Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

472 results found

West Flanders

(Encyclopedia)West Flanders, Du. West-Vlaanderen, Fr. Flandre Occidentale, province (1991 pop. 1,106,829), W Belgium, bordering on the North Sea in the west, on the Netherlands in the northeast, and on France in th...

Westphalia, Peace of

(Encyclopedia)Westphalia, Peace of, 1648, general settlement ending the Thirty Years War. It marked the end of the Holy Roman Empire as an effective institution and inaugurated the modern European state system. The...

Vienna, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Vienna, Congress of, Sept., 1814–June, 1815, one of the most important international conferences in European history, called to remake Europe after the downfall of Napoleon I. Although the territo...

Philip II, king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Philip II, 1527–98, king of Spain (1556–98), king of Naples and Sicily (1554–98), and, as Philip I, king of Portugal (1580–98). Philip was not the bloodthirsty tyrant portrayed by his enemi...

Raynal, Guillaume Thomas François, Abbé

(Encyclopedia)Raynal, Guillaume Thomas François, Abbé gēyōmˈ tômäˈ fräNswäˈ äbāˈ rānälˈ [key], 1713–96, French historian and philosopher. Raynal was a priest, but he was dismissed from his parish...

Bandung

(Encyclopedia)Bandung or Bandoeng both: bänˈdo͞ong [key], city (2020 pop. 2,444,160), capital of Java Barat prov., W Java, ...

Governors Island

(Encyclopedia)Governors Island, 173 acres (70 hectares), in Upper New York Bay, S of Manhattan island, SE N.Y. Bought from the Native Americans by the Dutch in 1637, it was the site of an early New Netherlands sett...

De la Warr, Thomas West, 12th Baron

(Encyclopedia)De la Warr, Thomas West, 12th Baron dĕlˈəwər [key], 1577–1618, English colonial governor of Virginia. He saw fighting in the Netherlands and was knighted when serving in Ireland. He succeeded to...

Forsythe, William

(Encyclopedia)Forsythe, William fôrsīthˈ [key], 1949–, American dancer and choreographer, b. New York City. He trained with the Joffrey Ballet (1971–73), then joined the Stuttgart Ballet (1973), becoming its...

Piccolomini, Ottavio

(Encyclopedia)Piccolomini, Ottavio ōt-täˈvyō pēk-kōlôˈmēnē [key], 1599–1656, Italian general in the service of the Holy Roman emperor during the Thirty Years War (1618–48). He came of a distinguished ...