Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

New Zealand

(Encyclopedia)CE5 New Zealand zēˈlənd [key], island country (2015 est. pop. 4,615,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellingt...

Nexø, Martin Andersen

(Encyclopedia)Nexø, Martin Andersen märˈtēn änˈdərsĕn nĕksö [key], 1869–1954, Danish novelist. Born one of 11 children in a Copenhagen slum, he spent his impoverished childhood largely on the island of ...

Austro-Prussian War

(Encyclopedia)Austro-Prussian War or Seven Weeks War, June 15–Aug. 23, 1866, between Prussia, allied with Italy, and Austria, seconded by Bavaria, Württemberg, Saxony, Hanover, Baden, and several smaller German ...

Ney, Michel

(Encyclopedia)Ney, Michel mēshĕlˈ nā [key], 1769–1815, marshal of France. Called “the bravest of the brave” by Napoleon I, Ney, a cooper's son from Saarlouis, rapidly rose to glory in the French Revolutio...

Ngugi wa Thiong'o

(Encyclopedia)Ngugi wa Thiong'o ĕngo͞oˈgē wä tē-ŏngˈgō [key] or James Ngugi, 1938–, Kenyan writer, acclaimed as East Africa's foremost novelist. He studied at universities in Uganda and England. His firs...

Nguyen Chi Thien

(Encyclopedia)Nguyen Chi Thien, 1939–2012, Vietnamese poet. Thien began composing poetry during the three years he spent in prison after he told his history students that their textbook wrongly credited the USSR ...

auteur

(Encyclopedia)auteur ōtörˈ [key], in film criticism, a director who so dominates the film-making process that it is appropriate to call the director the auteur, or author, of the motion picture. The auteur theor...

Niagara Falls, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Niagara Falls, city (1990 pop. 61,840), Niagara co., W N.Y., at the great falls of the Niagara River opposite Niagara Falls, Ont.; inc. 1892. Tourism is one of its oldest industries, and many state pa...

Niagara-on-the-Lake

(Encyclopedia)Niagara-on-the-Lake or Niagara, town (1991 pop. 12,945), S Ont., Canada, on Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Niagara River. It was settled (1784) by American Loyalists and in 1792 Lt. Gov. Simcoe made...

Niamey

(Encyclopedia)Niamey nyämāˈ [key], city (1988 pop. 398,265), capital of Niger and Tillabéry dept., SW Niger, a port on the Niger River. Niamey is Niger's largest city and its administrative and economic center....