Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) holiday [altered from holy day], day set aside for the commemoration of an important event. Holidays are often accompanied by public ceremonies, such as parades and carnivals, and by religious observa...

(Encyclopedia) Montgomery, city (1990 pop. 187,106), state capital and seat of Montgomery co., E central Ala., near the head of navigation on the Alabama River just below the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa r...

(Encyclopedia) Sault Sainte Marie, city (1990 pop. 14,689), seat of Chippewa co., N Mich., Upper Peninsula, a port of entry on the St. Marys River opposite Sault Ste Marie, Ont.; inc. as a city 1887. A variety of li...

(Encyclopedia) Genet, Edmond Charles Édouard ĕdmôNˈ shärl ādwärˈ zhənāˈ [key], 1763–1834, French diplomat, known as Citizen Genet. He had served as a French representative in Berlin, Vienna, and St. Pet...

(Encyclopedia) Port Washington, uninc. town (1990 pop. 15,387), Nassau co., SE N.Y., a suburb of New York City, on the north shore of Long Island and Manhasset Bay. There is extensive manufacturing, much of it refle...

(Encyclopedia) Pickering, Timothy, 1745–1829, American political leader and Revolutionary War army officer, b. Salem, Mass. He was admitted to the bar (1768) and played an active part in pre-Revolutionary activiti...

(Encyclopedia) Custis, George Washington Parke, 1781–1857, American dramatist, b. Mt. Airy, Md., educated at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton). The grandson of Martha Washington, he grew up at Mt. Vernon a...

(Encyclopedia) Communist party, in the United States, political party that espoused the Marxist-Leninist principles of communism. In 1945, Browder's policy was attacked as being one of the “right deviationism,�...

(Encyclopedia) United States Air Force Academy, at Colorado Springs, Colo.; for training young men and women to be officers in the U.S. air force; authorized in 1954 by Congress. Temporary quarters were opened at th...

(Encyclopedia) Reyes, Rafael räfäĕlˈ rāˈyās [key], 1850–1921, president of Colombia (1904–9). As a young man, he explored the upper Amazon wilderness with his brother. Later he distinguished himself in th...