Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Memminger, Christopher Gustavus

(Encyclopedia)Memminger, Christopher Gustavus mĕmˈĭnjər [key], 1803–88, American politician, Confederate secretary of the treasury, b. Württemberg, Germany. He was brought to Charleston, S.C., as a child and...

Clemente, Roberto Walker

(Encyclopedia)Clemente, Roberto Walker rəbĕrˈtō, kləmĕnˈtē Span. rōbĕrˈtō klāmĕnˈtā [key], 1934–72, Puerto Rican baseball player, b. Carolina, Puerto Rico. He played his entire major league career...

Carteret, Sir George

(Encyclopedia)Carteret, Sir George kärˈtərĕt [key], c.1610–1680, proprietor of East Jersey (see New Jersey). He served in the British navy, fought for the royalists, and became (1643) lieutenant governor of h...

gross national product

(Encyclopedia)gross national product (GNP), in economics, a quantitative measure of a nation's total economic activity, generally assessed yearly or quarterly. In estimating the GNP, only the final value of a produ...

Vietnam

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Vietnam vēĕtˈnäm [key], officially Socialist Republic of Vietnam, republic (2015 est. pop. 93,572,000), 128,400 sq mi (332,642 sq km), Southeast Asia. Occupying the eastern coastline of the...

Franklin, John Hope

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, John Hope, 1915–2009, the dean of 20th-century African-American historians, b. Rentiesville, Okla., grad. Fisk Univ. (A.B., 1935), Harvard (M.A., 1936; Ph.D., 1941). Franklin served on the...

conch

(Encyclopedia)conch kŏngk, kŏnch, kôngk [key], common name for certain marine gastropod mollusks having a heavy, spiral shell, the whorls of which overlap each other. In conchs the characteristic gastropod foot ...

Ferlinghetti, Lawrence

(Encyclopedia)Ferlinghetti, Lawrence fûrˈlĭng-gĕtˈē [key], 1919–2021, American author and publisher, b. Yonkers, N.Y, ...

Schurz, Carl

(Encyclopedia)Schurz, Carl sho͝orts [key], 1829–1906, American political leader, b. Germany. He studied at the Univ. of Bonn and participated in the revolutionary uprisings of 1848–49 in Germany. Compelled to ...

Senior, Nassau

(Encyclopedia)Senior, Nassau, 1790–1864, English economist. A graduate of Oxford, he was called there in 1825 to fill the first chair of political economy in England. In An Outline of the Science of Political Eco...