Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Ade, George, 1866–1944, American humorist and dramatist, b. Kentland, Ind., grad. Purdue Univ., 1887. His newspaper sketches and books attracted attention for their racy and slangy idiom and for the...

(Encyclopedia) plebs plĭbēˈənz [key] [Lat. plebs=people], general body of Roman citizens, as distinct from the patrician class. They lacked, at first, most of the patrician rights, but with the establishment of ...

(Encyclopedia) Vestmannaeyjar vĕstˈmänäāˌyär [key], group of 15 small islands, c.10 mi (16 km) S of Iceland. In English they are known as the Westman Islands. The largest and most populous is Heimaey [home is...

(Encyclopedia) Rulfo, Juan hwän ro͞olˈfō [key], 1918–86, Mexican writer. In his fiction he recreates the desolation of his native southern Jalisco and brings to life its simple people in a harsh and tragic man...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 São Tomé and Principe prēnˈsēpə [key], officially Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Principe, republic (2015 est. pop. 196,000), 372 sq mi (964 sq km), W Africa, in the Gulf of Guinea...

(Encyclopedia) Averescu, Alexander ävĕrĕsˈko͞o [key], 1859–1938, Romanian general and political leader. He served as a volunteer in the 1877–78 war against the Ottoman Empire and rose to become minister of ...

(Encyclopedia) Ahad Ha-am äkhädˈ hä-äm [key] [Heb.,=One of the People], 1856–1927, Jewish thinker and Zionist leader, b. Ukraine. Originally named Asher Ginzberg, he adopted his pen name when he published his...

(Encyclopedia) Jos Plateau jôs [key], region, c.3,000 sq mi (7,770 sq km), alt. c.4,200 ft (1,280 m), central Nigeria, W Africa. The plateau, composed mainly of granite, slopes gently to the north and is covered by...

(Encyclopedia) Malayo-Polynesian languages ôˌstrōnēˈzhən [key], family of languages estimated at from 300 to 500 tongues and understood by approximately 300 million people in Madagascar; the Malay Peninsula; I...

(Encyclopedia) Avites āˈvīts [key], in the Bible. 1 People of SW ancient Palestine, probably assimilated by the Philistines. They appear as Avims in Deuteronomy. 2 People of Ava. ...