Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Akinola, Peter Jasper, 1944–, Nigerian Anglican prelate. He was ordained a deacon in 1978 and a priest in 1979. From 1978 on he built the Anglican church in Abuja, Nigeria, from practically nothing ...

(Encyclopedia) Derbent dyĭrbyĕntˈ [key], city, SE European Russia, in Dagestan, on the Caspian Sea. It st...

(Encyclopedia) Strawson, Peter Frederick, 1919–2009, British philosopher, grad. Oxford 1940. An influential advocate for so-called ordinary language philosophy, he began teaching at Oxford in 1947 and from 1968 to...

(Encyclopedia) Stephen II, d. 757, pope (752–57), successor of Pope St. Zacharias. When Rome was threatened by the Lombard king Aistulf, Stephen went to Gaul and appealed to Pepin the Short for help. He became the...

(Encyclopedia) Stenbock, Count Magnus mängˈnəs stānˈbôk [key], 1665–1717, Swedish field marshal. One of the ablest lieutenants of Charles XII in the Northern War, he helped defeat (1700) Peter I of Russia at...

(Encyclopedia) Tawadros II, 1963–, pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church (see Copts), 2012–; successor of Shenouda III. Born Wagih Sobhy Baky Soliman, he studied pharmacy at Alexandria Univ. (grad. 1975), then ente...

(Encyclopedia) John V (John the Magnanimous), 1689–1750, king of Portugal (1706–50), son and successor of Peter II. Before his accession the Methuen Treaty (1703) with England had brought Portugal into the War o...

(Encyclopedia) Pedro II (Dom Pedro II de Alcântara), 1825–91, emperor of Brazil (1831–89). At the age of five, he succeeded under a regency when his father, Pedro I, abdicated. He was declared of age in 1840. P...

(Encyclopedia) Prut or Pruth both: pro͞ot [key], river, c.530 mi (850 km) long, rising in the Carpathian Mts., W Ukraine, and flowing generally SE to the Danube River at Reni. It forms the border between Romania an...

(Encyclopedia) Basil II, c.958–1025, Byzantine emperor (976–1025), surnamed Bulgaroktonos [Bulgar slayer]. With his brother, Constantine VIII, he nominally succeeded his father, Romanus II, in 963, but had no sh...