Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Gardena gärdēˈnə [key], city (2020 pop. 61,027), Los Angeles co., SW Calif., an industrial ...

(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) Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), former U.S. government agency, created in 1932 by the administration of Herbert Hoover. Its purpose was to facilitate economic activity by lending money in th...

(Encyclopedia) Homeland Security, United States Department of (DHS), executive department of the federal government charged with protecting the security of the American homeland as its main responsibility. Its prima...

(Encyclopedia) Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC), in U.S. history, government-owned company formed in 1989 to liquidate the assets of insolvent savings and loan associations (S&Ls). Essentially a huge property-...

(Encyclopedia) Bridges, Simon Joseph, 1976–, New Zealand lawyer and politician, b. Auckland. A Maori and a member of the conservative National party, Bridges was a lawyer and prosecutor before he was first elected...

(Encyclopedia) Villahermosa vēˌyäārmōˈsä [key], city (1990 pop. 261,321), capital of Tabasco state, SE Mexico, on the Grijalva River. The city, which has good communications facilities, is the commercial and ...

(Encyclopedia) Waves (Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service), U.S. navy organization, created (1942) in World War II to release male naval personnel for sea duty. The organization was commanded until 1946 ...

(Encyclopedia) Bangui bäng-gēˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 560,000), capital of the Central African Republic, a port on the Ubangi River, near the Congo (Kinshasa) border. Bangui is an administrative, trade, and ...

(Encyclopedia) National Archives, official depository for records of the U.S. federal government, established in 1934 by an act of Congress. Although displeasure concerning the method of keeping national records was...