Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Boyle, Richard, 1st earl of Cork, 1566–1643, English settler in Ireland. He first went to Ireland in 1588 and in 1602 purchased for a small sum Sir Walter Raleigh's large landholdings in Cork, Water...

(Encyclopedia) United States, Great Seal of the, official impression that validates a United States government document. It was adopted by the Continental Congress in 1782 and, with only minor changes in the design,...

(Encyclopedia) James, letter of the New Testament, traditionally classified among the Catholic, or General, Epistles. The James of its ascription is traditionally identified with St. James the Less. However, the nam...

(Encyclopedia) William I, 1772–1843, first king of the Netherlands and grand duke of Luxembourg (1815–40), son of Prince William V of Orange, last stadtholder of the Netherlands. He commanded (1793–95) the Dut...

(Encyclopedia) James, Saint, in the Bible, the “brother” of Jesus. The Gospels make several references to the brothers of Jesus, and St. Paul speaks of “James the Lord's brother.” While Protestants generally...

(Encyclopedia) Gratian grāˈshən [key], 359–83, Roman emperor of the West (375–83). At the death of his father, Valentinian I, he accepted the army's election of his brother, Valentinian II, as his colleague. ...

(Encyclopedia) National Museum of the American Indian, institution devoted to the collection, preservation, and presentation of the culture of the indigenous populations of the Western Hemisphere, a division of the ...

(Encyclopedia) Hebrews, an anonymous New Testament homily with closing greetings normally associated with the letter genre, written before c.a.d. 96. It is addressed to Jewish Christians who were being pressured to ...

(Encyclopedia) Leopold I, 1790–1865, king of the Belgians (1831–65); youngest son of Francis Frederick, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After serving as a page at the court of Napoleon I and as a general of the Ru...

(Encyclopedia) Interior, United States Department of the, federal executive department established in 1849, delegated custodian of U.S. natural resources, and whose head, the Secretary of the Interior, has cabinet r...