Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Mills, Charles Wade

(Encyclopedia)Mills, Charles W., 1951–2021, philosopher and political theorist, b. London, Ph.D. University of Toronto, 1985. Born in the U.K. and raised in Jamaica...

Dhar

(Encyclopedia)Dhar där [key], town, Madhya Pradesh state, central India. It is a district administrative c...

Bharat

(Encyclopedia)Bharat bərŭtˈ [key], a name for the Republic of India. It is derived from Bharata, a tribe famous in Vedic tradition. Some Indians, particularly Hindu nationalists, prefer this name to that of Indi...

Al-Khowarizmi

(Encyclopedia)Al-Khowarizmi äl-khōwärēzˈmē [key], fl. 820, Arab mathematician of the court of Mamun in Baghdad. His treatises on Hindu arithmetic and on algebra made him famous. He is said to have given algeb...

Darbhanga

(Encyclopedia)Darbhanga dərbŭngˈgə [key], city, Bihar state, NE India, E of the Baghmati River. It is a ...

Coorg

(Encyclopedia)Coorg ko͝org [key], former state, 1,593 sq mi (4,126 sq km), Karnataka state, SW India. Mercara was the capital. Situated mainly in the hilly Western Ghats, the Coorg region produces coffee, tea, car...

Ganesa

(Encyclopedia)Ganesa gənāˈsə [key], b. 1507, d. after 1564, Indian astronomer. As a boy of 13 in a village N of Mumbai, Ganesa wrote a treatise on astronomy, the Grahalaghava, which has often been reprinted and...

April Fool's Day

(Encyclopedia)April Fool's Day or All Fool's Day, holiday of uncertain origin, known for practical joking and celebrated on the first of April. Prior to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1564, the date was ...

Paropamisus

(Encyclopedia)Paropamisus pârˌəpămˈĭsəs, –pəmīˈsəs [key], mountain range, NW Afghanistan, stretching c.300 mi (480 km) W from the Hindu Kush toward the Elburz Mts. in Iran; rises to c.11,000 ft (3,350 ...

Badrinath

(Encyclopedia)Badrinath bŭdˈrĭnät [key], peak, 23,210 ft (7,074 m) high, in the central axis of the Himalayas, Uttarakhand state, N India. The peak has several glaciers. At a height of c.10,000 ft (3,050 m), is...