Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

412 results found

Bactria

(Encyclopedia)Bactria băkˈtrēə [key], ancient Greek kingdom in central Asia. Its capital was Bactra, present-day Balkh in N Afghanistan. Before the Greek conquest, the region was an eastern province of the Pers...

Arabian music

(Encyclopedia)Arabian music, classical musical tradition of the Islamic peoples of Arabia, the Fertile Crescent, and North Africa. Little is known of Arabian music before the Hegira (a.d. 622), but afterward unde...

Eastern Question

(Encyclopedia)Eastern Question, term designating the problem of European territory controlled by the decaying Ottoman Empire in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th cent. The Turkish threat to Europe was checked by the H...

Durrës

(Encyclopedia)Durrës do͞orˈəs [key], Ital. Durazzo, city (1989 pop. 82,719), capital of Durrës dist., W Albania, on the Adriatic Sea. The chief seaport of Albania and the leading commercial and communications ...

Grand Alliance, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Grand Alliance, War of the, 1688–97, war between France and a coalition of European powers, known as the League of Augsburg (and, after 1689, as the Grand Alliance). Louis XIV of France took advanta...

Muhammad II, Ottoman sultan

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad II or Mehmet II (Muhammad the Conqueror), 1429–81, Ottoman sultan (1451–81), son and successor of Murad II. He is considered the true founder of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). He completed ...

Mosul

(Encyclopedia)Mosul mōˈsəl, mōso͞olˈ [key], Arab. al Mawsil, city (1987 pop. 664,221), provincial capital, N Iraq, on the Tigris River, opposite the ruins of Nineveh. It is the largest city in N Iraq and the ...

Ohrid

(Encyclopedia)Ohrid both: ŏˈkrĭdə [key], town (1981 est. pop, 64,200), North Macedonia, on a rock above Lake Ohrid, on the Albanian border. North Macedonia's chief resort, it is a tourist and commercial center,...

Lviv

(Encyclopedia)Lviv ləvēˈo͞o, ləvēfˈ [key], Rus. Lvov, Pol. Lwów, Ger. Lemberg, city (1989 pop. 791,000), capital of Lviv region, W Ukraine, at the watershed of the Western Bug and Dniester rivers and in the...

Kashi

(Encyclopedia)Kashi käshˈgär [key], city (1994 est. pop. 190,500), SW Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, on the Kaxgar (Kashgar) River (a tributary of the Tarim). It is the hub of an important commercial d...