Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) international monetary system, rules and procedures by which different national currencies are exchanged for each other in world trade. Such a system is necessary to define a common standard of value ...

(Encyclopedia) Monitor and Merrimack, two American warships that fought the first engagement between ironclad ships. When, at the beginning of the Civil War, the Union forces abandoned the Norfolk Navy Yard at Ports...

(Encyclopedia) Library of Congress, national library of the United States, Washington, D.C., est. 1800. It occcupies three buildings on Capitol Hill: The Thomas Jefferson Building (1897), the John Adams Building (19...

(Encyclopedia) privacy, right of, the right to be left alone without unwarranted intrusion by government, media, or other institutions or individuals. While a consensus supporting the right to privacy has emerged (a...

(Encyclopedia) Gates, Bill (William Henry Gates 3d), 1955–, American business executive, b. Seattle, Wash. At the age of 19, Gates founded (1975) the Microsoft Corp....

(Encyclopedia) Holy Alliance, 1815, agreement among the emperors of Russia and Austria and the king of Prussia, signed on Sept. 26. It was quite distinct from the Quadruple Alliance (Quintuple, after the admission o...

(Encyclopedia) Draghi, Mario mäˈēō drägˈē [key], 1947–, Italian economist and government and international ...

(Encyclopedia) war debts. This article discusses the obligations incurred by foreign governments for loans made to them by the United States during and shortly after World War I. For international obligations arisin...

(Encyclopedia) Prodi, Romano rōmäˈnō prōˈdē [key], 1939–, Italian politician, premier of Italy (1996–98, 2006–8), b. Scandiano. Educated at the Catholic Univ. of Milan (grad. 1961), he. He is a trained ...

(Encyclopedia) Menominee, river, 118 mi (190 km) long, formed by the union of the Brule and the Michigamme rivers above Iron Mountain, W Upper Peninsula, N Mich., and flowing SE into Green Bay at Menominee. It passe...