Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Farnese

(Encyclopedia)Farnese färnāˈzā [key], Italian noble family that ruled Parma and Piacenza from 1545 to 1731. In the 12th cent. the Farnese held several fiefs in Latium. They became one of the most prominent fami...

Eliot, Charles William

(Encyclopedia)Eliot, Charles William, 1834–1926, American educator and president of Harvard, b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1853. In 1854 he was appointed tutor in mathematics at Harvard and in 1858 became assistant p...

Hartford

(Encyclopedia)Hartford. <1> City (2020 pop. 121,054), state capital, Hartford co., central Conn., on the west bank of the Connecticut River; settled as Newtown ...

mercantilism

(Encyclopedia)mercantilism mûrˈkəntĭlĭzəm [key], economic system of the major trading nations during the 16th, 17th, and 18th cent., based on the premise that national wealth and power were best served by inc...

literary frauds

(Encyclopedia)literary frauds, manuscripts that are presented to the public as works of famous authors but that are actually forgeries or imitations. Literary frauds are perpetrated for various reasons—occasional...

Butler, Nicholas Murray

(Encyclopedia)Butler, Nicholas Murray, 1862–1947, American educator, president of Columbia Univ. (1902–45), b. Elizabeth, N.J., grad. Columbia (B.A., 1882; Ph.D., 1884). Holding a Columbia fellowship, he studie...

Book of Common Prayer

(Encyclopedia)Book of Common Prayer, title given to the service book used in the Church of England and in other churches of the Anglican Communion. The first complete English Book of Common Prayer was produced, mai...

Spenser, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Spenser, Edmund, 1552?–1599, English poet, b. London. He was the friend of men eminent in literature and at court, including Gabriel Harvey, Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Robert Sidney,...

Dubai

(Encyclopedia)Dubai do͞obīˈ [key], sheikhdom (2021 pop. 2,921,376), c.1,500 sq mi (3,890 sq km), part of...

Alcott, Bronson

(Encyclopedia)Alcott, Bronson ôlˈkət, ăl–, –kŏt [key], 1799–1888, American educational and social reformer, b. near Wolcott, Conn., as Amos Bronson Alcox. His meager formal education was supplemented by ...