Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Mitchell, John

(Encyclopedia)Mitchell, John, 1870–1919, American labor leader, b. Braidwood, Ill. He became a miner at the age of 12 and in 1885 joined the Knights of Labor. When the United Mine Workers of America was formed (1...

Masuria

(Encyclopedia)Masuria məzo͝oˈrēə [key], Ger. Masurenland, Pol. Mazury, region, N Poland. It is a low-lying area covered by large lakes and forests and drained by many small rivers. The original population of t...

John of Luxemburg

(Encyclopedia)John of Luxemburg, 1296–1346, king of Bohemia (1310–46). The son of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII, he married Elizabeth, sister of Wenceslaus III of Bohemia, and in 1310 he was chosen king of Bohem...

Kaliningrad

(Encyclopedia)Kaliningrad kəlyēˌnyĭn-grätˈ [key], formerly Königsberg, city (1989 pop. 401,000), capital of Kaliningrad region, an exclave of W European Russia; on the Pregolya River near its mouth on the Vi...

Gothic revival

(Encyclopedia)Gothic revival, term designating a return to the building styles of the Middle Ages. Although the Gothic revival was practiced throughout Europe, it attained its greatest importance in the United Stat...

Saracens

(Encyclopedia)Saracens sârˈəsənz [key], term commonly used by medieval Europeans to designate the Arabs and, by extension, the Muslims in general, whether they were Arabs, Moors, or Seljuk Turks. ...

Klaipeda

(Encyclopedia)Klaipeda māˈməl [key], city (1993 pop. 206,400), W Lithuania, on the Baltic Sea, at the entrance to the Courland Lagoon. An ice-free seaport and an industrial center, it has shipyards and industrie...

Gibbons, James

(Encyclopedia)Gibbons, James, 1834–1921, American churchman, cardinal of the Roman Catholic church, b. Baltimore. Ordained in 1861, he became secretary to the archbishop of Baltimore in 1865, vicar apostolic of N...

Andrew II

(Encyclopedia)Andrew II, d. 1235, king of Hungary (1205–35), son of Bela III. He continued his predecessors' policy of transferring crown lands to the magnates, and the lesser nobles forced him to issue the Golde...

handkerchief

(Encyclopedia)handkerchief. In classical Greece pieces of fine perfumed cotton, known as mouth or perspiration cloths, were often used by the wealthy. From the 1st cent. b.c., Roman men of rank used an oblong cloth...

Browse by Subject