Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Shakers, popular name for members of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, also called the Millennial Church. Members of the movement, who received their name from the tremblin...

(Encyclopedia) mercantilism mûrˈkəntĭlĭzəm [key], economic system of the major trading nations during the 16th, 17th, and 18th cent., based on the premise that national wealth and power were best served by inc...

(Encyclopedia) Norman Conquest, period in English history following the defeat (1066) of King Harold of England by William, duke of Normandy, who became William I of England. The conquest was formerly thought to hav...

(Encyclopedia) Anglo-Saxons, name given to the Germanic-speaking peoples who settled in England after the decline of Roman rule there. They were first invited by the Celtic King Vortigern, who needed help fighting t...

(Encyclopedia) Aśoka əshōˈkə, –sōˈk– [key] or Ashoka, d. c.232 b.c., Indian emperor (c.273–c.232 b.c.) of the Maurya dynasty; grandson of Chandragupta. One of the greatest rulers of ancient India, he br...

(Encyclopedia) Albertus Magnus, Saint ălbûrˈtəs măgˈnəs [key], or Saint Albert the Great, b. 1193 or 1206, d. 1280, scholastic philosopher, Doctor of the Church, called the Universal Doctor. A nobleman of Bol...

(Encyclopedia) Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) hôrˈəs [key], 65 b.c.–8 b.c., Latin poet, one of the greatest of lyric poets, b. Venusia, S Italy. He studied at Rome and Athens and, joining Brutus and the repu...

(Encyclopedia) Wallace, David Foster, 1962–2008, American writer, b. Ithaca, N.Y., grad. Amherst College (B.A., 1985), Univ. of Arizona (M.F.A., 1987). He published his comic first novel, The Broom of the System (...

(Encyclopedia) Sappho săfˈō [key], fl. early 6th cent. b.c., greatest of the early Greek lyric poets (Plato calls her “the tenth Muse”), b. Mytilene on Lesbos. Facts about her life are scant. She was an arist...

(Encyclopedia) Sayles, John (John Thomas Sayles), 1950–, one of America's most influential independent filmmakers as well as a screenwriter, fiction writer, playwright, and actor, b. Schenectady, N.Y., grad. Willi...