Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Chimu chēmo͞oˈ [key], ancient civilization on the desert coast of N Peru. It is believed to have begun c.1200. The Moche, an earlier civilization, was previously known as early Chimu or proto-Chimu...

(Encyclopedia) Coe, Michael Douglas, 1929–2019, American anthropologist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Harvard, 1959. Coe taught at Yale from 1960, becoming Charles J. MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology in 1963 (emeritu...

(Encyclopedia) Mumford, Lewis, 1895–1990, American social philosopher, b. Flushing, N.Y.; educ. City College of New York, Columbia, New York Univ., and the New School for Social Research. A critic of the dehumaniz...

(Encyclopedia) Shang shäng [key] or Yin, dynasty of China, which ruled, according to traditional dates, from c.1766 b.c. to c.1122 b.c. or, according to some modern scholars, from c.1523 b.c. to c.1027 b.c. It is t...

(Encyclopedia) Aegina or Aíyina āˈyēnä [key], island, 32 sq mi (83 sq km), off SE Greece, in the Saronic Gulf (or Gulf of Aegina), near Athens. Sponge fishing and farming (fi...

(Encyclopedia) inscription, writing on durable material. The art is called epigraphy. Modern inscriptions are made for permanent, monumental record, as on gravestones, cornerstones, and building fronts; they are oft...

(Encyclopedia) Adams, Brooks, 1848–1927, American historian, b. Quincy, Mass.; son of Charles Francis Adams (1807–86). His theory that civilization rose and fell according to the growth and decline of commerce w...

(Encyclopedia) Rhodes rôˈᵺôs [key], island (1990 est. pop. 90,000), c.540 sq mi (1,400 sq km), SE Greece, in the Aegean Sea; largest of the Dodecanese, near Turkey. The modern city of Rhodes or Ródhos (199...

(Encyclopedia) Schweitzer, Albert älˈbĕrt shvīˈtsər [key], 1875–1965, Alsatian theologian, musician, and medical missionary. Determined to become a medical missionary, he obtained a doctorate in medicine at ...

(Encyclopedia) Shamash shäˈmäsh [key], sun god of Semitic origin, worshiped in Babylonia and Assyria. He was one of the great deities of ancient Middle Eastern religions, god of law, order, and justice. The chief...