Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Changchun

(Encyclopedia)Changchun chängˈcho͝onˈ [key], city, capital of Jilin prov., China, on the railroad between Harbin ...

Chao K'uang-yin

(Encyclopedia)Chao K'uang-yin jou kwäng-yĭn [key], Chinese emperor (960–79), founder of the Sung dynasty. A leading general during the short-lived Later Chou dynasty (951–60), he usurped the throne, and by th...

Ajivika

(Encyclopedia)Ajivika äjēˈvĭkə [key], religious sect of medieval India, once of major importance. The Ajivikas were an ascetic, atheistic, anti-Brahmanical community whose pessimistic doctrines are related to ...

George, James Zachariah

(Encyclopedia)George, James Zachariah, 1826–97, American jurist and legislator, b. Monroe co., Ga. He moved to Mississippi in 1834 and, after serving in the Mexican War, became a prominent lawyer. He was long a r...

Al-Fasi, Isaac ben Jacob ha-Kohen

(Encyclopedia)Al-Fasi, Isaac ben Jacob ha-Kohen äl-fäˈsē [key], 1013–1103, prominent Jewish Talmudic scholar of the very late Gaonic period, b. near Fès, N Africa. He headed the rabbinical school at Fès unt...

D'Ewes, Sir Simonds

(Encyclopedia)D'Ewes, Sir Simonds dyo͞oz [key], 1602–50, English antiquarian, b. Coxden. He collected many old manuscripts and made transcriptions of others with the intention of writing a history of England; th...

Fages, Pedro

(Encyclopedia)Fages, Pedro pāˈᵺrō fäˈhās [key], fl. 1767–96, Spanish governor of Alta California (1782–91). In Mexico in 1767, he was ordered to accompany the expedition of Gaspar de Portolá, which est...

Encke, Johann Franz

(Encyclopedia)Encke, Johann Franz yōˈhän fränts ĕngˈkə [key], 1791–1865, German astronomer. He was assistant (1816–22) and director (1822–25) of the observatory at Seeberg (near Gotha) and director (fr...

Behaim, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Behaim, Behem, or Boeheim, Martin all: bāˈhīm [key], b. 1436? or 1459?, d. 1506?, German traveler and cosmographer. He studied (possibly under Regiomontanus) astronomy, navigation, and mathematics....

Ball, George Wildman

(Encyclopedia)Ball, George Wildman, 1909–94, American lawyer and diplomat, b. Des Moines, Iowa. Admitted to the bar in 1934, he served (1942–44) as counsel in the Lend Lease Administration and the Foreign Econo...