Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Balkan Wars

(Encyclopedia)Balkan Wars, 1912–13, two short wars, fought for the possession of the European territories of the Ottoman Empire. The outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War for the possession of Tripoli (1911) encourag...

Briand, Aristide

(Encyclopedia)Briand, Aristide ärēstēdˈ brēäNˈ [key], 1862–1932, French statesman. A lawyer and a Socialist, he entered (1902) the chamber of deputies and helped to draft and pass the law (1905) for separa...

radio frequency

(Encyclopedia)radio frequency, range of electromagnetic waves with a frequency or wavelength suitable for communication uses. Some of these waves serve as carriers of the lower-frequency audio waves; others are mod...

Sanger, Margaret Higgins

(Encyclopedia)Sanger, Margaret Higgins, 1879–1966, American leader in the birth control movement, b. Corning, N.Y. Personal experience and work as a public-health nurse, much of it on New York City's Lower East S...

Chioggia

(Encyclopedia)Chioggia kyôdˈjä [key], city, Venetia, NE Italy, on a small island at the southern end of ...

Absalon

(Encyclopedia)Absalon äkˈsəl [key], c.1128–1201, Danish churchman, archbishop of Lund (1178–1201). He had great influence on political affairs under Waldemar I and Canute VI, warred against the pagan Wends, ...

Gerlache, Adrien de

(Encyclopedia)Gerlache, Adrien de ädrē-ăN də gĕrläshˈ [key], 1866–1934, Belgian naval officer and explorer. Sailing with Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen who would later be the first to reach the South Po...

Forbin, Claude, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Forbin, Claude, comte de klōd kôNt də fôrbăNˈ [key], 1656–1733, French naval commander. He fought in the Antilles (1680) and in Abraham Duquesne's Algerian campaign (1682–83) and from 1685 t...

galleon

(Encyclopedia)galleon, oceangoing warship used by the European naval powers in the 15th and 16th cent. A large, cumbersome vessel, the galleon was three-masted and square-rigged, usually with two decks, and with it...

Flagstaff

(Encyclopedia)Flagstaff, city (2020 pop. 76,831), seat of Coconino co., N Ariz., near the San Francisco Peaks; inc. 1894. Lumbering, ranching, and a lively tourist tr...