Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Blount, William, 1749–1800, American political leader, b. near Windsor, N.C. He served in the American Revolution and later became a legislator in North Carolina, a member of the Continental Congres...

(Encyclopedia) progressivism, in U.S. history, a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th cent. In the decades following the Civil War rapid industrialization transformed the United St...

(Encyclopedia) Murphy, Charles Francis, 1858–1924, American political boss, b. New York City. He was the owner of many saloons in New York City and took a keen interest in Democratic politics. His services to Tamm...

(Encyclopedia) Di Rupo, Elio āˈlēō dē ro͞oˈpō [key], 1951–, Belgian political leader. Born to Italian immigrant parents, he is a chemist by education and was a lecturer (1977–78) at the Univ. of Leeds, E...

(Encyclopedia) Witherspoon, John, 1723–94, Scottish-American Presbyterian clergyman, political leader in the American Revolution, and signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Haddingtonshire (now East Lothian...

(Encyclopedia) Pliocene epoch plīˈəsēn [key], fifth epoch of the Cenozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), from 5.1 to 2 million years ago. By the beginning of the P...

(Encyclopedia) Robbins, Lionel Charles, 1898–1984, British economist, b. Middlesex, England. A professor at the London School of Economics (1929–61), he wrote the well-known methodological treatise, An Essay in ...

(Encyclopedia) Prohibition party, in U.S. history, minor political party formed (1869) for the legislative prohibition of the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The temperance movement was...

(Encyclopedia) Rakhine State ărəkănˈ, äräkänˈ [key], state (1983 pop. 2,045,891), 14,194 sq mi (36,762 sq km), W Myanmar, extending along the Bay of Bengal. It lies at the foot of the Arakan Mts., which rise...

(Encyclopedia) Mikołajczyk, Stanislaus stänēsˈläs mēkôwīˈchĭk [key], 1901–66, Polish politician and leader of the Polish Peasant party. After the German conquest of Poland, he became vice premier (1941) ...