Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Sun Belt or Sunbelt, southern tier of the United States, focused on Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California, and extending as far north as Virginia. The term gained wide use in the 1970s, when the eco...

(Encyclopedia) olive, common name for the Oleaceae, a family of trees and shrubs (including climbing forms) of warm temperate climates and of the Old World tropics, especially Asia and the East Indies. Many are popu...

(Encyclopedia) Carson, Kit (Christopher Houston Carson), 1809–68, American frontiersman and guide, b. Madison co., Ky. In 1811 he moved with his family to the Missouri frontier. After his father's death, he was ap...

(Encyclopedia) Havana lä äväˈnä [key], city and, as Ciudad de La Habana, province (1997 est. pop. 2,200,000), capital of Cuba, W Cuba; largest city and chief port of the West Indies and one of the oldest cities...

(Encyclopedia) Pizarro, Francisco pĭzäˈrō, Span. fränthēsˈkō pēthärˈrō [key], c.1476–1541, Spanish conquistador, conqueror of Peru. Born in Trujillo, he was an illegitimate son of a Spanish gentleman a...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Uruguay yo͝oˈrəgwā, gwī, Span. o͞oro͞ogwiˈ, o͞oro͞owīˈ [key], officially Oriental Republic of Uruguay, republic (2015 est. pop. 3,432,000), 68,536 sq mi (177,508 sq km), SE South Am...

(Encyclopedia) suburb, a community in an outlying section of a city or, more commonly, a nearby, politically separate municipality with social and economic ties to the central city. In the 20th cent., particularly i...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 El Salvador ĕl sälväᵺōrˈ [key], officially Republic of El Salvador, republic (2021 est. pop. ...

(Encyclopedia) Ignatius of Loyola, Saint loiyōˈlə [key], 1491–1556, Spanish churchman, founder of the Jesuits (see Jesus, Society of), b. Loyola Castle near Azpeitia, Gipuzkoa, Spain. In 1539, Ignatius drew u...

(Encyclopedia) Cortés, Hernán, or Hernando Cortez kôrtĕzˈ, Span. ārnänˈ, ārnänˈdō kōrtāsˈ [key], 1485–1547, Spanish conquistador, conqueror of Mexico. In Cortés's absence his enemies at home grad...