Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) West, Jessamyn, 1907–84, American novelist, b. Indiana. A Quaker herself, her most famous novel is The Friendly Persuasion (1945), about the conflicts felt by a Quaker farm family during the Civil W...

(Encyclopedia) Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, commonly known as Freddie Mac, government-sponsored enterprise that uses private capital to buy home mortgages as a means to help lower housing costs. A sister ...

(Encyclopedia) West Orange, town (1990 pop. 39,103), Essex co., NE N.J., a residential suburb of Newark; set off from Orange 1862, inc. 1900. “Glenmont,” Thomas Edison's home in Llewellyn Park, and his laborator...

(Encyclopedia) West Yorkshire, former metropolitan county, N central England. Created in the 1974 local government reorganization, the county largely embraced the Leeds conurbation and comprised five metropolitan di...

(Encyclopedia) British West Africa, former inclusive term for the British colonies of Cameroons, Gambia, Gold Coast, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Togoland. ...

(Encyclopedia) West Indies Federation, former federation of 10 British West Indian territories formed in 1958. Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Barbados were the principal members, but the federation included most ...

(Encyclopedia) West Lafayette, city (1990 pop. 25,907), Tippecanoe co., W Ind., a suburb of Lafayette, on the Wabash River; inc. 1924. A primarily residential city, it is the seat of Purdue Univ. There is farming (c...

(Encyclopedia) West Indies Associated States: see under West Indies Federation. ...

(Encyclopedia) Portuguese West Africa: see Angola. ...

(Encyclopedia) South West Africa: see Namibia.