Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Frederick the Winter King, 1596–1632, king of Bohemia (1619–20), elector palatine (1610–20) as Frederick V. The Protestant diet of Bohemia deposed the Roman Catholic King Ferdinand (Holy Roman E...

(Encyclopedia) owl, common name for nocturnal birds of prey found on all continents. Owls superficially resemble short-necked hawks, except that their eyes are directed forward and are surrounded by disks of radiati...

(Encyclopedia) Pessoa, Fernando (Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa) pĕsˈwä [key], 1888–1935, Portuguese poet, b. Lisbon. He moved to Durban, South Africa, as a child, becoming bilingual (Portuguese, English); i...

(Encyclopedia) Free-Soil party, in U.S. history, political party that came into existence in 1847–48 chiefly because of rising opposition to the extension of slavery into any of the territories newly acquired from...

(Encyclopedia) Grey, Lady Jane, 1537–54, queen of England for nine days. She was the daughter of Henry Grey, marquess of Dorset (later duke of Suffolk), and Frances Brandon, daughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary. S...

(Encyclopedia) mahogany, common name for the Meliaceae, a widely distributed family of chiefly tropical shrubs and trees, often having scented wood. The valuable hardwood called mahogany is obtained from many member...

(Encyclopedia) Donegal dŏnˌĭgôlˈ, dŭnˌ– [key], county, 1,865 sq mi (4,830 sq km), N Republi...

(Encyclopedia) Canada Act, also called the Constitutional Act of 1982, which made Canada a fully sovereign state. The British Parliament approved it on Mar. 25, 1982, and Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed it on Apr. 17,...

(Encyclopedia) Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George), 1948–, king of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2022–), eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Bri...

(Encyclopedia) Coverdale, Miles, 1488–1569, b. Yorkshire. English translator of the Bible, educated at Cambridge. Coverdale was ordained (1514) and entered the house of Augustinian friars at Cambridge. After devel...