Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

398 results found

Confucianism

(Encyclopedia)Confucianism kənfyo͞oˈshənĭzəm [key], moral and religious system of China. Its origins go back to the Analects (see Chinese literature), the sayings attributed to Confucius, and to ancient comme...

diplomatic service

(Encyclopedia)diplomatic service, organized body of agents maintained by governments to communicate with one another. In the 20th and 21st cent. there have been numerous meetings of heads of state and foreign min...

secret police

(Encyclopedia)secret police, policing organization operating in secrecy for the political purposes of its government, often with terroristic procedures. Many states, including Chile, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Romania,...

colleges and universities

(Encyclopedia)colleges and universities, institutions of higher education. Universities differ from colleges in that they are larger, have wider curricula, are involved in research activities, and grant graduate an...

feudalism

(Encyclopedia)feudalism fyo͞oˈdəlĭzəm [key], form of political and social organization typical of Western Europe from the dissolution of Charlemagne's empire to the rise of the absolute monarchies. The term fe...

marketing

(Encyclopedia)marketing, in economics, that part of the process of production and exchange that is concerned with the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer. In popular usage it is defined as the dist...

submersible

(Encyclopedia)submersible, small, mobile undersea research vessel capable of functioning in the ocean depths. Development of a great variety of submersibles during the later 1950s and 1960s came about as a result o...

Henry VIII, king of England

(Encyclopedia)Henry VIII, 1491–1547, king of England (1509–47), second son and successor of Henry VII. Henry was a supreme egotist. He advanced personal desires under the guise of public policy or moral rig...

school

(Encyclopedia)school, term commonly referring to institutions of pre-college formal education. It also properly includes colleges, universities, and many types of special training establishments (see adult educatio...

election

(Encyclopedia)election, choosing a candidate for office in an organization by the vote of those enfranchised to cast a ballot. In the United States, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, and many other nations, usuall...