Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Smith, Goldwin

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Goldwin, 1823–1910, English educator, historian, and journalist. Educated at Oxford, he took a prominent part in executing reforms at the university and became (1858) professor of modern hist...

Britannicus

(Encyclopedia)Britannicus (Claudius Tiberius Germanicus Britannicus) brĭtănˈĭkəs [key], a.d. 41?–a.d. 55, Roman prince, son of Claudius I and Messalina, so called in honor of Claudius' conquests in Britain. ...

Burns, John

(Encyclopedia)Burns, John, 1858–1943, British union leader and politician. A factory worker as a child, he was largely self-educated and was led by his reading to radical socialism. Burns became an outstanding or...

Cairngorms

(Encyclopedia)Cairngorms kârngôrmzˈ, kârnˈgôrmz [key], group of mountains forming part of the Grampian Mts, in Highland, Moray, and Aberdeenshire, central Scotland, between the Dee and the upper Spey rivers; ...

plaid

(Encyclopedia)plaid, a long shawl or blanketlike outer wrap of woolen cloth, usually patterned in checks or tartan figures. Now a distinctive feature of the Highland costume, it was formerly worn in all parts of Sc...

Weihai

(Encyclopedia)Weihai wāˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 184,500), NE Shandong prov., China, a seaport on the Bohai. The harbor is protected by Liugong Island. The city was part of a territory (c.285 sq mi/740 sq km)...

Boris III

(Encyclopedia)Boris III, 1894–1943, czar of Bulgaria (1918–43), son of Czar Ferdinand, on whose abdication he succeeded to the throne. He ruled constitutionally until 1934, then set up a military dictatorship u...

Bradford, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Bradford, city and metropolitan borough, N central England, on a small tributary of the Aire River. It is a center of the worsted industry, which dates ...

War of 1812

(Encyclopedia)War of 1812, armed conflict between the United States and Great Britain, 1812–15. It followed a period of great stress between the two nations as a result of the treatment of neutral countries by bo...

Man, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Man, Isle of, island and dependency of the British crown (2015 est. pop. 83,000), 227 sq mi (588 sq km), off Great Britain, in the Irish Sea. The coast is rocky with precipitous cliffs; the Calf of Ma...

Browse by Subject