Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

409 results found

Nanling

(Encyclopedia)Nanling nänˈlīngˈ [key], mountain range of Guangdong and Hunan prov. and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, S China; rises to c.6,900 ft (2,100 m). The Nanling form the geographical boundary betwee...

Yellow Emperor

(Encyclopedia)Yellow Emperor, Mandarin Huangdi, legendary Chinese ruler and culture hero; tradition holds that he reigned from 2697 b.c. to 2597 b.c. He is one of the mythical prehistoric emperors who supposedly cr...

Wei, river, China

(Encyclopedia)Wei wā [key], river, c.450 mi (720 km) long, rising in SE Gansu prov. and flowing E through Gansu and Shaanxi provs. to the Huang He. Its wide, alluvial valley was the site of some of the earliest ce...

Blashfield, Edwin Howland

(Encyclopedia)Blashfield, Edwin Howland, 1848–1936, American mural painter and mosaic designer, b. New York City, studied with Bonnat in Paris. From the 1890s on he worked chiefly as a muralist, creating large wo...

Slavophiles and Westernizers

(Encyclopedia)Slavophiles and Westernizers, designation for two groups of intellectuals in mid-19th-century Russia that represented opposing schools of thought concerning the nature of Russian civilization. The dif...

Thessaly

(Encyclopedia)Thessaly thĕsˈəlē [key], largest ancient region of Greece in N central Greece. It corresponded roughly to the present-day nomes of Larissa and Tríkkala, which form part of the modern region known...

Urartu

(Encyclopedia)Urartu o͞orärˈto͞o [key], ancient kingdom of Armenia and N Mesopotamia, centered about Lake Van in present-day E Turkey. It was the biblical Ararat. Urartu flourished from the 13th cent. to the 7t...

Sumer

(Encyclopedia)Sumer so͝o-mērˈēən [key]. The term Sumer is used today to designate the southern part of ancient Mesopotamia. From the earliest date of which there is any record, S Mesopotamia was occupied by a ...

Crete

(Encyclopedia)Crete krēt [key], Gr. Kríti, island, c.3,235 sq mi (8,380 sq km), SE Greece, in the E Medit...

Mesopotamia

(Encyclopedia)Mesopotamia mĕsˌəpətāˈmēə [key] [Gr.,=between rivers], ancient region of Asia, the territory about the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, included in modern Iraq. The region extends from the Persian...