Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Arabian Sea

(Encyclopedia)Arabian Sea, ancient Mare Erythraeum, northwest part of the Indian Ocean, lying between Arabia and India. The Gulf of Aden, extended by the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Oman, extended by the Persian Gulf,...

Sutlej

(Encyclopedia)Sutlej sŭtˈlĕj [key], longest of the five rivers of the Punjab, c.900 mi (1,450 km) long, rising in the Kailas Range, SW Tibet region of China, and flowing generally west, meandering through the Hi...

Manchu

(Encyclopedia)Manchu mănˈcho͞o [key], people who lived in Manchuria for many centuries and who ruled China from 1644 until 1912. These people, related to the Tungus, were descended from the Jurchen, a tribe know...

Ariana

(Encyclopedia)Ariana or Aryana both: ârēāˈnə, –ăˈnə [key], general name for the eastern provinces of the ancient Persian Empire. It was used to mean the regions S of the Oxus (modern Amu Darya) River; the...

Ravi

(Encyclopedia)Ravi räˈvē [key], one of the five rivers of the Punjab, 475 mi (764 km) long, rising in the Himalayas, NW India, and flowing generally W into Pakistan, past Lahore, to join the Chenab River, NE Pak...

Toltec

(Encyclopedia)Toltec tŏlˈtĕk [key], ancient civilization of Mexico. The name in Nahuatl means “master builders.” The Toltec formed a warrior aristocracy that gained ascendancy in the Valley of Mexico c.a.d. ...

Kailas

(Encyclopedia)Kailas kīläsˈ [key], peak, c.22,280 ft (6,790 m) high, SW Tibet region of China, highest point of the Kailas Range, in the Himalayas. It is near the sources of the Sutlej, Indus, and Yarlung Zangbo...

Teotihuacán

(Encyclopedia)Teotihuacán tāōtēwäkänˈ [key], ancient commercial and religious center in the central valley of Mexico, c.30 mi (48 km) NE of Mexico City. Once thought to be the great religious center of the T...

Indian Ocean

(Encyclopedia)Indian Ocean, third largest ocean, c.28,350,000 sq mi (73,427,000 sq km), extending from S Asia to Antarctica and from E Africa to SE Australia; it is c.4,000 mi (6,400 km) wide at the equator. It con...

Browse by Subject