Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Foss, Lukas

(Encyclopedia)Foss, Lukas fôs [key], 1922–2009, American composer, pianist, and conductor, b. Berlin as Lukas Fuchs. He came to the United States in 1937, attended the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, studied c...

Broads, the

(Encyclopedia)Broads, the, region, c.5,000 acres (2,023 hectares), mainly in Norfolk, E England, extending inland to Norwich from the coast. It is composed of wide, interlocking shallow lakes (broads), connected by...

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

(Encyclopedia)American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (A.S.P.C.A.), chartered in 1866 in New York by Henry Bergh to shelter homeless animals, to assist farmers in caring for their livestock, and t...

Milwaukee

(Encyclopedia)Milwaukee mĭlwŏkˈē [key], city (1990 pop. 628,088), seat of Milwaukee co., SE Wis., at the point where the Milwaukee, Menominee, and Kinnickinnic rivers enter Lake Michigan; inc. 1846. The largest...

Bank for International Settlements

(Encyclopedia)Bank for International Settlements (BIS), international financial institution est. (1930) in Basel, Switzerland, by bankers and diplomats from Europe, the United States, and Japan. It was originally s...

Maine, University of

(Encyclopedia)Maine, University of, main campus at Orono; coeducational; land-grant and state supported; chartered 1865 as Maine State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, opened 1868, renamed 1897. There ...

Arctic, the

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Arctic, the northernmost area of the earth, centered on the North Pole. The arctic regions are not coextensive with the area enclosed by the Arctic Circle (lat. 66°30′N) but are usually defi...

Students for a Democratic Society

(Encyclopedia)Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), in U.S. history, a radical student organization of the 1960s. In the influential Port Huron (Mich.) Statement (1962), the organization, founded in 1960, presen...

Curragh, the

(Encyclopedia)Curragh, the kûrˈəkh [key], undulating plain or common, 4,885 acres (1,977 hectares), Co. Kildare, E Republic of Ireland. It has been a military camp since 1646. The Curragh racecourse is Ireland's...

Elizabethtown

(Encyclopedia)Elizabethtown, city (2020 pop. 31,394), seat of Hardin co., central Ky.; inc. 1797. Originally developed as a trade center for agriculture, whiskey, and...