Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

147 results found

Chotts, Plateau of the

(Encyclopedia)Chotts, Plateau of the shŏts [key] [Arab.,=salt lake], plateau region of the Atlas Mts., alt. c.3,500 ft (1,070 m), N Algeria, N Africa. The plateau is c.125 mi (200 km) wide in the west, narrowing i...

Failly, Pierre Louis Charles de

(Encyclopedia)Failly, Pierre Louis Charles de pyĕr lwē shärl də fāyēˈ [key], 1810–92, French general. He fought in Algeria, in the Crimean War, and at Magenta and Solferino (1859) in the Italian War. Headi...

Laghouat

(Encyclopedia)Laghouat lägwätˈ [key], town (1998 pop. 96,342), N Algeria, an oasis on the north edge of the Sahara Desert. It is an important administrative and military center and marketplace and is known for r...

Béchar

(Encyclopedia)Béchar kôlôNˈ– [key], town, capital of Béchar prov., W Algeria. It is an important adm...

Saint-Arnaud, Armand Jacques Leroy de

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Arnaud, Armand Jacques Leroy de ärmäNˈ zhäk lərwäˈ də săNtärnōˈ [key], 1798?–1854, marshal of France. After serving in the French Foreign Legion in Algeria from 1837, he was one of...

Atlas Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Atlas Mountains, system of ranges and plateaus in NW Africa, extending c.1,500 mi (2,410 km) from SW Morocco, through N Algeria, to N Tunisia; Jebel Toubkal (13,671 ft/4,167 m), in SW Morocco, is the ...

Numidia

(Encyclopedia)Numidia no͞omĭdˈēə [key], ancient country of NW Africa, very roughly the modern Algeria. It was part of the Carthaginian empire until Masinissa, ruler of E Numidia, allied himself (c.206 b.c.) wi...

Western Sahara

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Western Sahara, territory (2015 est. pop. 526,000), 102,703 sq mi (266,000 sq km), NW Africa, occupied by Morocco. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, on Morocco in the north, on Alge...

Coty, René

(Encyclopedia)Coty, René rənāˈ kôtēˈ [key], 1882–1962, French president (1954–59). From 1923 to 1940 he served in the legislature, first as a deputy and then as a senator. In 1940, when France fell to th...

Timgad

(Encyclopedia)Timgad tĭmˈgăd [key], ancient Thamugadi, ruined city, Algeria, S of Constantine. It is sometimes called the Pompeii of North Africa because of the extensive remains of the Roman city founded here b...