Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Reconstruction, 1865–77, in U.S. history, the period of readjustment following the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical destruction wrought by t...

(Encyclopedia) commercial law, the laws that govern business transactions, except those relating to the maritime transportation of goods (see maritime law). Commercial law developed as a distinct body of jurispruden...

(Encyclopedia) sodium chloride, NaCl, common salt. Salt is important in many ways. It is an essential part of the diet of both humans and animals and is a part of most animal fluids, such as blood, sweat, and te...

(Encyclopedia) university press, publishing house associated with a university and nearly always bearing the university's name in its imprint. The university press is normally a specialized publishing house emphasiz...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 View into the eye of a hurricane showing the structure of the surrounding cloud wall hurricane, tropical cyclone in which winds attain speeds greater than 74 mi (119 km) per hr. Wind speeds gu...

(Encyclopedia) reclamation of land, practice of converting land deemed unproductive into arable land by such methods as irrigation, drainage, flood control, altering the texture and mineral and organic content of so...

(Encyclopedia) Davis, Jefferson, 1808–89, American statesman, President of the Southern Confederacy, b. Fairview, near Elkton, Ky. His birthday was June 3. Davis took little part in the secession movement until ...

(Encyclopedia) leprosy or Hansen's disease hănˈsənz [key], chronic, mildly infectious malady capable of producing, when untreated, various deformities and disfigurements. It is caused by the rod-shaped bacterium ...

(Encyclopedia) coal, fuel substance of plant origin, largely or almost entirely composed of carbon with varying amounts of mineral matter. Coal is found in beds or seams interstratified with shales, clays, sands...

(Encyclopedia) Burr, Aaron, 1756–1836, American political leader, b. Newark, N.J., grad. College of New Jersey (now Princeton). Soon after Hamilton's death, Burr left Washington on a journey to New Orleans, at t...