Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Joplin jŏpˈlĭn [key], city (1990 pop. 40,961), Jasper and Newton counties, SW Mo., at the edge of the Ozarks; settled c.1839, inc. 1873. It is a railroad center, the shipping and processing point o...

(Encyclopedia) Smith, Gipsy, 1860–1947, English evangelist, originally named Rodney Smith, b. Wanstead. His father, a Romani (Gypsy), was also an evangelist. When Rodney was still a youth he became a member of Gen...

(Encyclopedia) Song of Solomon, Song of Songs, or Canticles, book of the Bible, 22d in the order of the Authorized Version. Although traditionally ascribed to King Solomon, many scholars date it as late as the 3d c...

(Encyclopedia) Wandering Jew, in literary and popular legend, a Jew who mocked or mistreated Jesus while he was on his way to the cross and who was condemned therefore to a life of wandering on earth until Judgment ...

(Encyclopedia) Balkenende, Jan Peter yän pāətûr bälˈkənĕndə [key], 1956–, Dutch political leader, prime minister of the Netherlands (2002–10), b. Kapelle. He attended the Free Univ. of Amsterdam, earnin...

(Encyclopedia) Radičová, Iveta, 1956–, Slovakian political leader, b. Bratislava. A sociologist, she graduated from the Univ. of Bratislava (B.A., 1979; Ph.D., 1981), later teaching at Comenius Univ. and doing r...

(Encyclopedia) Georgian Bay, large northeastern extension of Lake Huron, S Ont., Canada, separated from Lake Huron by Manitoulin Island and by the Bruce Peninsula; Lucas Channel is its chief connection with Lake Hur...

(Encyclopedia) Guérin, Maurice de (Georges Maurice de Guérin) zhôrzh mōrēsˈ də gārăNˈ [key], 1810–39, French writer. At his early death he left two fragmentary prose poems, Le Centaure and La Bacchante, ...

(Encyclopedia) New Testament, the distinctively Christian portion of the Bible, consisting of 27 books of varying lengths dating from the earliest Christian period. The seven epistles whose authorship by St. Paul is...

(Encyclopedia) Beirut bāro͞otˈ [key], Arab. Bayrut, Fr. Beyrouth, city (1996 est. pop. 1,200,000), W Lebanon, capital of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of the Lebanon Mts. Beirut is an important p...