Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) American International Group (AIG), American multinational insurance corporation whose potential bankruptcy in 2008 led to the largest federal bailout of a private company. AIG was founded as American...

(Encyclopedia) Natives, South American, aboriginal peoples of South America. In the land mass extending from the Isthmus of Panama to Tierra del Fuego, Native American civilizations developed long before the coming ...

(Encyclopedia) Francis, Sam, 1923–94, American painter, b. San Mateo, Calif. Educated in medicine, Francis began painting while recovering from an injury received in World War II. His mural-sized paintings are sta...

(Encyclopedia) Kane, John, 1860–1934, American primitive painter, b. Scotland. He came to Pittsburgh at the age of 19 and worked for years as a day laborer, painting in his spare time. His paintings exhibit a deli...

(Encyclopedia) Theus, Jeremiah tho͞os, tois [key], c.1719–1744, American portrait painter, b. Switzerland. He emigrated to South Carolina as a child. By 1740, according to newspaper notices, he was painting portr...

(Encyclopedia) North American Nebula, bright diffuse nebula in the northern constellation Cygnus about 1000 light-years away; cataloged as NGC 7000. It has a configuration resembling parts of Canada and the United S...

(Encyclopedia) Russian American Company, colonial trading company, chartered by Czar Paul I in 1799. The charter granted the merchant-dominated company monopoly trading privileges in Russian America, which included ...

(Encyclopedia) Merry del Val, Rafael räfäĕlˈ māˈrē dĕl väl [key], 1865–1930, Spanish prelate, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, b. London. He was educated for the priesthood and ordained at Rome (188...

(Encyclopedia) Fechner, Gustav Theodor go͝osˈtäf tāˈōdōr fĕkhˈnər [key], 1801–87, German philosopher and physicist, founder of psychophysics, educated at Dresden and Leipzig. He became professor of physi...

(Encyclopedia) American Landrace swine, relatively new breed of swine developed from Danish Landrace hogs imported in 1934 by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. They are totally white. Noted for their smoothness, length...