Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Sutter, John Augustus, 1803–80, American pioneer, b. Kandern, Baden, of Swiss parents. His original name was Johann August Suter. He emigrated to the United States in 1834, went to St. Louis, then t...

(Encyclopedia) Vischer, Peter fĭshˈər [key], the elder, c.1455–1529, German sculptor, foremost of the bronze founders in Germany. Beginning as the assistant of his father, Hermann Vischer, Peter set up his own...

(Encyclopedia) Volhynia vŏlĭˈnyə [key], Ukr. and Rus. Volyn, Pol. Wołyń, historic region, W Ukraine, around the headstreams of the Pripyat and Western Bug rivers in an area of forests, lakes, and marshlands. O...

(Encyclopedia) Topeka təpēˈkə [key], city (1990 pop. 119,883), state capital and seat of Shawnee co., NE Kans., on the Kansas River; inc. 1857. In a rich agricultural region, it is an important shipping point fo...

(Encyclopedia) Vatican Library or Vatican Apostolic Library, in Rome, founded in the 4th cent. but dormant until given new life in the 15th cent. by Pope Nicholas V. It is the oldest public library in Europe and one...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Rose window (Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris) rose window, large, stone-traceried, circular window of medieval churches. Romanesque churches of both England and the Continent had made use of th...

(Encyclopedia) rosewood, popular name for the ornamental wood of several species of tropical trees, especially for the heartwood of certain leguminous trees of the genus Dalbergia of the family Leguminosae (pulse fa...

(Encyclopedia) Tabasco täbäsˈkō [key], state (1990 pop. 1,501,744), 9,783 sq mi (25,338 sq km), E Mexico, on the Gulf of Campeche. Villahermosa is the capital. Tabasco is predominantly a tropical plain, once den...

(Encyclopedia) Poitou pwäto͞oˈ [key], region and former province, W France, stretching from the Atlantic coast eastward beyond the Vienne River. The former province encompassed three modern departments—Vendée ...

(Encyclopedia) Poltava pəltäˈvə [key], city (1989 pop. 315,000), capital of Poltava region, E Ukraine, on the Kiev-Kharkiv highway and on the Vorskla River, a tributary of the Dnieper. It is an industrial center...