Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Declaration of Independence, full and formal declaration adopted July 4, 1776, by representatives of the Thirteen Colonies in North America announcing the separation of those colonies from Great Brita...

(Encyclopedia) rock music, type of music originating in the United States in the mid-1950s and increasingly popular throughout much of the world. A turning point in rock music occurred in the mid-1970s in the ...

(Encyclopedia) civil service, entire body of those employed in the civil administration as distinct from the military and excluding elected officials. The term was used in designating the British administration of I...

(Encyclopedia) Cleveland. 1 City (2020 pop. 372,674), seat of Cuyahoga co., NE Ohio, on Lake Erie at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River; laid out (1796) by Moses ...

(Encyclopedia) antiparticle, elementary particle corresponding to an ordinary particle such as the proton, neutron, or electron, but having the opposite electrical charge and magnetic moment. Every elementary partic...

(Encyclopedia) Anthropocene Epoch, an unofficial term used by scientists to describe a period of time—up to the present—in which humanity has impacted the planet on a global scale. The phrase was fir...

(Encyclopedia) Pierce, Franklin, 1804–69, 14th President of the United States (1853–57), b. Hillsboro, N.H., grad. Bowdoin College, 1824. Admitted to the bar in 1827, he entered politics as a Jacksonian Democrat...

(Encyclopedia) Molière, Jean Baptiste Poquelin zhäN bätēstˈ pôklăNˈ môlyĕrˈ [key], 1622–73, French playwright and actor, b. Paris; son of a merchant who was upholsterer to the king. His name was origina...

(Encyclopedia) Columbia, river, c.1,210 mi (1,950 km) long, rising in Columbia Lake, SE British Columbia, Canada. It flows first NW in the Rocky Mt. Trench, then hooks sharply about the Selkirk Mts. to flow S throug...

(Encyclopedia) Dante Alighieri dănˈtē, Ital. dänˈtā älēgyĕˈrē [key], 1265–1321, Italian poet, b. Florence. Dante was the author of the Divine Comedy, one of the greatest of literary classics. Dante's ...