Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Grand Army of the Republic

(Encyclopedia)Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), organization established by Civil War veterans of the Union army and navy. Principal figures in the founding of the GAR were John A. Logan and Richard J. Oglesby. The...

Congo, Democratic Republic of the

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Congo, Democratic Republic of the, formerly Zaïre zīˈēr, zäērˈ [key], republic ...

Bank of the United States

(Encyclopedia)Bank of the United States, name for two national banks established by the U.S. Congress to serve as government fiscal agents and as depositories for federal funds; the first bank was in existence from...

Nearchus

(Encyclopedia)Nearchus nēärˈkəs [key], fl. 324 b.c., Macedonian general, b. Crete; friend of Alexander the Great. In 325 b.c., Alexander, about to leave India, had a fleet built in the Indus to transport part o...

Hallaj, Hussein ibn Mansur al-

(Encyclopedia)Hallaj, Hussein ibn Mansur al- ho͞osānˈ ĭbn mänso͝orˈ [key], 857–922, Arabic-speaking Persian Muslim mystic and poet popularly known among Muslims as “the martyr of mystical love.” Born a...

White Horse, Vale of the

(Encyclopedia)White Horse, Vale of the, district (1991 pop. 109,200), Oxfordshire, S central England. The vale is the valley of the Ock River. Abingdon is the administrative seat. Surgical instruments and automobil...

Joel, book of the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Joel, prophetic book of the Bible. It is a collection of the oracles of an otherwise unknown prophet, dated variously from the 9th to the 3d cent. b.c., though a date in c.400 b.c. is likely. A locust...

Maccabees, books of the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Maccabees, two books included in the Septuagint and placed as the last two books in the Old Testament of the Vulgate; they are not included in the Hebrew Bible and are placed in the Apocrypha in Prote...

Sirach, book of the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Sirach ēklēˌzēăsˈtĭkəs [key] [Lat. from Gr.,=ecclesiastical], book included in the Septuagint and in the Roman Catholic canon of the Old Testament but not included in the Hebrew Bible and plac...

Polish Succession, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Polish Succession, War of the, 1733–35. On the death (1733) of Augustus II of Poland, Stanislaus I sought to reascend the Polish throne. He was supported by his son-in-law, Louis XV of France. The r...