Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Mississippi Scheme, plan formulated by John Law for the colonization and commercial exploitation of the Mississippi valley and other French colonial areas. In 1717 the French merchant Antoine Crozat t...

(Encyclopedia) leveraged buyout, the takeover of a company, financed by borrowed funds. Often, the target company's assets are used as security for the loans acquired to finance the purchase. The acquiring company o...

(Encyclopedia) sinking fund, sum set apart periodically from the income of a government or a business and allowed to accumulate in order ultimately to pay off a debt. A preferred investment for a sinking fund is the...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Missouri mĭzo͝orˈē, –ə [key], one of the midwestern states of the United States. It is bordered by Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee, across the Mississippi River (E), Arkansas (S), Okla...

(Encyclopedia) Eunice yo͞oˈnĭs [key], city (2020 pop. 9,422), St. Landry parish, S central La.; inc. 1895...

(Encyclopedia) Boone, Daniel, 1734–1820, American frontiersman, b. Oley (now Exeter) township, near Reading, Pa. The Boones, English Quakers, left Pennsylvania in 1750 and settled (1751 or 1752) in the Yadkin vall...

(Encyclopedia) Estrades, Godefroy, comte d' gōdfrwäˈ kôNt dĕsträdˈ [key], 1607–86, French diplomat, marshal of France. An accomplished soldier, he negotiated (1662) the purchase of Dunkirk from the English....

(Encyclopedia) Slaughterhouse Cases, cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1873. In 1869 the Louisiana legislature granted a 25-year monopoly to a slaughterhouse concern in New Orleans for the stated purpose of...

(Encyclopedia) Mississippi Sound, arm of the Gulf of Mexico, c.100 mi (160 km) long and from 7 to 15 mi (11–24 km) wide, extending from Lake Borgne in Louisiana on the west to Mobile Bay in Alabama on the east. It...

(Encyclopedia) Ruston rusˈtən [key], city (1990 pop. 20,027), seat of Lincoln parish, N La.; settled 1884 as a railroad town and inc. the same year. It is the trading center of a farm, logging, and natural-gas reg...