Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

sitar

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Sitar sitar sĭtärˈ [key], fretted string instrument with a gourdlike body and a long neck, similar to the lute. It has from 3 to 7 gut strings, tuned in fourths or fifths (or both), and a l...

Shastri, Shri Lal Bahadur

(Encyclopedia)Shastri, Shri Lal Bahadur shrē läl bähäˈdo͝or shäsˈtrē [key], 1904–66, Indian political leader. He joined Mohandas Gandhi's noncooperation movement in 1921 and studied at the nationalist Ka...

Sialkot

(Encyclopedia)Sialkot syälˈkōt [key], city (1998 pop. 417,597), near the Indian border, Pakistan. It is a rail junction and a major trade and processing center. Manufactures include sporting goods, processed foo...

Putnam, Israel

(Encyclopedia)Putnam, Israel, 1718–90, American Revolutionary general, b. Salem (now Danvers), Mass. A farmer at Pomfret, Conn., he fought in the French and Indian Wars, seeing action at Montreal (1760) and at Ha...

Port Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Port Elizabeth, city, now part and seat of Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan municipality, Eastern Cape prov., SE South Africa, on Algoa Bay, an arm of the Indian Ocean. It is a tourist center and a maj...

Pike, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Pike, Albert, 1809–91, American lawyer, Confederate general in the Civil War, b. Boston. He settled (1832) in Arkansas, where he became a newspaper editor and a lawyer. He was a captain in the Mexic...

Vereshchagin, Vasily Vasilyevich

(Encyclopedia)Vereshchagin, Vasily Vasilyevich vəsēˈlyē vəsēlˈyəvĭch vyĕrĭshchäˈgĭn [key], 1842–1904, Russian painter, soldier, and traveler. He is best known for his military pictures, which portra...

Ghose, Aurobindo

(Encyclopedia)Ghose, Aurobindo ôrōbĭnˈdō gōsh [key], 1872–1950, Indian nationalist leader and mystic philosopher. Born in Bengal, he was sent to England and lived there for 14 years, completing his educatio...

Gama, Vasco da

(Encyclopedia)Gama, Vasco da văˈskō də găˈmə, Port. väshˈkō dä gäˈmə [key], c.1469–1524, Portuguese navigator, the first European to journey by sea to India. His epochal voyage (1497–99) was made ...

Braddock, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Braddock, Edward, 1695–1755, British general in the French and Indian War (see under French and Indian Wars). Although he had seen little active campaigning before 1754, Braddock was reputed to have...