Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) saddle, seat or pad to support the rider on an animal, chiefly a horse. The saddles mentioned in the Bible are generally considered to have been saddlecloths. The ancient Greeks sometimes used saddlec...

(Encyclopedia) Polish language, member of the West Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages). Polish is spoken as a first language by about 38 million peopl...

(Encyclopedia) Burckhardt, Jacob or Jakob Christoph yäˈkôp krĭsˈtôf bo͝orkˈhärt [key], 1818–97, Swiss historian, one of the founders of the cultural interpretation of history. He studied under Ranke at th...

(Encyclopedia) Friesland frĭzhˈə [key], province , c.1,325 sq mi (3,430 sq km), N Netherlands. Leeuwarden is the capital. The pro...

(Encyclopedia) Évvoia yo͞obēˈə [key], island, 1,467 sq mi (3,800 sq km), SE Greece, separated from Boeo...

(Encyclopedia) Galicia gəlēˈshə, –shēə; Span., gälēˈthēä [key], autonomous community, 1...

(Encyclopedia) Arabs, name originally applied to the Semitic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula. It now refers to those persons whose primary language is Arabic. They constitute most of the population of Algeria, Bahr...

(Encyclopedia) Inquisition ĭnˌkwĭzĭshˈən [key], tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church established for the investigation of heresy. The Spanish Inquisition was independent of the medieval Inquisition. It was...

(Encyclopedia) botany, science devoted to the study of plants. Botany, microbiology, and zoology together compose the science of biology. Humanity's earliest concern with plants was with their practical uses, i.e., ...

(Encyclopedia) Franks, group of Germanic tribes. By the 3d cent. a.d., they were settled along the lower and middle Rhine. The two major divisions were the Salian Franks in the north and the Ripuarian Franks in the ...