Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) United Arab Republic, political union (1958–61) of Egypt and Syria. The capital was Cairo. The two countries were merged (1958) into a single unit comprising the Southern (Egypt) and the Northern (S...

(Encyclopedia) president, in modern republics, the chief executive and, therefore, the highest officer in a government. Many nations of the world, including the United States, France, Germany, India, and the majorit...

(Encyclopedia) lottery, scheme for distributing prizes by lot or other method of chance selection to persons who have paid for the opportunity to win. The term is not applicable when lots are drawn without payment b...

(Encyclopedia) turkey, common name for a large game and poultry bird related to the grouse and the pheasant. Its name derives from its “turk-turk” call. Turkeys are indigenous to the New World; American fossils ...

(Encyclopedia) Air Force, United States Department of the, military department within the U.S. Dept. of Defense (see Defense, United States Department of). The Air Force traces its roots to the founding of the Aeron...

(Encyclopedia) Great Plains, extensive grassland region on the continental slope of central North America. They extend from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba south through W central Unite...

(Encyclopedia) Tennessee State University, at Nashville; coeducational; land-grant and state supported; est. 1912 as Tennessee Agriculture & Industrial State Normal School for Negroes; attained university status...

(Encyclopedia) legislative apportionment, subdivision of a political body (e.g., a state or province) for the purpose of electing legislative representatives. In the United States, the Constitution requires that Con...

(Encyclopedia) nationality, in political theory, the quality of belonging to a nation, in the sense of a group united by various strong ties. Among the usual ties are membership in the same general community, common...

(Encyclopedia) Windsor wĭnˈzər [key], town (1990 pop. 27,817), Hartford co., N Conn., at the confluence of the Farmington and Connecticut rivers, just N of Hartford. Settled by Plymouth Colony in 1633, the town w...