Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Baalbek

(Encyclopedia)Baalbek bälˈbĕk [key], ancient city, now in Lebanon, 35 mi (56 km) NW of Damascus, in the Al Biqa (Bekaa) valley. Originally it was probably devoted to the worship of Baal or Bel, the Phoenician su...

Bornu

(Encyclopedia)Bornu bôrˈno͞o [key], former Muslim state, mostly in NE Nigeria, extending S and W of Lake Chad. It began its existence as a separate state in the late 14th cent. From the 14th to the 18th cent. Bo...

Tanzimat

(Encyclopedia)Tanzimat tänˈzēmät [key], [Turk.,=reorganization], the name referring to a period of modernizing reforms instituted under the Ottoman Empire from 1839 to 1876. In 1839, under the rule of Sultan Ab...

Tepe Gawra

(Encyclopedia)Tepe Gawra tĕˈpĕ gouräˈ [key] [Kurdish,=great mound], locality in N Iraq, 15 mi (24 km) NE of Mosul. In 1927 the archaeologist Ephraim Speiser discovered it to be the site of ancient settlements....

Sistani, Ali Husaini

(Encyclopedia)Sistani, Ali Husaini or Husayni ho͞osānˈē äl– [key], 1930–, Shiite grand ayatollah in Iraq, b. Mashhad, Iran. Educated in religious schools in his native Iran, he went to Shiite holy city of ...

Sanusi

(Encyclopedia)Sanusi or Senussi both: səno͞oˈsĭ [key], Arabic Sanusiyya, a political-religious organization in Libya and Sudan founded in Mecca in 1837 by Muhammad bin Ali al-Sanusi (1791–1859), known as the ...

Palestinian Authority

(Encyclopedia)Palestinian Authority (PA) or Palestinian National Authority, interim self-government body responsible for areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under Palestinian control. The terrritory is officially...

Cairo, city, Egypt

(Encyclopedia)Cairo kīˈrō [key], Arab. Al Qahirah, city (2021 est. metro. area pop. 21,323,000), capital...

Madinat ash Shab

(Encyclopedia)Madinat ash Shab mədēˈnət ăsh shăb [key], town, SW Yemen, just N of Aden. Formerly called al-Ittihad, it was built in the 1960s as the federal capital of the Federation of South Arabia. From 196...

Browne, William

(Encyclopedia)Browne, William (William Browne of Tavistock) tăvˈĭstŏkˌ [key], 1591?–1645?, English poet. An imitator of Spenser, he did his finest work in pastoral poetry, of which Britannia's Pastorals (161...