Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Afghanistan

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Afghanistan ăfgănˈĭstănˌ, ăfgänˌĭstänˈ [key], officially Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, republic (2020 est. pop. 38,930,000), 249,999 sq mi (6...

Afghanistan War

(Encyclopedia)Afghanistan War, 1978–92, conflict between anti-Communist Muslim Afghan guerrillas (mujahidin) and Afghan government and Soviet forces. The conflict had its origins in the 1978 coup that overthrew A...

history

(Encyclopedia)history, in its broadest sense, is the story of humanity's past. It also refers to the recording of that past. The diverse sources of history include books, newspapers, printed documents, personal pap...

Faizabad, city, Afghanistan

(Encyclopedia)Faizabad or Feyzabad both : fīˈzəbăd, fīzäbädˈ [key], city (1992 est. pop. 9,098), capital of Badakhshan prov., NE Afghanistan, on the Kokcha River. The chief commercial and administrative cen...

Badakhshan, province, Afghanistan

(Encyclopedia)Badakhshan bädäkhshänˈ, bədəkhshänˈ [key], province (1979 est. pop. 497,000), 17,011 sq mi (44,059 sq km), extreme NE Afghanistan, between the Hindu Kush Mts. and the Amu Darya River. The capi...

art history

(Encyclopedia)art history, the study of works of art and architecture. In the mid-19th cent., art history was raised to the status of an academic discipline by the Swiss Jacob Burckhardt, who related art to its cul...

history painting

(Encyclopedia)history painting, the painting of scenes from classical and Christian history and mythology. It was taught in the academies of art, from the Renaissance to the 19th cent., as the highest form of art i...

oral history

(Encyclopedia)oral history, compilation of historical data through interviews, usually tape-recorded and sometimes videotaped, with participants in, or observers of, significant events or times. Primitive societies...

Pathans

(Encyclopedia)Pathans pətänzˈ [key], group of seminomadic peoples consisting of more than 60 tribes, numbering more than 26 million in Pakistan and more than 11 million in Afghanistan, where they form the domina...

Narcissus, in Roman history

(Encyclopedia)Narcissus, d. a.d. 54, secretary of the Roman Emperor Claudius I. A freedman with great influence, he revealed to Claudius the intrigue of Messalina and expedited her death (a.d. 48). The woman that N...