Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Transylvania Company, association formed to exploit and colonize the area now comprising much of Kentucky and Tennessee. Organized first (Aug., 1774) as the Louisa Company, it was reorganized (Jan., 1...

(Encyclopedia) Vicksburg, city (1990 pop. 20,908), seat of Warren co., W Miss., on bluffs above the Mississippi River at the mouth of the Yazoo; inc. 1825. An important port, it is the commercial, processing, and sh...

(Encyclopedia) White, Stanford, 1853–1906, American architect, b. New York City; son of Richard Grant White. In 1872 he entered the office of Gambrill and Richardson in Boston, at the time when H. H. Richardson wa...

(Encyclopedia) Richard, earl of Cornwall, 1209–72, second son of King John of England and brother of Henry III. In 1227, following an expedition to Gascony and Poitou, Richard forced Henry to grant him the land an...

(Encyclopedia) Rutgers University, main campus at New Brunswick, N.J.; land-grant and state supported; coeducational except for Douglass College; chartered 1766 as Queen's College, opened 1771. Rutgers was the eig...

(Encyclopedia)  Taylor, Cecil, 1929-2018, African-American jazz pianist, composer, and poet, b. Queens, N.Y. A child prodigy on the piano, Taylor studied at the N.Y. ...

(Encyclopedia)  Reed, Ishmael Scott, 1938- , African-American novelist, poet, and social critic, b. Chattanooga, Tn. When he was a child, Reed’s family moved ...

(Encyclopedia) Gierek, Edward gyĕˈrĕk [key], 1913–2001, Polish politician, b. Porąbka. His family emigrated to France, where he was raised. He joined the French Communist party in 1931 and was later deported t...

(Encyclopedia) gladiators [Lat.,=swordsmen], in ancient Rome, class of professional fighters, who performed for exhibition. Gladiatorial combats usually took place in amphitheaters. They probably were introduced fro...

(Encyclopedia) Republican party, American political party. In 1980, the conservative Ronald Reagan, a former supporter of Barry Goldwater, regained the presidency for the Republicans and reversed long-standi...