Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Christofias, Demetris

(Encyclopedia)Christofias, Demetris dĕmēˈtrēs krĭstôfˈēäs [key], 1946–2019, Cypriot political leader, president of Cyprus (2008–13). A member of the AKEL (Communist) party, he served as chairman of its...

Theodore I , Byzantine emperor of Nicaea

(Encyclopedia)Theodore I (Theodore Lascaris), d. 1222, Byzantine emperor of Nicaea (1204–22), son-in-law of the Byzantine emperor Alexius III. He escaped from Constantinople after it was captured (1204) by the La...

Valle, Pietro della

(Encyclopedia)Valle, Pietro della pyĕˈtrō dĕlˈlä välˈlā [key], 1586–1652, Italian traveler in Asia. He sailed (1614) from Venice; spent a year in Constantinople, where he studied Turkish and Arabic; then...

Skobelev, Mikhail Dmitreyevich

(Encyclopedia)Skobelev, Mikhail Dmitreyevich mēkhəyĕlˈ dəmēˈtrēəvĭch skôˈbĭlyĭf [key], 1843–82, Russian general, one of the military commanders responsible for the Russian conquests in Turkistan. He...

Suli

(Encyclopedia)Suli or Souli both: so͞oˈlyē [key], small mountainous district, N Greece, in Epirus. Its inhabitants, the Suliotes, who lived in fortlike villages in the mountains, remained independent during most...

Balkan Wars

(Encyclopedia)Balkan Wars, 1912–13, two short wars, fought for the possession of the European territories of the Ottoman Empire. The outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War for the possession of Tripoli (1911) encourag...

Sofia

(Encyclopedia)Sofia sōfēˈə, sōˈfēə [key], Bulg. Sofiya, city (1993 pop. 1,114,476), capital of Bulgaria, W central Bulgaria, on a high plain surrounded by the Balkan Mts. It is Bulgaria's chief industrial, ...

Ido

(Encyclopedia)Ido ēˈdō [key], short name of Esperandido, an artificial language that is a simplified version of Esperanto. See international language. ...

Yugoslav literature

(Encyclopedia)Yugoslav or South Slav literature, literature written in Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, and, especially after World War II, Macedonian languages. The Serbian and Croatian literary languages are similar an...

Japanese

(Encyclopedia)Japanese jăpˌənēzˈ [key], language of uncertain origin that is spoken by more than 125 million people, most of whom live in Japan. There are also many speakers of Japanese in the Ryukyu Islands, ...