Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Arecibo Observatory, radio-astronomy facility located near Arecibo, Puerto Rico, part of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center. Conceived by, designed by, and built under the supervision of Wil...

(Encyclopedia) Andre, Carl änˈdrā [key], 1935–, American sculptor, b. Quincy, Mass. A student of Patrick Morgan and associate of Frank Stella, Andre produces sculptures of elemental form and abstract monumental...

(Encyclopedia) diary [Lat.,=day], a daily record of events and observations. As distinguished from memoir (an account of events placed in perspective by the author long after they have occurred), the diary derives i...

(Encyclopedia) caudillo kôdēlˈyō Span. kouᵺēˈyō [key], [Span.,= military strongman], type of South American political leader that arose with the 19th-century wars of independence. The first caudillos were o...

(Encyclopedia) botanical garden, public place in which plants are grown both for display and for scientific study. An arboretum is a botanical garden devoted chiefly to the growing of woody plants. The plants in bot...

(Encyclopedia) Georgian literature. Early Georgian literature shows the influence of two distinctly different civilizations—medieval Eastern Orthodox Christianity and, later, Persia. The Passion of St. Shushanik, ...

(Encyclopedia) biography, reconstruction in print or on film, of the lives of real men and women. Together with autobiography—an individual's interpretation of his own life—it shares a venerable tradition, meeti...

(Encyclopedia) Spanish literature, the literature of Spain. The Spanish civil war (1936–39) truncated the cultural evolution of the country. Many writers went into exile. Salinas, Guillén, Juan Larrea, an...

(Encyclopedia) Los Angeles lôs ănˈjələs, lŏs, ănˈjəlēzˌ [key], city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. A port of entry on the Pacific coast, with a fine harbor at San Ped...

(Encyclopedia) Pueblo, name given by the Spanish to the sedentary Native Americans who lived in stone or adobe communal houses in what is now the SW United States. The term pueblo is also used for the villages occup...