Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Decatur, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Decatur, Stephen dēkāˈtər [key], 1779–1820, American naval officer, b. Sinepuxent, near Berlin, Md.; son of a naval officer, Stephen Decatur. After joining the U.S. navy in 1798, he rose to fame...

Tshombe, Moise Kapenda

(Encyclopedia)Tshombe, Moise Kapenda mô-ēsˈ kəpĕnˈdä chōmˈbā [key], 1919–69, political leader in Congo (Kinshasa). He was related to the royal family of the Lunda people and received his education at mi...

Tymoshenko, Yulia Volodymyrivna

(Encyclopedia)Tymoshenko, Yulia Volodymyrivna, 1960–, Ukrainian political leader, prime minister of Ukraine (2005, 2007–10), b. Dnipro (Dnipropetrovsk). She studied economics and cybernetics at Dnipropetrovsk S...

Pacific, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Pacific, War of the, 1879–84, war between Chile and the allied nations, Peru and Bolivia; also called the Chile–Peruvian War. The trouble began when President Hilarión Daza of Bolivia rescinded (...

Forman, Miloš

(Encyclopedia)Forman, Miloš, 1932–2018, Czech-American filmmaker, b. Čáslav, Czechoslovakia (now in the Czech Republic), asJan Tomáš Forman. He attended film school in Prague and worked as a screenwriter and...

Fundamental Orders

(Encyclopedia)Fundamental Orders, in U.S. history, the basic law of the Connecticut colony from 1639 to 1662, formally adopted (Jan. 14, 1639) by representatives from the towns of Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windso...

Hay-Pauncefote Treaties

(Encyclopedia)Hay-Pauncefote Treaties hā-pônsˈfo͝ot [key], negotiated in 1899 and 1901 by Secretary of State John Hay, for the United States, and Lord Pauncefote of Preston, British ambassador to the United Sta...

Starr, Kenneth Winston

(Encyclopedia)Starr, Kenneth Winston, 1946–2022, American public official, b. Vernon, Tex., grad. George Washington Univ. (B.A., 1968), Brown (M.A., 1969), Duke (J....

Bratislava

(Encyclopedia)Bratislava bräˈtēsläˈväˌ [key], Ger. Pressburg, Hung. Pozsony, city, SW Slovakia, on t...

Weyden, Roger van der

(Encyclopedia)Weyden, Roger van der vän dər vīˈdən [key], c.1400–1464, major early Flemish master, known also as Roger de la Pasture. He is believed to have studied with Robert Campin. His early works also s...

Browse by Subject