Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Liszt, Franz fränts lĭst [key], 1811–86, Hungarian composer and pianist. Liszt was a revolutionary figure of romantic music and was acknowledged as the greatest pianist of his time. He made his de...

(Encyclopedia) Vatican Council, Second, popularly called Vatican II, 1962–65, the 21st ecumenical council (see council, ecumenical) of the Roman Catholic Church, convened by Pope John XXIII and continued under Pau...

(Encyclopedia) Saratoga campaign, June–Oct., 1777, of the American Revolution. Lord George Germain and John Burgoyne were the chief authors of a plan to end the American Revolution by splitting the colonies along ...

(Encyclopedia) Shaw, George Bernard, 1856–1950, Irish playwright and critic. He revolutionized the Victorian stage, then dominated by artificial melodramas, by presenting vigorous dramas of ideas. The lengthy pref...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Prince Edward Island, province (2001 pop. 135,294), 2,184 sq mi (5,657 sq km), E Canada, off N.B. and N.S. The Mi'kmaq lived on the island before Europeans arrived. Jacques Cartier wrote ent...

(Encyclopedia) Richmond. 1 City (1990 pop. 87,425), Contra Costa co., W Calif., on San Pablo Bay, an inlet of San Francisco Bay; inc. 1905. It is a deepwater commercial port and an industrial center with oil refiner...

(Encyclopedia) missions, term generally applied to organizations formed for the purpose of extending religious teaching, whether at home or abroad. It also indicates the stations or the fields where such teaching is...

(Encyclopedia) dam, barrier, commonly across a watercourse, to hold back water, often forming a reservoir or lake; dams are also sometimes used to control or contain rockslides, mudflows, and the like in regions whe...

(Encyclopedia) Catholic Emancipation, term applied to the process by which Roman Catholics in the British Isles were relieved in the late 18th and early 19th cent. of civil disabilities. They had been under oppressi...

(Encyclopedia) Harrison, William Henry, 1773–1841, 9th President of the United States (Mar. 4–Apr. 4, 1841), b. “Berkeley,” Charles City co., Va.; son of Benjamin Harrison (1726?–1791) and grandfather of B...