Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Jarring, Gunnar

(Encyclopedia)Jarring, Gunnar gŭnˈär yärˈĭng [key], 1907–2002, Swedish diplomat. He entered diplomatic service during World War II and was minister to India (1948–51), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka; 1950–51), a...

Ashgabat

(Encyclopedia)Ashgabat əshkhəbätˈ [key], formerly Ashkhabad, city (2020 pop. 846,000), capital of Turkmenistan, near the border with Iran, on the Trans-Caspian RR. The city has text...

Gorgan

(Encyclopedia)Gorgan jo͝orjänˈ [key], town, N Iran, E of the Caspian Sea. The surrounding region yields ...

Sefid Rud

(Encyclopedia)Sefid Rud sä– [key], river, c.450 mi (720 km) long, rising in NW Iran and flowing generally east to meet the Caspian Sea at Rasht. A storage dam on the river was completed in 1962. The Sefid Rud ha...

Barzani, Masoud

(Encyclopedia)Barzani, Masoud, 1946–, Kurdish political leader, b. Mahabad, Iran. The son of Mustafa Barzani, founder of the Kurdistan Democratic party (KDP), he joined the Kurdish forces fighting for autonomy fr...

Persian language

(Encyclopedia)Persian language, member of the Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-Iranian languages). The official language of Iran, it has about 38 millio...

Afghanistan

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Afghanistan ăfgănˈĭstănˌ, ăfgänˌĭstänˈ [key], officially Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, republic (2020 est. pop. 38,930,000), 249,999 sq mi (6...

Gwadar

(Encyclopedia)Gwadar, port city (1998 est. pop. 43,850), Baluchistan prov., SW Pakistan, at the N end of the Arabian Sea. Traditional industries include fishing and fish processing; there also are facilities for th...

Zayandeh Rud

(Encyclopedia)Zayandeh Rud zīndĕˈ [key], river, c.250 mi (400 km) long, rising in the Zagros Mts., W central Iran, and flowing southeast through an agricultural district to a swamp W of Yazd; used for irrigation...

Shushtar

(Encyclopedia)Shushtar sho͞oshtärˈ [key], town (1991 pop. 70,294), Khuzestan prov., SW Iran, on the Karun River. It has irrigated agriculture and has long been known for its brocaded textiles, metalwork, and eng...