Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Huntington, Lucius Seth

(Encyclopedia)Huntington, Lucius Seth, 1827–86, Canadian politician, b. Quebec prov. A lawyer, he served in the Legislative Assembly and in its successor, the House of Commons, from 1861 to 1882. In 1873, he laun...

Jaazaniah

(Encyclopedia)Jaazaniah jāˌāzənīˈə [key], in the Bible. 1 Head of a number of idolatrous priests whom Ezekiel saw in a vision. 2 Captain active in the politics of Palestine at the time of the fall of Jerusal...

Shiloh, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Shiloh, battle of, Apr. 6–7, 1862, one of the great battles of the American Civil War. The battle took its name from Shiloh Church, a meetinghouse c.3 mi (5 km) SSW of Pittsburg Landing, which was a...

Gibbon, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Gibbon, Edward, 1737–94, English historian, author of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. His childhood was sickly, and he had little formal education but read enormously and om...

Huldah

(Encyclopedia)Huldah hŭlˈdə [key], in the Bible, prophetess, consulted by Josiah, King of Judah (640–609 b.c.) on the finding of the Law. She prophesied that divine judgment would fall on Judah, but that Josia...

Walton, George

(Encyclopedia)Walton, George, 1741?–1804, American Revolutionary patriot, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. near Farmville, Va. He moved to Savannah, Ga., where he established a law practice. Walton w...

Azanza, Miguel José de

(Encyclopedia)Azanza, Miguel José de mēgĕlˈ hōsāˈ dā āthänˈthä [key], 1746–1826, Spanish general and colonial administrator. After brief service in the cabinet of Charles IV, he was sent to the coloni...

Brodie, Steve

(Encyclopedia)Brodie, Steve, 1863–1901, Brooklyn bookmaker who gained immediate fame and a measure of immortality by allegedly jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge and surviving the fall, on July 23, 1886. It was clai...

Skopje

(Encyclopedia)Skopje skôpˈəlyə [key], city (1994 pop. 444,760), capital of North Macedonia, on the Vardar River. It is an important transportation and trade center as well as an industrial hub where chemicals, ...

Latium

(Encyclopedia)Latium lāˈshēəm [key], Ital. Lazio, region (1990 pop. 5,170,672), 6,642 sq mi (17,203 sq km), central Italy, extending from the Apennines westward to the Tyrrhenian Sea. Rome is the capital of the...