Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Disarmament Conference, 1932–37, meeting for the discussion of general disarmament. The first systematic efforts to limit armaments on an international scale, in either a quantitative or a qualitati...

(Encyclopedia) Bode's law [for J. E. Bode], also known as Titius's law or the Titius-Bode law, empirical relationship between the mean distances of the planets from the sun. If each number in the series 0, 3, 6, 12,...

(Encyclopedia) Fox Quesada, Vicente vēsānˈtā fōks kāsäˈᵺä [key], 1942–, Mexican political leader, president of Mexico (2000–6). Raised on a ranch in rural central Mexico's Guanajuato state, he became ...

(Encyclopedia) social contract, agreement or covenant by which men are said to have abandoned the “state of nature” to form the society in which they now live. The theory of such a contract, first formulated by ...

(Encyclopedia) Solidarity, Polish independent trade union federation formed in Sept., 1980. Led by Lech Wałęsa, it grew rapidly in size and political power and soon posed a threat to Poland's Communist government ...

(Encyclopedia) Adams, Samuel, 1722–1803, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Boston, Mass.; second cousin of John Adams. An unsuccessful businessman, he becam...

(Encyclopedia) protocol prōˈtəkŏl [key], term referring to rules governing diplomatic conduct or to a variety of written instruments. Examples of the latter are authenticated minutes of international conferences...

(Encyclopedia) Tribal Areas, officially the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), former administrative region, 10,510 sq mi (27,220 sq km), NW Pakistan, comprising seven agencies (or tribal areas) and six gen...

(Encyclopedia) Vespucci, Amerigo ämārēˈgō vāspo͞otˈchē [key], 1454–1512, Italian navigator in whose honor America was named, b. Florence. He entered the commercial service of the Medici and in 1492 moved ...

(Encyclopedia) Tsvangirai, Morgan chänˌgərīˈ [key], 1952–2018, Zimbabwean trade unionist and political leader. In the 1970s, while working in a nickel mine, he joined the Associated Mineworkers Union. Rising ...