Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ahern, Bertie

(Encyclopedia)Ahern, Bertie (Bartholomew Patrick Ahern) əhûrnˈ [key], 1951–, Irish politician, prime minister of the Republic of Ireland (1997–2008). Born into a working-class family, he studied accounting a...

Canning, George

(Encyclopedia)Canning, George, 1770–1827, British statesman. Canning was converted to Toryism by the French Revolution, became a disciple of William Pitt, and was his undersecretary for foreign affairs (1796–99...

Synoptic Gospels

(Encyclopedia)Synoptic Gospels sĭnŏpˈtĭk [key] [Gr. synopsis=view together], the first three Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), considered as a unit. They bear greater similarity to each other than any of them ...

Taft-Hartley Labor Act

(Encyclopedia)Taft-Hartley Labor Act, 1947, passed by the U.S. Congress, officially known as the Labor-Management Relations Act. Sponsored by Senator Robert Alphonso Taft and Representative Fred Allan Hartley, the ...

tallage

(Encyclopedia)tallage tălˈĭj [key], Fr. taille, a type of feudal tax. In its origins tallage is not clearly distinguishable from aids (a type of feudal due), and in Germany it never developed beyond an occasiona...

universal time

(Encyclopedia)universal time (UT), the international time standard common to every place in the world, it nominally reflects the mean solar time along the earth's prime meridian (renumbered to equate to civil time)...

Utrecht, Peace of

(Encyclopedia)Utrecht, Peace of, series of treaties that concluded the War of the Spanish Succession. It put an end to French expansion and signaled the rise of the British Empire. By the treaty between England and...

Yanukovych, Viktor Fedorovych

(Encyclopedia)Yanukovych, Viktor Fedorovych vēkˈtôr fĕdˈərōvĭch yäno͞okōˈvĭch [key], 1950–, Ukrainian politician, president of Ukraine (2010–14). The graduate of a mining college and a polytechnic ...

Yushchenko, Viktor Andriyovych

(Encyclopedia)Yushchenko, Viktor Andriyovych,, 1954–, Ukrainian politician, president of Ukraine (2005–10), b. Khoruzhivka, Ukraine. A technocrat trained as an accountant and economist, he rose in Ukraine's ban...

Root, Elihu

(Encyclopedia)Root, Elihu, 1845–1937, American cabinet member and diplomat, b. Clinton, N.Y. Admitted to the bar in 1867, he practiced law in New York City, became prominent in Republican politics, and was appoin...