Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Paraná pərənäˈ [key], state (1996 pop. 8,985,981), 77,048 sq mi (199,554 sq km), S Brazil, on the borders of Paraguay and Argentina and the Atlantic Ocean. The capital is Curitiba. After coffee, ...

(Encyclopedia) Brandenburg bränˈdənbo͝ork [key], state (1994 est. pop. 2,540,000), c.10,400 sq mi (26,940 sq km), E Germany. Potsdam is the capital; other leading cities include Cottbus, Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, a...

(Encyclopedia) Mellon Foundation, officially the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, philanthropic trust formed (1969) through the merger of the Avalon Foundation (est. 1940 by Ailsa Mellon Bruce) and the Old Dominion Foun...

(Encyclopedia) university press, publishing house associated with a university and nearly always bearing the university's name in its imprint. The university press is normally a specialized publishing house emphasiz...

(Encyclopedia) Acre äkˈrə, äkˈrā [key], state (1990 est. pop. 1,125,100), 58,915 sq mi (152,590 sq km), W Brazil, on the borders of Peru and Bolivia. Rio Branco is the capital. ...

(Encyclopedia) collective farm, an agricultural production unit including a number of farm households or villages working together under state control. The description of the collective farm has varied with time and...

(Encyclopedia) city-state, in ancient Greece, Italy, and Medieval Europe, an independent political unit consisting of a city and surrounding countryside. The first city-states were in Sumer, but they reached their p...

(Encyclopedia) home economics, study of homemaking and the relation of the home to the community. Formerly limited to problems of food (nutrition and cookery), clothing, sewing, textiles, household equipment, housec...

(Encyclopedia) illiteracy, inability to meet a certain minimum criterion of reading and writing skill. Throughout most of history most people have been illiterate. In feudal society, for example, the ability to re...

(Encyclopedia) Cooperative Extension Service, in the United States, former agency of the Dept. of Agriculture, est. 1914 by the Smith-Lever Act. Designed to provide Americans with the understanding and skills essent...