Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Rodriguez, Alex

(Encyclopedia)Rodriguez, Alex (Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez) rōdrēˈgəs [key], 1975–, American baseball player, b. New York City. Drafted (1993) out of high school by the Seattle Mariners as the first pick ove...

unidentified flying object

(Encyclopedia)unidentified flying object or UFO, an object or light reportedly seen in the sky whose appearance, trajectory, and general dynamic and luminescent behavior do not readily suggest a logical, convention...

Safdie, Moshe

(Encyclopedia)Safdie, Moshe mōshāˈ säfˈdē [key], 1938–, Israeli-Canadian architect, b. Haifa. He grew up in Israel, moved to Canada with his family at 15, studied architecture at McGill Univ. and with Louis...

Rosenquist, James

(Encyclopedia)Rosenquist, James, 1933–2017, American painter, b. Grand Forks, N.Dak., studied Univ. of Minnesota (1952–54), Art Students League, New York City (1955). An important figure in the pop art movement...

Taliban

(Encyclopedia)Taliban or Taleban tälēbänˈ, –lə– [key], Islamic fundamentalist militia of Afghanistan and later Pakistan, originally consisting mainly of Sunni Pashtun religious students from Afghanistan wh...

Mustafa III

(Encyclopedia)Mustafa III, 1717–73, Ottoman sultan (1757–73), son of Ahmed III. He succeeded his cousin Osman III to the throne of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). The chief event of his reign was the war of 1768�...

Mustafa IV

(Encyclopedia)Mustafa IV, 1778–1808, Ottoman sultan (1807–8), son of Abd al-Hamid I. He was raised to the throne by the reactionary Janissaries who had deposed Mustafa's cousin, Selim III, because they opposed ...

Mukalla

(Encyclopedia)Mukalla məkäˈlə, mo͞okălˈə [key], town (1994 pop. 94,051), S Yemen, a port on the Gulf of Aden. It is the chief settlement of the Hadhramaut and the capital of the former sultanate of Qaiti. F...

Avellaneda

(Encyclopedia)Avellaneda ävāyänāˈᵺä [key], city, Buenos Aires prov., E central Argentina, across the Riachuelo River from the Buenos Aires federal district. It is one of the mos...

Ashdown Forest

(Encyclopedia)Ashdown Forest, area of heathland and forest, c.10 sq mi (2,500 ha), East Sussex, SE England, famous as the setting for the Winnie the Pooh books by A. A. Milne. E. H. Shepard's evocative illustration...