Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Cleopatra klēəpăˈtrə, –pāˈ–, –päˈ– [key], 69 b.c.–30 b.c., queen of Egypt, one of the great romantic heroines of all time. Her name was widely used in the Ptolemaic family; she was ...

(Encyclopedia) injunction, in law, order of a court directing a party to perform a certain act or to refrain from an act or acts. The injunction, which developed as the main remedy in equity, is used especially wher...

(Encyclopedia) Basel, Council of, 1431–49, first part of the 17th ecumenical council in the Roman Catholic Church. It is generally considered to have been ecumenical until it fell into heresy in 1437; after that i...

(Encyclopedia) Walcott, Derek Alton, 1930–2017, West Indian dramatist and poet, b. Castries, St. Lucia, grad. Univ. of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, 1953. His grandfathers were both white, one of English, the ot...

(Encyclopedia) tomb, vault or chamber constructed either partly or entirely above ground as a place of interment. Although it is often used as a synonym for grave, the word is derived from the Greek tymbos [burial g...

(Encyclopedia) Williams, Roger, c.1603–1683, clergyman, advocate of religious freedom, founder of Rhode Island, b. London. A protégé of Sir Edward Coke, he graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1627 and...

(Encyclopedia) aviation, operation of heavier-than-air aircraft and related activities. Aviation can be conveniently divided into military aviation, air transport, and general aviation. Military aviation includes al...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Tennessee tĕnˈəsēˌ, tĕnˌəsēˈ [key], state in the SE central United States. It is bordered by Kentucky and Virginia (N), North Carolina (E), Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi (S), and,...

(Encyclopedia) little magazine, term used to designate certain magazines that have as their purpose the publication of art, literature, or social theory by comparatively little-known writers. The little-magazine m...

(Encyclopedia) Union Pacific Railroad, transportation company chartered (1862) by Congress to build part of the nation's first transcontinental railroad line. Under terms of the Pacific Railroads Act, the Union Paci...