Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Sudak

(Encyclopedia)Sudak so͞odäkˈ [key], town, SE Crimea, a resort on the Black Sea. From 1954 part of Ukraine (then the Ukrainian SSR), it passed to Russian control in 2014 after the occupation and annexation of Cri...

maritime law

(Encyclopedia)maritime law, system of law concerning navigation and overseas commerce. Because ships sail from nation to nation over seas no nation owns, nations need to seek agreement over customs related to shipp...

croaker

(Encyclopedia)croaker, member of the abundant and varied family Sciaenidae, carnivorous, spiny-finned fishes including the weakfishes, the drums, and the kingcroakers (or kingfish). The croaker has a compressed, el...

Ovid

(Encyclopedia)Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) ŏvˈĭd [key], 43 b.c.–a.d. 18, Latin poet, b. Sulmo (present-day Sulmona), in the Apennines. Although trained for the law, he preferred the company of the literary cote...

man-o'-war bird

(Encyclopedia)man-o'-war bird or frigate-bird, most aerial of the water birds, found in the tropic seas. The man-o'-war bird's wingspread (71⁄2 ft/228.5 cm) is the largest in proportion to its body (3–4 lb/1.4�...

lionfish

(Encyclopedia)lionfish, common name for a genus (Pterois) of the family Scorpaenidae (see rockfish), comprising venomous subtropical marine fish native to the South Pacific, the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea. Nativ...

Khazars

(Encyclopedia)Khazars khäˈzärz [key], ancient Turkic people who appeared in Transcaucasia in the 2d cent. a.d. and subsequently settled in the lower Volga region. They emerged as a force in the 7th cent. and ros...

Russo-Turkish Wars

(Encyclopedia)Russo-Turkish Wars. The great eastward expansion of Russia in the 16th and 17th cent., during the decline of the Ottoman Empire, nevertheless left the shores of the Black Sea in the hands of the Ottom...

Colchis

(Encyclopedia)Colchis kŏlˈkĭs [key], ancient country on the eastern shore of the Black Sea and in the Caucasus region. Centered about the fertile valley of the Phasis River (the modern Rion), Colchis corresponds...

leatherback

(Encyclopedia)leatherback, marine turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, found in tropical, subtropical, and temperate waters around the world. The largest of all turtles, it may reach a length of 71⁄2 ft (230 cm) and wei...