Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Oder-Neisse line

(Encyclopedia)Oder-Neisse line, frontier established in 1945 between Germany and Poland; it followed the Oder and W Neisse rivers from the Baltic Sea to the Czechoslovak border. The boundary, desired by most Poles ...

Midwest

(Encyclopedia)Midwest or Middle West, region of the United States centered on the western Great Lakes and the upper-middle Mississippi valley. It is a somewhat imprecise term that has been applied to the northern s...

Leeds

(Encyclopedia)Leeds, city and metropolitan borough (1991 pop. 445,242), N central England, on the Aire River. It lies between one of England's leading manufacturing regions on the west and south and an agricultural...

Brazza, Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de

(Encyclopedia)Brazza, Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de pyĕr pōl fräNswäˈ kämēˈyə sävôrnyäNˈ də bräzäˈ [key], 1852–1905, Franco-Italian empire builder. He was born Pietro Paolo Savorgnan...

Stoph, Willi

(Encyclopedia)Stoph, Willi vĭlˈē shtôf [key], 1914–99, East German political leader. A member of the German Communist party from 1931, he helped build the East German Socialist Unity (Communist) party after W...

Singleton, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Singleton, Benjamin, c. 1809–c. 1900, African-American leader of post–Civil War black resettlement in the West, b. Davidson co. (now coextensive with Nashville), Tenn. He escaped slavery in 1846, ...

Piscator, Erwin

(Encyclopedia)Piscator, Erwin pĭskäˈtôr [key], 1893–1966, German theatrical director and producer who, with Bertolt Brecht, was the foremost exponent of epic theater, a genre that emphasizes the sociopolitica...

Assam

(Encyclopedia)Assam ăsămˈ [key], state (2001 provisional pop. 26,638,407), c.30,000 sq mi (77,700 sq km), extreme NE India. Dispur is the capital. Almost completely separated from India by Bangladesh, Assam is b...

Bengal

(Encyclopedia)Bengal bĕng-gôlˈ, bĕn– [key], region, 77,442 sq mi (200,575 sq km), E India and Bangladesh, on the Bay of Bengal. The inland section is mountainous, with peaks up to 12,000 ft (3,660 m) high in ...

Durgapur

(Encyclopedia)Durgapur do͝orˈgäpo͝or [key], city, West Bengal state, E central India, on the Damodar River. One ...