Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Albany 1, 3, 4 ôlˈbənē; 2 ôlˈbĕnˌē, ălbāˈnē [key]. 1 Residential city (2020 pop. 20,271), Alameda co., W Calif., on the eastern shore of San Francisco...

(Encyclopedia) Sessions, William Steele, 1930–2020, U.S. government official, b. Fort Smith, Ark. After serving in the U.S. air force (1951–55), he attended Baylor Univ. (B.A. 1956, LL.B. 1958). A Republican, he...

(Encyclopedia) Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), officially Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, organization (est. 1981) promoting stability and economic cooperation among Persian Gulf nations. Its me...

(Encyclopedia) Sun Belt or Sunbelt, southern tier of the United States, focused on Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California, and extending as far north as Virginia. The term gained wide use in the 1970s, when the eco...

(Encyclopedia) States-General or Estates-General, diet or national assembly in which the chief estates (see estate) of a nation—usually clergy, nobles, and towns (or commons)—were represented as separate bodies....

(Encyclopedia) Cape Canaveral kənăvˈərəl [key], low, sandy promontory extending E into the Atlantic Ocean from a barrier island, E Fla., separated from Merritt Island by the Banana River, a lagoon; named (1963)...

(Encyclopedia) Barbary States, term used for the North African states of Tripolitania, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. From the 16th cent. Tripolitania, Tunisia, and Algeria were autonomous provinces of the Turkish E...

(Encyclopedia) Bourne, town (2020 pop. 20,452), Barnstable co., SE Mass., crossed by Cape Cod Canal; settled 1627, inc. 1884. Bourne Bridge (1935), across the canal, m...

(Encyclopedia) Belfort, Territory of, department, E France, in Alsace, on the Swiss border. The city of Belfort is the capital. ...

(Encyclopedia) balance of power, system of international relations in which nations seek to maintain an approximate equilibrium of power among many rivals, thus preventing the preponderance of any one state. Crucial...