Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Huastec

(Encyclopedia)Huastec wäsˈtĕk [key], indigenous people of the Pánuco River basin, E Mexico. They speak a Mayan language but are isolated from the rest of the Mayan stock, from whom they may have been separated ...

Sogdiana

(Encyclopedia)Sogdiana sŏgdēāˈnə [key], part of the ancient Persian Empire in central Asia between the Oxus (Amu Darya) and Jaxartes (Syr Darya) rivers. Corresponding to the later emirate of Bukhara and region...

Erzberger, Matthias

(Encyclopedia)Erzberger, Matthias mätēˈäs ĕrtsˈbĕrgər [key], 1875–1921, German public official. He was a leader of the left wing of the Catholic Center party in the Reichstag from 1903. Early in World War...

Thieu, Nguyen Van

(Encyclopedia)Thieu, Nguyen Van nəwēˈĕn vän tēˈo͞o, tyo͞o [key], 1924–2001, president of the former Republic of South Vietnam (1967–75). After World War II, he joined the Viet Minh, but then left it to...

Tabernacle

(Encyclopedia)Tabernacle tăbˈərnăkˌəl [key], in the Bible, the portable holy place of the Hebrews during their desert wanderings. It was a tent, like the portable tent-shrines used by ancient Semites, set up ...

Calixtus II

(Encyclopedia)Calixtus II, Callixtus II, or Callistus II, d. 1124, pope (1119–24), named Guy of Burgundy, successor of Gelasius II. The son of count William I of Burgundy, he was archbishop of Vienne during the ...

Bly, Robert Elwood

(Encyclopedia)Bly, Robert Elwood, 1926–2021, American writer, translator, editor, and publisher, b. Lac qui Parle County, Mn., Harvard (B.A., 1950), Univ. of Iowa (...

Veneti, people of ancient Italy

(Encyclopedia)Veneti, people of ancient Italy. They occupied the shore of the Adriatic from Trieste to the mouth of the Po River and spoke an Illyrian language. Friendly toward Rome, they came under Roman rule in t...

Elamite

(Encyclopedia)Elamite ēˈləmītˌ [key], extinct language of uncertain relationship that was once spoken in the ancient kingdom of Elam, located in SW Asia. It appears to be unrelated to any other languages, alth...

Sarsi

(Encyclopedia)Sarsi särˈsē [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Athabascan branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see also Native American languages). They are also known as the Sarcee. At...