Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Printz, Johan Björnsson

(Encyclopedia)Printz, Johan Björnsson yo͞oˈhän byörnˈsōn prĭnts [key], 1592–1663, colonial governor of New Sweden, b. Bottnaryd, Sweden. After serving as a mercenary in the armies of various European prin...

Padilla, Juan de

(Encyclopedia)Padilla, Juan de hwän dā päᵺēˈlyä [key], c.1490–1521, Spanish revolutionary leader in the war of the comuneros [municipalities] against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Charles's conduct and hi...

Galle

(Encyclopedia)Galle gäl [key], city (1995 est. pop. 87,000), capital of Southern prov., extreme S Sri Lanka, on the Indian Ocean. An agricultural market center, it exports tea, rubber, coconut oil, cloves, and oth...

Dung, Nguyen Tan

(Encyclopedia)Dung, Nguyen Tan nəwēˈĭn tän dŭng [key], 1949–, Vietnamese political leader. Educated in Vietnam, he received a bachelor's degree in law. A career security officer, Dung joined the Vietnamese ...

Handy, W. C.

(Encyclopedia)Handy, W. C. (William Christopher Handy), 1873–1958, American songwriter and band leader, b. Florence, Ala. Largely self-taught, Handy began his career as a cornet player in a minstrel show in 1896,...

Kanauj

(Encyclopedia)Kanauj or Kannauj both: kənoujˈ [key], town (1991 pop. 58,932), Uttar Pradesh state, N central India, on the Ganges River. It is a market center for tobacco, perfume, and rose water. A very ancient ...

Karamanlis, Costas

(Encyclopedia)Karamanlis, Costas (Konstantinos Alexandrou Karamanlis) kōˈstäs kärämänlēsˈ, kōnstäntēˈnōs älĕkˈsänᵺo͞o [key], 1956–, Greek politician, b. Athens. The nephew of Constantine Karam...

Kerguelen

(Encyclopedia)Kerguelen kûrˈgəlĕn, Fr. kĕrgālĕnˈ [key], subantarctic island of volcanic origin, 1,318 sq mi (3,414 sq km), in the S Indian Ocean, c.3,300 mi (5,310 km) SE of the southern tip of Africa; larg...

Southampton, Thomas Wriothesley, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Southampton, Thomas Wriothesley, 1st earl of, c.1500–1550, lord chancellor of England. Appointed a clerk of the signet in 1530, he rose in the favor of Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII, who granted hi...

Brazauskas, Algirdas Mykolas

(Encyclopedia)Brazauskas, Algirdas Mykolas, 1932–2010, Lithuanian political leader. A civil engineer and economist, he rose in the Soviet Communist party bureaucracy and Lithuanian SSR government, and in 1988 bec...

Browse by Subject