Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

157 results found

Hahn, Reynaldo

(Encyclopedia)Hahn, Reynaldo, 1875–1947, French musician. Hahn was born in Venezuela and was taken to Paris at three. Among his teachers was Massenet. He wrote much incidental music, songs, operettas, and other w...

Lusinchi, Jaime Ramón

(Encyclopedia)Lusinchi, Jaime Ramón hīˈmā rämōnˈ lo͞osĭnˈchē [key], 1924–2014, Venezuelan political leader. Lusinchi joined the Democratic Action party (AD) upon its founding in 1941 and was involved i...

Gómez, Juan Vicente

(Encyclopedia)Gómez, Juan Vicente gōˈmĕs [key], 1857–1935, caudillo of Venezuela (1908–35). Of indigenous and white parentage, Gómez was born on a ranch in the Western Andes and grew up a nearly illiterat...

Maracaibo, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Maracaibo, Lake, largest lake of South America, c.5,100 sq mi (13,210 sq km), NW Venezuela, extending c.110 mi (180 km) inland. A strait, 34 mi (55 km) long, connects it with the Gulf of Venezuela. Di...

Harrison, Benjamin, President of the United States

(Encyclopedia)Harrison, Benjamin, 1833–1901, 23d President of the United States (1889–93), b. North Bend, Ohio, grad. Miami Univ. (Ohio), 1852; grandson of William Henry Harrison. After reading law in Cincinnat...

Federmann, Nikolaus

(Encyclopedia)Federmann, Nikolaus nēˈkōlous fāˈdərmän [key], 1501–42, German adventurer in Venezuela and Colombia. In the service of the Welser brothers, Augsburg bankers to whom Charles V had granted righ...

Casiquiare

(Encyclopedia)Casiquiare käsēkyäˈrā [key], river, c.100 mi (160 km) long, S Venezuela. Also called the Canal Casiquiare, it is a branch of the Orinoco and flows SW to the Río Negro, thus linking the Orinoco a...

Pérez Rodríguez, Carlos Andrés

(Encyclopedia)Pérez Rodríguez, Carlos Andrés kärˈlōs ändrāsˈ pāˈrās rôdrēˈgās [key], 1922–2010, president of Venezuela (1974–78, 1989–93). An aide to President Rómulo Betancourt, he was secre...

Roraima, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Roraima, Mount ro͝orīˈmə [key], mountain, 9,219 ft (2,810 m) high, at the junction of the boundaries of Brazil, Guyana, and Venezuela. A giant table mountain, it is the highest point in the Guiana...

Boyacá

(Encyclopedia)Boyacá bōyäkäˈ [key], town, Boyacá dept., N central Colombia, near Tunja. At Boyacá on Aug. 7, 1819, revolutionary forces under Simón Bolívar won the decisive engagement that assured the inde...