Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Baker, Sir Samuel White

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Sir Samuel White, 1821–93, English explorer in Africa. He explored the Nile tributaries in Ethiopia in 1861–62. Going up the Nile from Cairo, he reached Gondokoro in 1863. He continued his ...

Tanta

(Encyclopedia)Tanta tänˈtä [key], city (1986 pop. 336,517), capital of Gharbiyah governorate, N Egypt, in the Nile River delta. It is a cotton-ginning center and the main railroad hub of the delta. Three annual ...

Boutros-Ghali, Boutros

(Encyclopedia)Boutros-Ghali, Boutros bo͞oˈtrōs, gäˈlē [key], 1922–2016, Egyptian statesman, secretary-general of the United Nations (1992–96). Born into a politically connected Coptic Christian family, he...

Menes

(Encyclopedia)Menes mēˈnēz [key], fl. 3200 b.c., king of ancient Egypt, of the first dynasty, the first Egyptian ruler for whom there are historical records. According to tradition, he seems to have united the s...

Muhammad Abduh

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad Abduh 1849–1905, Egyptian Muslim religious reformer. His encounter in 1872 with Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani, in the Cairo mosque-university of al-Azhar, led to his transition from asceticism to...

naval conferences

(Encyclopedia)naval conferences, series of international assemblies, meeting to consider limitation of naval armaments, settlement of the rules of naval war, and allied issues. The London Naval Conference (1908–9...

Tell el Amarna

(Encyclopedia)Tell el Amarna or Tel el Amarna both: tĕl ĕl ämärˈnä [key], ancient locality, Egypt, near the Nile and c.60 mi (100 km) N of Asyut. Ikhnaton's capital, Akhetaton, was in Tell el Amarna. About 40...

minaret

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Minaret minaret mĭnərĕtˈ [key], tower, used in Islamic architecture, from which the faithful are called to prayer by a muezzin. Most mosques have one or more small towers, which are usuall...

Dobrée, Bonamy

(Encyclopedia)Dobrée, Bonamy bŏnˈəmē dōˈbrē [key], 1891–1974, English scholar and critic, b. London, grad. Cambridge (B.A., 1921, M.A., 1924). He served with the Royal Artillery in both world wars, attain...

Browse by Subject