Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) guilds or gilds, economic and social associations of persons engaging in the same business or craft, typical of Western Europe in the Middle Ages. Membership was by profession or craft, and the primar...

(Encyclopedia) Panama Canal, waterway across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Atlantic (by way of the Caribbean Sea) and Pacific oceans, built by the United States (1904–14, on territory leased from the repub...

(Encyclopedia) Pan-Americanism, movement toward commercial, social, economic, military, and political cooperation among the nations of North, Central, and South America. In the early 20th cent., U.S. manipulation ...

(Encyclopedia) social security, government program designed to provide for the basic economic security and welfare of individuals and their dependents. The programs classified under the term social security differ f...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Zimbabwe zimˈbäbwā [key], officially Republic of Zimbabwe, republic (2015 est. pop. 14,229,000), 150,803 sq mi (390,580 sq km), S central Africa. It is bordered on the north by Zambia, on th...

(Encyclopedia) Nixon, Richard Milhous, 1913–94, 37th President of the United States (1969–74), b. Yorba Linda, Calif. Soon after his reelection Nixon's popularity plummeted as the growing revelations of the Wa...

(Encyclopedia) Truman, Harry S., 1884–1972, 33d President of the United States, b. Lamar, Mo. Truman remained active in politics for many years after his retirement, campaigning around the country for Democrat...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 External anatomy of a female grasshopper, representative of the class Insecta insect, invertebrate animal of the class Insecta of the phylum Arthropoda. Like other arthropods, an insect has a ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Gabon gäbôNˈ [key], officially Gabonese Republic, republic (2015 est. pop. 1,930,000), 103,346 sq mi (267,667 sq km), W central Africa. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, on Equat...

(Encyclopedia) Confederacy, name commonly given to the Confederate States of America (1861–65), the government established by the Southern states of the United States after their secession from the Union. (For the...