Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) atomism, philosophic concept of the nature of the universe, holding that the universe is composed of invisible, indestructible material particles. The theory was first advanced in the 5th cent. b.c. b...

(Encyclopedia) Reykholt rākˈhôltˌ [key], farm, SW Iceland, famous since the Middle Ages as the home of the historian Snorri Sturluson, author of the Prose Edda (see Edda). ...

(Encyclopedia) Amberg ämˈbĕrk [key], city, Bavaria, S central Germany, on the Vils River. The large iron mines have been worked since the Middle Ages. Until 1810, Amberg was capital o...

(Encyclopedia) Harfleur ärflörˈ [key], town (1993 est. pop. 9,221), Seine-Maritime dept., N France, at the mouth of the Seine River on the English Channel. It was a flourishing port during the later Middle Ages b...

(Encyclopedia) silverpoint, method of drawing whereby a silver-tipped instrument is dragged across paper prepared with ground bone dust and gum water and then tinted with a pigment. The procedure results in drawings...

(Encyclopedia) Trevisa, John of trəvēˈsə [key], c.1326–c.1402, English writer. He was the vicar of Berkeley. In 1387 he translated into English Ranulph Higden's Polychronicon, a history of the world, and in 13...

(Encyclopedia) Banská Bystrica bänˈskä bĭsˈtrĭtsäˌ [key], city, central Slovakia, at the ju...

(Encyclopedia) Sandwich, town (1991 pop. 4,184), Kent, SE England, on the Stour River. It is a resort and market center with some light industries. One of the Cinque Ports in the 11th cent., Sandwich flourished in t...

(Encyclopedia) Grandson gräNsôNˈ [key], Ger. Grandsee, town, Vaud canton, W Switzerland, at the southwest...

(Encyclopedia) Narbonne närbônˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 47,086), Aude dept., S France, near the Mediterranean coast. It is the commercial center of a wine-growing region and an industrial city producing sulfur, co...