Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Afrofuturism

(Encyclopedia) Afrofuturism, artistic and cultural movement that is based on the wedding of African diasporic themes with modern technology and elements of science fiction and fantasy. The term is gener...

Vérendrye, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de la

(Encyclopedia)Vérendrye, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de la pyĕr gōtyāˈ də värĕnˈ syör də lä vāräNdrēˈ [key], 1685–1749, explorer in W Canada and the United States, b. Trois Rivières (Three...

Lagerfeld, Karl

(Encyclopedia)Lagerfeld, Karl, 1938–2019, German fashion designer, b. Hamburg as Karl Otto Lagerfeldt, immigrated with his family to Paris in 1952. He won a fashion award at 16, designed for couturiers Pierre Bal...

Menominee, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Menominee mənŏmˈənē [key], indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Also cal...

Montand, Yves

(Encyclopedia)Montand, Yves ēv môNtäNˈ [key], 1921–1991, French singer and actor, b. Italy as Ivo Livi. His family settled in Marseille when he was an infant. He quit school at 11, held various manual-labor j...

amylase

(Encyclopedia)amylase ămˈəlāsˌ [key], enzyme having physiological, commercial, and historical significance, also called diastase. It is found in both plants and animals. Amylase was purified (1835) from malt b...

East India Company, French

(Encyclopedia)East India Company, French, 1664–1769, commercial enterprise planned by Jean Baptiste Colbert and chartered by King Louis XIV for the purpose of trading in the Eastern Hemisphere. It failed to found...

Corneille, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Corneille, Pierre pyĕr kôrnāˈyə [key], 1606–84, French dramatist, ranking with Racine as a master of French classical tragedy. Educated by Jesuits, he practiced law briefly in his native Rouen ...

Satie, Erik

(Encyclopedia)Satie, Erik ārēkˈ sätēˈ [key], 1866–1925, French composer, studied at the Paris Conservatory; pupil of Vincent D'Indy and Albert Roussel at the Schola Cantorum. He early realized that the roma...

Préval, René Garcia

(Encyclopedia)Préval, René Garcia rənāˈ gärsēäˈ prāvälˈ [key] 1943–2017, Haitian political leader, president (1996–2001; 2006–11) of Haiti. Préval's family went into exile (1963) during the Duval...