Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

plague

(Encyclopedia)plague, any contagious, malignant, epidemic disease, in particular the bubonic plague and the black plague (or Black Death), both forms of the same infection. These acute febrile diseases are caused b...

Angus cattle

(Encyclopedia)Angus cattle ăngˈgəs [key], breed of black polled (hornless) beef cattle, originated in Scotland and introduced in 1873 to the United States, where they have become well established. Often called B...

spotted lanternfly

(Encyclopedia)spotted lanternfly, common name for a planthopper, Lycorma delicatula, an insect that is native to China, India, and Vietnam, and is an introduced agricultural pest in Korea and the United States. The...

Novi Pazar

(Encyclopedia)Novi Pazar nôˌvē päzärˈ [key], town (1991 pop. 51,749), SW Serbia, on the Raška River. It is an agricultural trading center with a well-developed textile industry. Known as Raška or Rashka in ...

Meerut

(Encyclopedia)Meerut mēˈrət [key], city (1991 pop. 849,799), Uttar Pradesh state, N central India. An agricultural market, it processes flour, sugar, cotton, and vegetable oil. It is also an industrial center, w...

Mudéjar

(Encyclopedia)Mudéjar mo͞oᵺāˈhär [key], name given to the Moors who remained in Spain after the Christian reconquest but were not converted to Christianity, and to the style of Spanish architecture and decor...

Samarra

(Encyclopedia)Samarra sämärˈrä [key], town, N central Iraq, on the Tigris River. It is on the site of an ancient settlement and has given its name to a type of Neolithic pottery of the 5th millennium b.c. The p...

Rages

(Encyclopedia)Rages rāˈjē [key], ancient and medieval city of Persia, located on the site of modern-day Ray, N Iran, a suburb of Tehran. Rages is mentioned in the Avesta and in the inscriptions at Behistun. Beca...

Vincent Ferrer, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Vincent Ferrer, Saint fĕrˈər [key], 1350?–1419, Spanish Dominican preacher, b. Valencia. He studied at Barcelona, taught at Lleida, and later studied at Toulouse. After 1379 he became a friend an...

Ismail, shah of Persia

(Encyclopedia)Ismail ĭsmäēlˈ [key], 1486–1524, shah of Persia (1502–24), founder of the Safavid dynasty. He restored Persia to the position of a sovereign state for the first time since the Arab invasion of...