Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) common law, system of law that prevails in England and in countries colonized by England. The name is derived from the medieval theory that the law administered by the king's courts represented the co...

(Encyclopedia) type, for printing, was invented in China (c.1040), using woodblocks. Related devices, such as seals and stamps for making impressions in clay, had been used in ancient times in Babylon and elsewhere....

(Encyclopedia) furniture, properly such movables as chairs, tables, and beds; it is extended to include draperies, rugs, mirrors, lamps, and other furnishings. In its gradual evolution from periods of earliest civil...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Armenia ärmēˈnēə [key], Armenian Hayastan, officially Republic of Armenia, republic (2020 est. pop. 2,963,000), 11,500 sq mi (29,785 sq km), in the S Caucasus....

(Encyclopedia) Byzantine art and architecture, works of art and structures works produced in the city of Byzantium after Constantine made it the capital of the Roman Empire (a.d. 330) and the work done under Byzanti...

(Encyclopedia) Chlorophyta klōrŏfˈətə [key], phylum (division) of the kingdom Protista consisting of the photosynthetic organisms commonly known as green algae. The organisms are largely aquatic or marine. The ...

(Encyclopedia) chemistry, branch of science concerned with the properties, composition, and structure of substances and the changes they undergo when they combine or react under specified conditions. Organic chemi...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Netherlands nĕᵺˈərləndz [key], Du. Nederland or Koninkrijk der Nederlanden, officially Kingdom of the Netherlands, constitutional monarchy (2015 est. pop. 16,938,000), 15,963 sq mi (41,34...

(Encyclopedia) Detroit dĭtroitˈ [key], city (2020 pop. 639,111), seat of Wayne co., SE Mich., on the Detro...

(Encyclopedia) Calhoun, John Caldwell kălˌho͞onˈ [key], 1782–1850, American statesman and political philosopher, b. near Abbeville, S.C., grad. Yale, 1804. He was an intellectual giant of political life in his...