Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Teplice

(Encyclopedia)Teplice –shäˈnôf [key], Ger. Teplitz-Schönau, city (1991 pop. 53,004), NW Czech Republic, in Bohemia, in the Erzgebirge [ore mountains] and near the German border. It is a road and rail hub and ...

Tolkien, J. R. R.

(Encyclopedia)Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien) tälˈkēn, tōlˈ– [key], 1892–1973, British novelist, b. South Africa. A fantasy writer and Oxford don, Tolkien wrote The Hobbit (1937), adapted fro...

Toronto, University of

(Encyclopedia)Toronto, University of, at Toronto, Ont., Canada; nondenominational; provincially supported; coeducational; founded 1827 as King's College. It achieved university status in 1849 and is governed under ...

Belloc, Hilaire

(Encyclopedia)Belloc, Hilaire (Joseph Hilaire Pierre Belloc) bĕlˈŏk [key], 1870–1953, English author, b. France. He became a British subject in 1902, and from 1906 to 1910 was a Liberal member of Parliament fo...

Vionnet, Madeleine

(Encyclopedia)Vionnet, Madeleine, 1876–1975, French fashion designer. She worked for Parisian and London dressmakers and designed for the Callot Soeurs and Jacques Doucet houses before opening her own studio in 1...

Colmar

(Encyclopedia)Colmar, Ger. Kolmar both: kôlmärˈ [key], city, capital of Haut-Rhin dept., E France, i...

court tennis

(Encyclopedia)court tennis, indoor racket and net game of ancient origin. It is believed to have originated (about the 14th cent.) in medieval France and is the forerunner of most modern racket games. In its early ...

Cuenca, city, Spain

(Encyclopedia)Cuenca, city , capital of Cuenca prov., E central Spain, in Castile–La Mancha, at the confluence of the Huécar and Júcar rivers, c.3,000 ft (910 m) ...

château

(Encyclopedia)château shătōˈ, Fr. shätōˈ [key], royal or seignioral residence and stronghold of medieval France—the counterpart of the English castle of the period. In such a fortress, peasants of the surr...

Abd ar-Rahman I, emir of Córdoba

(Encyclopedia)Abd ar-Rahman I, d. 788, first Umayyad emir of Córdoba (756–88). The only survivor of the Abbasid massacre (750) of his family in Damascus, he fled from Syria and eventually went to Spain. There he...