Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Middle Ages, period in Western European history that followed the disintegration of the West Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th cent. and lasted into the 15th cent., i.e., into the period of the Renaissa...

(Encyclopedia) Sherman, William Tecumseh, 1820–91, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Lancaster, Ohio. Sherman is said by many to be the greatest of the Civil War generals. Sherman was promoted to lie...

(Encyclopedia) Dutch Wars, series of conflicts between the English and Dutch during the mid to late 17th cent. The wars had their roots in the Anglo-Dutch commercial rivalry, although the last of the three wars was ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Cape Verde vûd [key], Port. Cabo Verde, officially Republic of Cape Verde, republic (...

(Encyclopedia) Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isayevich əlyĭksänˈdər ēsīˈəvĭch sôlˌzhənētˈsĭn [key], 1918–2008, Russian writer widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential authors of the 20...

(Encyclopedia) Vanuatu vänˌwäto͞oˈ [key], officially Republic of Vanuatu, independent republic (2015 est. pop. 265,000), c.5,700 sq mi (14,760 sq km), South Pacific, E of Australia. Vanuatu is a 450-mi (724-km)...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Madagascar mădˌəgăsˈcär [key], officially Republic of Madagascar, republic (2015 est. pop. 24,234,000), 226,658 sq mi (587,045 sq km), in the Indian Ocean, separated from E Africa by the ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Uzbekistan o͝ozbĕkĭstänˈ [key], Uzbek Ozbekiston, officially Republic of Uzbekistan, republic (2015 est. pop. 29,200,000), 173,552 sq mi (449,500 sq km), central Asia. The republic, which ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Rwanda ro͝oänˈdä [key], officially Republic of Rwanda, republic (2015 est. pop. 11,630,000), 10,169 sq mi (26,338 sq km), E central Africa. It borders on Congo (Kinshasa) in the west, on Ug...

(Encyclopedia) Vienna, Congress of, Sept., 1814–June, 1815, one of the most important international conferences in European history, called to remake Europe after the downfall of Napoleon I. Although the territo...