Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) museums of art, institutions or buildings where works of art are kept for display or safekeeping. The word museum derives from the Greek mouseion, meaning temple to the works of the Muses. This articl...

(Encyclopedia) Los Cabos, resort area centered on the towns of Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur state, Mexico, encompassing much of the S tip of the Baja California peninsula. The communiti...

(Encyclopedia) Norton, Joshua Abraham, 1818–80, colorful eccentric of San Francisco known as “Emperor Norton,” b. London. He went (1820) with his parents to Cape Town, South Africa, and news of the California ...

(Encyclopedia) Rijswijk rīsˈvīk [key], city (1994 pop. 46,807), South Holland prov., W Netherlands, near The Hague. It has varied industries. The Treaty of Ryswick (see Ryswick, Treaty of) was signed in 1697. The...

(Encyclopedia) Spring Valley. 1 Uninc. community (1990 pop. 55,331), within the confines of San Diego, San Diego co., SW Calif., on Sweetwater Lake. It is a rapidly growing residential community, with some light ind...

(Encyclopedia) Bavarian Succession, War of the, between Austria and Prussia, 1778–79. With the extinction of the Bavarian line of the house of Wittelsbach on the death of Elector Maximilian Joseph in 1777, the duc...

(Encyclopedia) Toledo, Francisco de fränthēˈskō ᵺā tōlāˈᵺō [key], 1515?–84, Spanish viceroy of Peru (1569–81). He came from one of the noblest families of Spain and had served Charles V and Philip I...

(Encyclopedia) League of Nations, former international organization, established by the peace treaties that ended World War I. Like its successor, the United Nations, its purpose was the promotion of international p...

(Encyclopedia) Vienna, Congress of, Sept., 1814–June, 1815, one of the most important international conferences in European history, called to remake Europe after the downfall of Napoleon I. Although the territo...

(Encyclopedia) Alexander III, 1241–86, king of Scotland (1249–86), son and successor of Alexander II. He married a daughter of Henry III of England and quarreled with Henry, and later Henry's son Edward I, over ...