Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

153 results found

Eggers, Dave

(Encyclopedia)Eggers, Dave, 1970–, American writer, publisher, and educator, b. Boston. He began as an editor at Salon.com and a writer for several publications, founded a small magazine, and wrote a newspaper co...

Bornu

(Encyclopedia)Bornu bôrˈno͞o [key], former Muslim state, mostly in NE Nigeria, extending S and W of Lake Chad. It began its existence as a separate state in the late 14th cent. From the 14th to the 18th cent. Bo...

sandstorm

(Encyclopedia)sandstorm, strong dry wind blowing over the desert that raises and carries along clouds of sand or dust often so dense as to obscure the sun and reduce visibility almost to zero; also known as a dusts...

Carlos the Jackal

(Encyclopedia)Carlos the Jackal, pseud. of the revolutionary and international terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, 1949–, b. Caracas, Venezuela. Son of an affluent Marxist lawyer, he joined the Communist party at ...

Bamako

(Encyclopedia)Bamako bämäkōˈ [key], city (2020 est. pop. 2,710,000), capital of Mali and of the Bamako ...

refugee

(Encyclopedia)refugee, one who leaves one's native land either because of expulsion or to escape persecution. The legal problem of accepting refugees is discussed under asylum; this article considers only mass disl...

Abbas II

(Encyclopedia)Abbas II (Abbas Hilmi) , ăbäsˈ, ăbˈəs [key], 1874–1944, last khedive of Egypt (1892–1914); son and successor of Tewfik Pasha. Nominally he ruled in subordination to the Ottoman Empire, but i...

Nuer

(Encyclopedia)Nuer no͞oˈər, no͝or [key], a Nilotic people living around Lake No in South Sudan. Their economy and social life generally revolve around cattle, which are grazed on the plains during the dry seaso...

Aswan

(Encyclopedia)Aswan or Assuan both: äswänˈ, ăswănˈ [key], city (1986 pop. 190,579), capital of Aswan governorate, S Egypt, on the Nile River at the First Cataract. It is one of the driest cities in the world....

pyramid, structure

(Encyclopedia)pyramid. The true pyramid exists only in Egypt and Sudan, though the term has also been applied to similar structures in other countries. Egyptian pyramids are square in plan and their triangular side...