Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ibn Khaldun

(Encyclopedia)Ibn Khaldun ĭˈbən khäldo͞onˈ [key], 1332–1406, Arab historian, b. Tunis. He held various offices under the rulers of Tunis and Morocco and served (1363) as ambassador of the Moorish king of Gr...

James, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Charles, James, 1906–78, American fashion designer known primarily for his high-style couture creations, b. Sandhurst, England. Although he had no formal training in dressmaking, he is generally con...

Jamison, Judith

(Encyclopedia)Jamison, Judith jāˈməsən [key], 1944–, American dancer and choreographer, b. Philadelphia. She studied ballet, tap, jazz, and modern dance, and made her debut with the American Ballet Theatre in...

Alliluyeva, Svetlana

(Encyclopedia)Alliluyeva, Svetlana svyĕtläˈnä äl-lĕlo͞oˈyəvə [key], 1926–2011, only daughter of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and his second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, who committed suicide when Sve...

Hatra

(Encyclopedia)Hatra hăˈtrə [key], Arab. Al Hadr, ancient city and fortress, in modern-day Iraq, 68 mi (110 km) SW of Mosul. It flourished from the 1st cent. b.c. to the 2nd cent. a.d. under the Parthian Empire (...

Summerhill

(Encyclopedia)Summerhill, radical progressive school in Leiston, Suffolk, England, and the educational movement based on principles developed at the school. The school was founded (1924) by A. S. Neill, who headed ...

Bearden, Romare

(Encyclopedia)Bearden, Romare rōmâr bĭrˈdən [key], 1911–88, American painter and collagist, b. Charlotte, N.C. Bearden grew up in Harlem and studied at New York Univ. and the Art Students League, New York Ci...

Bugeaud de la Piconnerie, Thomas Robert

(Encyclopedia)Bugeaud de la Piconnerie, Thomas Robert tōmäˈ rōbĕrˈ büzhōˈ də lä pēkōnərēˈ [key], 1784–1849, marshal of France, duc d'Isly, general and administrator in Algeria. He served in the ar...

Weah, George

(Encyclopedia)Weah, George (George Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah), 1966–, Liberian soccer player and political leader. An outstanding striker, Weah was soccer's African, European, and World player of the year in 1995...

wheel

(Encyclopedia)wheel. Through the many millennia of the Paleolithic period and the Neolithic period no use of the wheel was known to humans. Its use was not known to the Native Americans until the Europeans introduc...