Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) parlement pärˈləmənt, Fr. pärləmäNˈ [key], in French history, the chief judicial body under the ancien régime. The parlement consisted of a number of separate chambers: the central pleading c...

(Encyclopedia) turnpike, road paid for partly or wholly by fees collected from travelers at tollgates. It derives its name from the hinged bar that prevented passage through such a gate until the toll was paid. See ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 San Marino sän märēˈnō [key], officially Republic of San Marino, republic (2015 est. pop. 33,000), 24 sq mi (62 sq km), in the Apennines near the Adriatic Sea, SW of Rimini, N central Ital...

(Encyclopedia) Teamsters Union, U.S. labor union formed in 1903 by the amalgamation of the Team Drivers International Union and the Teamsters National Union. Its full name is the International Brotherhood of Teamste...

(Encyclopedia) Maskin, Eric Stark, 1950–, American economist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Harvard, 1976. He was on the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1977–84) and Harvard (1985–2000) before ...

(Encyclopedia) Shenzhen shĕnˈjŭnˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 695,600) and port, S Guangdong prov., China, on the South China Sea, N of Hong Kong. Designated a special economic zone in 1979 when it was undevelop...

(Encyclopedia) Ewell, Benjamin Stoddert yo͞oˈəl [key], 1810–94, American educator, b. Georgetown, D.C., grad. West Point, 1832; brother of Gen. R. S. Ewell. He taught mathematics at West Point, Hampden-Sidney C...

(Encyclopedia) orphan drug, drug developed under the U.S. Orphan Drug Act (1983) to treat a disease that affects fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. The orphan drug law offers tax breaks and a seven-year...

(Encyclopedia) Castile and León –lāōnˈ [key], autonomous community, 36,381 sq mi (94,227 sq km), N central Spain, ...

(Encyclopedia) Baker, Newton Diehl, 1871–1937, U.S. Secretary of War (1916–21), b. Martinsburg, W.Va. He practiced law and politics in Cleveland as a protégé of Tom L. Johnson. As city solicitor (1902–12) he...