Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Alemán, Miguel

(Encyclopedia)Alemán, Miguel mēgĕlˈ älāmänˈ [key], 1902–83, president of Mexico (1946–52). Son of a revolutionary general, Alemán became a highly successful lawyer and a champion of Mexican labor. He w...

Escalante, Silvestre Vélez de

(Encyclopedia)Escalante, Silvestre Vélez de sēlvāˈstrā vāˈlāth dā āskälänˈtā [key], fl. 1769–79, Spanish explorer in the American Southwest and Far West, a Franciscan missionary. He was in charge of...

Azuela, Mariano

(Encyclopedia)Azuela, Mariano märyäˈnō äswāˈlä [key], 1873–1952, Mexican novelist. Azuela began his medical practice in 1899, writing short stories and novels in his spare time. In 1915 he joined Francisc...

Flood, James Clair

(Encyclopedia)Flood, James Clair, 1826–89, American silver magnate, b. New York City. Having been apprenticed to a carriage maker, he left to join the California gold rush in 1849. The following year he returned ...

Huayna Capac

(Encyclopedia)Huayna Capac wīˈnä käˈpäk [key], d. 1525, Inca of Peru, last of the great emperors. The Inca empire reached its greatest extent and power under his rule, but disruptive forces were already at wo...

Hearst, George

(Encyclopedia)Hearst, George hûrst [key], 1820–91, American mining magnate, U.S. senator (1886–91), b. Franklin co., Mo. He went to California in 1850 and became a mining prospector and geologist. He successfu...

Hearst, Patty

(Encyclopedia)Hearst, Patty (Patricia Campbell Hearst Shaw), 1954–, American heiress and kidnapping victim, b. San Francisco. The granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst, she was kidnapped (Feb., 1974) by the Sy...

Stassen, Harold Edward

(Encyclopedia)Stassen, Harold Edward stăsˈən [key], 1907–2001, American public official and university president, b. West St. Paul, Minn. A Republican lawyer, he held his first public office at the age of 23. ...

Stettinius, Edward Reilly, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Stettinius, Edward Reilly, Jr. stətinˈeəs [key], 1900–1949, American statesman and industrialist, b. Chicago. He held (1926–34) several executive posts in the General Motors Corp., and in 1938 ...

Still, Clyfford

(Encyclopedia)Still, Clyfford, 1904–80, American painter, b. Grandin, N.Dak. A brilliant painter, he was one of the founders of abstract expressionism, although never one of the style's best-known practitioners. ...