Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Stavisky Affair

(Encyclopedia)Stavisky Affair stävēskēˈ [key], financial and political scandal that shook France in 1934. Serge Alexandre Stavisky, a swindler associated with the municipal pawnshop of Bayonne, sold huge quanti...

Tell, William

(Encyclopedia)Tell, William, legendary Swiss patriot. According to legend, Tell was a native of Uri, one of the Swiss forest cantons. Gessler, the canton's Austrian bailiff, decreed that Swiss citizens must remove ...

Spectator

(Encyclopedia)Spectator, English daily periodical published jointly by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele with occasional contributions from other writers. It succeeded the Tatler, a periodical begun by Steele on Ap...

Bataan

(Encyclopedia)Bataan bătănˈ, –tänˈ, bätä-änˈ [key], peninsula and province, W Luzon, the...

Zelaya Rosales, José Manuel

(Encyclopedia)Zelaya Rosales, José Manuel hōsāˈ mänwĕlˈ sālīˈä rōsäˈlās [key], 1952–, Honduran political leader. A businessman and rancher, he joined the Liberal party of Honduras (PLH) in 1970. He...

Arab Spring

(Encyclopedia)Arab Spring, in modern North African and Middle Eastern history, antigovernment demonstrations and uprisings that, from late 2010, swept many of the regions' Arab nations. Arising in large part in rea...

Laudonnière, René Goulaine de

(Encyclopedia)Laudonnière, René Goulaine de rənāˈ go͞olĕnˈ də lōdônyĕrˈ [key], fl. 1562–82, French colonizer in Florida. After accompanying Jean Ribaut on the first French expedition to Florida (1562...

Lee Teng-hui

(Encyclopedia)Lee Teng-hui lēˈ dŭngˈ-hwēˈ [key], 1923–2020, Taiwanese agricultural economist and politician, president of Taiwan (1988–2000). Born in Taiwan when it was ruled by Japan, he was educated at ...

Krasnoyarsk Territory

(Encyclopedia)Krasnoyarsk Territory, administrative division (1989 pop. 3,595,000), c.928,000 sq mi (2,403,520 sq km), central Siberian Russia, extending from the Sayan Mts. and the Minusinsk basin in the south acr...

Hooker, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Hooker, Joseph, 1814–79, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Hadley, Mass. After fighting the Seminole and serving in the Mexican War, Hooker resigned from the army in 1853 and was for sever...

Browse by Subject