Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Gulfport, city (2020 pop. 72,926), seat of Harrison co., SE Miss., a port on Mississippi Sound, the Gulf of Mexico, in a resort area; inc. 1898. A port ...

(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) Auriol, Vincent văNsäNˈ ôryôlˈ [key], 1884–1966, French statesman, first president (1947–54) of the Fourth Republic. A Socialist deputy after 1914, he was finance minister under Léon Blum (...

(Encyclopedia) planetary science or planetology, study of planets and planetary systems as a whole. Planetary science applies the theories and methods of traditional disciplines such as astronomy, geology, physics, ...

(Encyclopedia) Daumier, Honoré ônôrāˈ dōmyāˈ [key], 1808–79, French caricaturist, painter, and sculptor. Daumier was the greatest social satirist of his day. Son of a Marseilles glazier, he accompanied his...

(Encyclopedia) Necker, Jacques zhäk nĕkĕrˈ [key], 1732–1804, French financier and statesman, b. Geneva, Switzerland. In 1750 he went to Paris and entered banking. He rose rapidly to importance, established a b...

(Encyclopedia) Stavisky Affair stävēskēˈ [key], financial and political scandal that shook France in 1934. Serge Alexandre Stavisky, a swindler associated with the municipal pawnshop of Bayonne, sold huge quanti...

(Encyclopedia) Biloxi bĭlŭkˈsē [key], city (2020 pop. 49,449), Harrison co., SE Miss., on a peninsula be...

(Encyclopedia) Blum, Léon lāôNˈ blo͝om [key], 1872–1950, French Socialist leader and writer. Well established in literary circles, he entered politics during the Dreyfus Affair and rose to party leadership. I...

(Encyclopedia) symbolists, in literature, a school originating in France toward the end of the 19th cent. in reaction to the naturalism and realism of the period. Designed to convey impressions by suggestion rather ...