Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cárdenas, García López de

(Encyclopedia)Cárdenas, García López de gärthēˈä lōˈpĕth dā kärˈdānäs [key], fl. 1540, Spanish explorer in the Southwest. A member of the 1540 expedition of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, he was sel...

Carrero Blanco, Luis

(Encyclopedia)Carrero Blanco, Luis lo͞oēsˈ kär-rāˈrō blängˈkō [key], 1903–73, Spanish statesman and naval officer. Following the Spanish civil war, during which he served in the Nationalist navy, he bec...

Catlett, Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Catlett, Elizabeth, 1915–2012, American-Mexican sculptor, painter, and printmaker, considered one of the foremost African-American artists of her era, b. Washington, D.C., grad. Howard Univ. (B.A., ...

Bisbee

(Encyclopedia)Bisbee bĭzˈbē [key], city (2020 pop. 4,923), seat of Cochise co., SE Ariz., near the Mexic...

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...

Bloch, Ernest

(Encyclopedia)Bloch, Ernest blŏk, Ger. blôkh [key], 1880–1959, Swiss-American composer. Among his teachers were Jaques-Dalcroze and Ysaÿe. He taught at the Geneva Conservatory, 1911–15, and at the Mannes Sch...

Bierce, Ambrose Gwinett

(Encyclopedia)Bierce, Ambrose Gwinett ămˈbrōz gwĭnĕtˈ bĭrs [key], 1842–1914?, American satirist, journalist, and short-story writer, b. Meigs co., Ohio. He fought with extreme bravery in the Civil War, and...

Means, Russell

(Encyclopedia)Means, Russell, 1939–2012, Native American activist, b. Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, S.Dak. An Oglala Sioux, he grew up near San Francisco, and attended four colleges but never graduated. He joine...

Meléndez, Luis

(Encyclopedia)Meléndez, Luis lo͞oēsˈ mālānˈdāth [key], 1716–80, Spanish painter. He assisted his father, artist Francisco Melendez, until 1737, when he began studying with Lewis-Michel Vanloo, the court p...

Atahualpa

(Encyclopedia)Atahualpa ätäwälˈpä [key], d. 1533, favorite son of Huayna Capac, Inca of Peru. At his father's death (1525) he received the kingdom of Quito while his half-brother, the legitimate heir Huáscar,...