Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Hamilcar

(Encyclopedia)Hamilcar hămˈĭlkär, həmĭlˈ– [key], fl. 480 b.c., Carthaginian general. Little is known of him, although he was a member of the powerful Barca family. He commanded an army against Gelon and th...

Gilgal

(Encyclopedia)Gilgal gĭlˈgăl [key], in the Bible. 1 First encampment of the Israelites near Jericho, W of the Jordan; Saul was made king there. It was also the scene of Saul's impetuous sacrifice before battle i...

Ipsus

(Encyclopedia)Ipsus ĭpˈsəs [key], small town, ancient Phrygia, Asia Minor. Antigonus I, who had summoned his son Demetrius to his aid, was defeated and slain there by his rivals Seleucus and Lysimachus in 301 b....

James II, king of Majorca

(Encyclopedia)James II, 1315–49, king of Majorca (1324–49), count of Roussillon and Cerdagne, lord of Montpellier; grandson of James I, nephew and successor of Sancho IV. In 1329 he declared himself a vassal of...

Detmold

(Encyclopedia)Detmold dĕtˈmōlt [key], city, North Rhine–Westphalia, NW Germany. Once the capital of Li...

Cinco de Mayo

(Encyclopedia)Cinco de Mayo, May 5, the anniversary of Mexico's victory over France in 1862 in the Battle of Puebla, in which Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza's small, ill-equipped Mexican forces defeated a much larger French...

Chemung

(Encyclopedia)Chemung shĭmŭngˈ [key], river, c.45 mi (70 km) long, formed in S central N.Y. by the junction of the Cohocton and Tioga rivers near Corning, N.Y., and flowing SE past Elmira to the Susquehanna Rive...

Barossa Valley

(Encyclopedia)Barossa Valley bərôˈsə [key], region of South Australia, S Australia. A major area of wine production 40 mi (64 km) NE of Adelaide, the valley was named by Colonel William Light for the British vi...

Sheriffmuir

(Encyclopedia)Sheriffmuir shĕrˈĭfmyo͝orˌ [key], battlefield in Stirling, central Scotland, near Dunblane. It was the scene, Nov. 13, 1715, of an indecisive battle between the Jacobites under John Erskine, 6th ...

Plassey

(Encyclopedia)Plassey plăsˈē [key], anglicized name of Palashi, village, West Bengal state, NE India. In the battle of Plassey, Robert Clive decisively defeated (1757) the Nawab of Bengal, preparing the way for ...