Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

El Dorado, legendary country of South America

(Encyclopedia)El Dorado ĕlˈdəräˈdō, –rāˈ– [key] [Span.,=the gilded man], legendary country of the Golden Man sought by adventurers in South America. The legend supposedly originated in a custom of the C...

Douglas, David

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, David, 1798–1834, Scottish botanist. He made several journeys in North America between 1823 and 1834 to study American plants and sent to Scotland more than 200 plants and seeds then unknow...

Ivan II

(Encyclopedia)Ivan II or Ivan Asen ēˈvän äˈsən [key], d. 1241, czar of Bulgaria (1218–41). On the death (1207) of his father, Kaloyan, founder of the second Bulgarian empire, the throne was usurped by Ivan'...

Ferdinand, czar of Bulgaria

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand, 1861–1948, czar of Bulgaria (1908–18), after being ruling prince (1887–1908). A grandnephew of Ernest I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, he was chosen prince of Bulgaria after the enforced abdic...

Samaras, Antonis

(Encyclopedia)Samaras, Antonis äntōˈnēs sämäräsˈ [key], 1951–, Greek political leader, premier of Greece (2012–15), b. Athens, grad. Amherst (1974), Harvard (M.B.A., 1976). He was first elected to parli...

Thessaly

(Encyclopedia)Thessaly thĕsˈəlē [key], largest ancient region of Greece in N central Greece. It corresponded roughly to the present-day nomes of Larissa and Tríkkala, which form part of the modern region known...

Grellet, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Grellet, Stephen grĕlĕtˈ [key], 1773–1855, Quaker missionary, b. France; son of well-to-do Roman Catholic parents. His name originally was Étienne de Grellet du Mabillier. He fled France at the ...

Yugoslavia

(Encyclopedia)CE5 CE5 Yugoslavia yo͞oˌgōsläˈvēə [key], Serbo-Croatian Jugoslavija, former country of SE Europe, in the Balkan Peninsula. Belgrade was the capital and by far the largest city. Yugoslavs (...

Edhessa

(Encyclopedia)Edhessa vôᵺānäˈ [key], city, capital of Pella prefecture, N Greece, in Macedonia. It is a ...

Alaric I

(Encyclopedia)Alaric I ălˈərĭk [key], c.370–410, Visigothic king. He headed the Visigothic troops serving Emperor Theodosius I. After the emperor's death (395) the troops rebelled and chose Alaric as their le...