Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

López Mateos, Adolfo

(Encyclopedia)López Mateos, Adolfo äᵺôlˈfō lōˈpās mätāˈōs [key], 1910–69, president of Mexico (1958–64). A lawyer, he became active in the government party. He served as senator (1946–52) and as...

Gadsden Purchase

(Encyclopedia)Gadsden Purchase gădzˈdən [key], strip of land purchased (1853) by the United States from Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) had described the U.S.-Mexico boundary vaguely, and Presiden...

Covarrubias, Miguel

(Encyclopedia)Covarrubias, Miguel mēgālˈ kōvär-ro͞oˈbēäs [key], 1902–57, American artist and writer, b. Mexico City. Largely self-taught, he went to New York City in 1923 and won prompt recognition as a ...

Xochimilco

(Encyclopedia)Xochimilco sōchēmēlˈkō [key], town (1990 pop. 271,151), Federal District, S central Mexico, suburb of Mexico City. Mainly a commercial and tourist center, it is famous for its canals lined with p...

horse chestnut

(Encyclopedia)horse chestnut, common name for some members of the Hippocastanaceae, a family of trees and shrubs of the north temperate zones and of South America. The horse chestnut tree, Aesculus hippocastanum, a...

Alamogordo

(Encyclopedia)Alamogordo ălˌəməgôrˈdō, –də [key], city, seat of Otero co., S N.Mex., near the Sacramento Mts.; inc. 1912. Holloman Air Force Base, home to U.S. stealth aircraf...

Purdy, James Otis

(Encyclopedia)Purdy, James Otis, 1914–2009, American writer, b. near Hicksville, Ohio; studied Bowling Green State College (B.A., 1935), Univ. of Chicago (M.A., 1937), Univ. of Pueblo, Mexico. Idiosyncratic and a...

Bigelow, John

(Encyclopedia)Bigelow, John bĭgˈəlō [key], 1817–1911, American editor, author, and diplomat, b. Malden, N.Y. In 1838 he was admitted to the New York bar. From 1848 to 1861 he shared with William Cullen Bryant...

Columbus

(Encyclopedia)Columbus. 1 City (2020 pop. 206,922), seat of Muscogee co., W Ga., at the head of navigation on the Chattahoochee River; settled and inc. 1828 on the ...

Calcasieu

(Encyclopedia)Calcasieu kălˈkəso͞o [key], river c.200 mi (320 km) long, rising in W central La. and flowing S through Lake Charles and Calcasieu Lake to the Gulf of Mexico. The river, which is partly navigable,...

Browse by Subject