Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Marcos de Niza

(Encyclopedia)Marcos de Niza märˈkōs dā nēˈsä [key], c.1495–1558, missionary explorer in Spanish North America. A Franciscan friar, he served in Peru and Guatemala before going to Mexico. There he headed a...

Alain de Lille

(Encyclopedia)Alain de Lille älăNˈ də lēl [key], c.1128–c.1202, French scholastic philosopher, a Cistercian, honored by his contemporaries as the Universal Doctor. He was born in Lille; he taught at Paris an...

de Larrocha, Alicia

(Encyclopedia)de Larrocha, Alicia (Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle), 1923–2009, Spanish pianist, b. Barcelona. One of the outstanding pianists of the 20th cent., she gave her first recital when she was five and ...

Brèche de Roland

(Encyclopedia)Brèche de Roland brĕsh də rôläNˈ [key], narrow gorge (alt. 9,200 ft/2,804 m), Hautes-Pyrénées dept., SW France, in the Pyrenees. It leads into the Cirque de Gavarnie, a natural amphitheater. A...

Vaudreuil-Cavagnal, Pierre de Rigaud, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Vaudreuil-Cavagnal, Pierre de Rigaud, marquis de pyĕr də rēgōˈ märkēˈ də vōdröˈyə-kävänyälˈ [key], 1698–1765, last French governor of New France, b. Quebec. He was the son of Philip...

Witt, Jan de

(Encyclopedia)Witt, Jan de yän [key], 1625–72, Dutch statesman. Like his father, Jacob de Witt, burgomaster of Dort, he became a leading opponent of the house of Orange and played a vital role in the three succe...

Sacrobosco, Johannes de

(Encyclopedia)Sacrobosco, Johannes de yōhänˈəs də săkrōbŏsˈkō [key], or John of Hollywood, c.1200–1256, English mathematician and astronomer. He wrote several widely read and influential books: Algorism...

Guérin, Maurice de

(Encyclopedia)Guérin, Maurice de (Georges Maurice de Guérin) zhôrzh mōrēsˈ də gārăNˈ [key], 1810–39, French writer. At his early death he left two fragmentary prose poems, Le Centaure and La Bacchante, ...

Unamuno, Miguel de

(Encyclopedia)Unamuno, Miguel de mēgĕlˈ dā o͞onämo͞oˈnō [key], 1864–1936, Spanish philosophical writer, of Basque descent, b. Bilbao. The chief Spanish philosopher of his time, he was professor of Greek ...

Browse by Subject