Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ghor, the

(Encyclopedia)Ghor, the, Arabic Al Ghawr, region of the Jordan Valley, c.70 mi (110 km) long, between the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) and the Dead Sea, on the border of Jordan and Israel and the West Bank. Entir...

Federal Aviation Administration

(Encyclopedia)Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates...

Griswold, Roger

(Encyclopedia)Griswold, Roger, 1762–1812, American political leader, b. Lyme, Conn.; son of Matthew Griswold. A Connecticut lawyer, he entered politics and, as U.S. Congressman (1795–1805), was a vigorous Feder...

Washington, Walter Edward

(Encyclopedia)Washington, Walter Edward, 1915–2003, American political figure, first African-American mayor of Washington, D.C. (1975–79) and of a major American city, b. Dawson, Ga., grad. Howard Univ. (A.B., ...

Morava, river, Czech Republic and Slovakia

(Encyclopedia)Morava môrˈävä [key], Ger. March, river, c.240 mi (390 km) long, rising in the Sudetes, N Czech Republic, and flowing generally S past Olomouc into the Danube River, W of Bratislava. It is navigab...

Kings, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Kings, river, 125 mi (201 km) long, rising in three forks in the Sierra Nevada, E Calif., and flowing SW to Tulare Lake in the San Joaquin valley. Its middle and southern forks flow through the great ...

Krutch, Joseph Wood

(Encyclopedia)Krutch, Joseph Wood kro͝och [key], 1893–1970, American author, editor, and teacher, b. Knoxville, Tenn., grad. Univ. of Tennessee, 1915, Ph.D. Columbia, 1923. He was on the editorial staff of the N...

Hooks, Benjamin Lawson

(Encyclopedia)Hooks, Benjamin Lawson, 1925–2010, African-American civil-rights leader, b. Memphis, Tenn. In 1972 President Nixon named Hooks, a lawyer, Baptist minister, and former Tennessee county criminal court...

Stoneman, George

(Encyclopedia)Stoneman, George, 1822–94, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Busti, N.Y. As commander of Fort Brown, Tex., in Feb., 1861, he refused to obey the order of General Twiggs to surrender to Tex...

Buchanan, James McGill, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Buchanan, James McGill, Jr., 1919–2012, American economist, b. Murfreesboro, Tenn., Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1948. After teaching at the universities of Tennessee, Florida State, Virginia, and Califo...