman, 1806–81, U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1866–69), b. Harrison co., Ky. One of the organizers of the Republican party in Illinois, Browning helped secure his friend Linc...

Hampton, Wade, Confederate general

(Encyclopedia)Hampton, Wade, 1818–1902, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Charleston, S.C.; grandson of Wade Hampton (c.1752–1835). Hampton, a wealthy planter, served (1852–61) in the South Ca...

Donald, David Herbert

(Encyclopedia)Donald, David Herbert, 1920–2009, American historian, b. Goodman, Miss. After receiving his Ph.D. from the Univ. of Illinois in 1946, he taught at Columbia (1947–49; 1951–59), Smith (1949–51),...

Zoar, village, United States

(Encyclopedia)Zoar zôr, zōˈər [key], village, Tuscarawas co., E central Ohio, on the Tuscarawas River; founded 1817, inc. 1884. It was founded by a group of Separatists from S Germany who fled religious persecu...

Villanovan culture

(Encyclopedia)Villanovan culture, the culture of a people of N Italy in the early Iron Age (c.1100–700 b.c.). The term is derived from the town of Villanova, near Bologna, where the first excavations of a Villano...

Randi, James

(Encyclopedia)Randi, James (Randall James Hamilton Zwinge), 1928–2020, Canadian-American illusionist and psychic investigator, b. Toronto. Performing as “The Amazing Randi,” he was a conjurer and escape artis...

Johnson, Randy

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Randy (Randall David Johnson), 1963–, American baseball player, b. Walnut Creek, Calif. After pitching for the Univ. of Southern California, Johnson signed with the Montreal Expos in 1985, ...

Lincoln, Mary Todd

(Encyclopedia)Lincoln, Mary Todd, 1818–82, wife of Abraham Lincoln, b. Lexington, Ky. Of a good Kentucky family, she was living with her sister, daughter-in-law of Gov. Ninian Edwards of Illinois, in Springfield,...

Adams, Will

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Will (William Adams), 1564?–1620, first Englishman to visit Japan. As pilot of a Dutch ship searching for gold and trade, he reached Japan in 1600. At first imprisoned and sentenced to death,...

Magna Graecia

(Encyclopedia)Magna Graecia măgˈnə grēˈshə [key] [Lat.,=great Greece], Greek colonies of S Italy. The Greek overseas expansion of the 8th cent. b.c. founded a number of towns that became the centers of a new,...

Browse by Subject