Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Paskevich, Ivan Feodorovich ēvänˈ fyôˈdərəvĭch pəskyĕˈvĭch [key], 1782–1856, Russian army officer and administrator. He fought in the Napoleonic Wars, was created count of Erivan after c...

(Encyclopedia) Dernburg, Bernhard bĕrnˈhärt dĕrnˈbo͝ork [key], 1865–1937, German financier and public official. As colonial director (1906) and colonial secretary (1907–10), he was responsible for reforms ...

(Encyclopedia) Sorel, Agnès änyĕsˈ sôrĕlˈ [key], c.1422–1450, mistress (1444–50) of Charles VII of France. She was the first mistress of a French king to be officially recognized as such. Witty and astute...

(Encyclopedia) American Automobile Association (AAA), federation of American automobile clubs, est. 1902. AAA provides a number of benefits to its members, including emergency road service; national and internationa...

(Encyclopedia) Native American languages, languages of the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere and their descendants. A number of the Native American languages that were spoken at the time of the European arriv...

(Encyclopedia) Pan-American Highway, system of roads, c.16,000 mi (25,750 km) long, linking the nations of the Western Hemisphere. It was suggested at the Fifth International Conference of American States (1923) and...

(Encyclopedia) American Philosophical Society, first scientific society in America, founded (1743) in Philadelphia. It was an outgrowth of the Junto formed (1727) by Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was the first secreta...

(Encyclopedia) American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the foremost international dance companies of the 20th and 21st cents. It was founded in 1937 as the Mordkin Ballet and reorganized as the Ballet Theatre in 1940 ...

(Encyclopedia) Pan-American games, amateur athletic competition among representatives of countries in the Western Hemisphere. The competition, held every four years, follows the organization and eligibility rules of...

(Encyclopedia) Inter-American Highway, c.3,400 mi (5,470 km) long, section of the Pan-American Highway system from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, to Panama City, Panama. Much of the highway prior to 1941 had been built by th...