Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Bembo, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Bembo, Pietro pyāˈtrō bĕmˈbō [key], 1470–1547, Italian humanist, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. A favorite of the Medici, he was secretary to Pope Leo X and was made a cardinal by Paul...

Carbonari

(Encyclopedia)Carbonari kärbōnäˈrē [key] [Ital.,=charcoal burners], members of a secret society that flourished in Italy, Spain, and France early in the 19th cent. Possibly derived from Freemasonry, the societ...

Institut de France

(Encyclopedia)Institut de France ăNstētüˈ də fräNs [key], cultural institution of the French state. Founded in 1795 by the Directory, it replaced five learned societies that had been suppressed in 1793 by the...

Kabardino-Balkar Republic

(Encyclopedia)Kabardino-Balkar Republic kăbˌərdēˈnō-bălkârˈ [key] or Kabardino-Balkaria, constituent republic (1990 est. pop. 760,000), c.4,800 sq mi (12,400 sq km), SE European Russia, in the northern par...

Pygmy

(Encyclopedia)Pygmy or Pigmy both: pĭgˈmē [key], term used for dark-skinned people who live in equatorial rain forests and average less than 59 in. (150 cm) in height. Some studies make a distinction between Neg...

Mohave, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Mohave mōhäˈvē [key], indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Yuman branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the mid-18th cent. they...

Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasilyevich

(Encyclopedia)Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasilyevich mēkhəyēlˈ vəsēˈlyəvĭch ləmənôˈsəf [key], 1711–65, Russian scientist, scholar, and writer, an outstanding figure in 18th-century Russia. Lomonosov was the...

Malecite

(Encyclopedia)Malecite or Maliseet both: mălˈəsīt [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In th...

Massachuset

(Encyclopedia)Massachuset măsəcho͞oˈsĭt [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the early 1...

Mandeville, Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Mandeville, Bernard mănˈdəvĭl [key], 1670–1733, English author, b. Dordrecht, Holland. A physician, he went to London in 1692 ostensibly to learn the language, but eventually settled there perma...