Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

(Encyclopedia)Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), international organization that came into being in 1961. It superseded the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, which had been ...

wage and price controls

(Encyclopedia)wage and price controls, economic policy measure in which the government places a ceiling on wages and prices to curb inflation. Also known as incomes policy, such programs have generally been avoided...

valve

(Encyclopedia)valve, device for controlling the flow of fluids (liquids and gases). Valves vary in construction and size depending upon their function. Some are classified according to their method of operation or ...

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization

(Encyclopedia)Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), alliance organized (1954) under the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty by representatives of Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Pakistan, ...

Tabuaeran

(Encyclopedia)Tabuaeran təbo͞oˌəĕrˈən [key], atoll (1990 pop. 1,309), c.15 sq mi (40 sq km), central Pacific, one of the Line Islands and part of the Republic of Kiribati. Visited by the American explorer Ed...

Tehran Conference

(Encyclopedia)Tehran Conference, Nov. 28–Dec. 1, 1943, meeting of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Premier Joseph Stalin at Tehran, Iran. The conference was held to stren...

airmail

(Encyclopedia)airmail, transport of mail by airplanes. Demonstration flights that showed the feasibility of carrying mail by air were made in Great Britain and in the United States in 1911. In the United States, af...

Caprivi Strip

(Encyclopedia)Caprivi Strip tsĭpˈfəl [key] [Ger. Zipfel=tip, point], region, c.300 mi (480 km) long and 50 mi (80 km) wide, NE Namibia, bordered on the N by Angola and Zambia and on the S by Botswana. It is name...

Bennett, Richard Bedford

(Encyclopedia)Bennett, Richard Bedford, 1870–1947, Canadian prime minister, b. Hopewell, N.B. In 1927 he succeeded Arthur Meighen as leader of the Conservative party; upon the defeat of the Liberals in 1930, he b...

Heath, Sir Edward Richard George

(Encyclopedia)Heath, Sir Edward Richard George, 1916–2005, British statesman. Educated at Oxford, he served in the Royal Artillery during World War II, rising to the rank of colonel. He was elected to Parliament ...