Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Violins and viols violin, family of stringed musical instruments having wooden bodies whose backs and fronts are slightly convex, the fronts pierced by two ƒ-shaped resonance holes. The instr...

(Encyclopedia) Giotto (Giotto di Bondone) jôtˈtō dē bōndôˈnā [key], c.1266–c.1337, Florentine painter and architect. He is noted not only for his own work, but for the lasting impact he had on the course o...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Belize bəlēzˈ [key], independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations (2020 est. ...

(Encyclopedia) fur trade, in American history. Trade in animal skins and pelts had gone on since antiquity, but reached its height in the wilderness of North America from the 17th to the early 19th cent. The demand ...

(Encyclopedia) Abu Ghraib or Abu Ghurayb äˈbo͞o grĕb [key], infamous prison located in the town of Abu Ghraib, c.20 mi (32 km) W of Baghdad, Iraq. Built by British contractors in the 1960s, it occupies c.280 acr...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Texas tĕkˈsəs [key], largest state in the coterminous United States. It is located in the south-central part of the country and is bounded by Oklahoma, across the Red River except in the Tex...

(Encyclopedia) Spanish art and architecture, works of art and architecture produced in what is now the European country of Spain. Open to a wide variety of cultural influences, the art and architecture of Spain have...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Peru pāro͞oˈ [key], officially Republic of Peru, republic (2015 est. pop. 31,377,000), 496,220 sq mi (1,285,210 sq km), W South America. It borders on the Pacific Ocean in the west, on Ecuad...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 CE5 Byzantine Empire (c.1000) Byzantine Empire, successor state to the Roman Empire (see under Rome), also called Eastern Empire and East Roman Empire. It was named after Byzantium, which Emp...

(Encyclopedia) Italian art, works of art produced in the geographic region that now constitutes the nation of Italy. Italian art has engendered great public interest and involvement, resulting in the consistent prod...