Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Pärnu pärˈno͞o [key], Ger. Pernau, Rus. Pyarnu, city (1994 pop. 51,963), SW Estonia, on the Gulf of Riga. A seaport, it exports timber and flax and is also a beach and health resort. It was founde...

(Encyclopedia) Niebuhr, Karsten nēˈbo͝or [key], 1733–1815, German traveler in Arabia. He was sole survivor of a party of five (of whom the best known was Peter Forskal, a Swedish naturalist) sent by Frederick ...

(Encyclopedia) Marape, James, 1971–, Papua New Guinea political leader. First elected to parliament in 2007 as a member of the National Alliance party, he served as education minister (2008–11) under Prime Minis...

(Encyclopedia) Shasta, Mount shăsˈtə [key], volcanic peak, 14,162 ft (4,317 m) high, N Calif., in the Cascade Range. Visited c.1827 by Peter Skene Ogden, a British fur trader and explorer, Mt. Shasta has long bee...

(Encyclopedia) Potter, Beatrix, 1866–1943, English author and illustrator. She published her first animal stories, The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) and The Tailor of Gloucester (1903), at her own expense before she...

(Encyclopedia) Bouts, Dierick, Dirk, or Thierry dēˈrĭk, dĭrk, tyĕˈrē bouts [key], c.1420–1475, early Netherlandish painter, b. Haarlem, active in Louvain. Bouts was influenced by Roger van der Weyden, the v...

(Encyclopedia) Buttigieg, Pete (Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg) bo͞otˈəjĕj [key], 1982–, American pol...

(Encyclopedia) Fort Nassau. 1 Built (1614) on Castle Island, in the Hudson River, S of Albany, N.Y. The fort served as a trading post for the Dutch until 1617, when it was destroyed by flood and replaced (1624) by F...

(Encyclopedia) Van Twiller, Wouter, fl. 1632–1640, Dutch director-general of New Netherland. A nephew of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, he was appointed to succeed Peter Minuit and arrived in New Amsterdam in 1633. Consi...

(Encyclopedia) Bethsaida bĕth-sāˈĭdə [key] [Heb.,=house of the fisher], in the Gospels, birthplace of Jesus' disciples Peter, Andrew, and Philip. Herod Philip (4 b.c.–a.d. 33) is said to have renamed it Julia...