Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

chaconne and passacaglia

(Encyclopedia)chaconne päˌsəkälˈyə [key], two closely related musical forms popular during the baroque period. Both are in triple meter time and employ a characteristic recurring harmonic pattern or actual ba...

Aeolis

(Encyclopedia)Aeolis ēōˈlēə [key], ancient region of the west coast of Asia Minor (in present-day Turkey). Aeolis was not a geographic term but a collective term for the cities founded there by the Aeolians, a...

Lugano

(Encyclopedia)Lugano chārāˈzyō [key], narrow and irregular in shape (c.20 sq mi/50 sq km), which lies between Switzerland and Italy. ...

Estrada Palma, Tomás

(Encyclopedia)Estrada Palma, Tomás pälˈmä [key], 1835–1908, Cuban revolutionist and first president (1902–6) of Cuba. An active participant in the Ten Years War (1868–78), he became a general (1876) and w...

Garnier-Pagès, Louis Antoine

(Encyclopedia)Garnier-Pagès, Louis Antoine gärnyāˈ-päzhĕsˈ [key], 1803–78, French politician. Becoming active in politics after his brother's death, he was elected (1842) to the chamber of deputies. He op...

Jamnia

(Encyclopedia)Jamnia jăbˈnə, –nē [key] [Heb.,=God causes to build], ancient city, central Israel. Its modern name is Yavne. A central city of Philistia, the Bible refers to its walls being destroyed by Uzziah...

Lleida

(Encyclopedia)Lleida lāˈrēᵺä [key], city (1990 pop. 111,825), capital of Lleida prov., NE Spain, in Catalonia, on the Segre River. Lleida is the center of a fertile farm area and has a limited variety of manu...

Idalium

(Encyclopedia)Idalium īdāˈlēəm [key], ancient town in Cyprus. It had a well-known temple of Aphrodite. An inscription in Phoenician and Cypriote, found on a temple site at Idalium, gave the key to the Cypriote...

Niebuhr, Karsten

(Encyclopedia)Niebuhr, Karsten nēˈbo͝or [key], 1733–1815, German traveler in Arabia. He was sole survivor of a party of five (of whom the best known was Peter Forskal, a Swedish naturalist) sent by Frederick ...

Menzel Bourguiba

(Encyclopedia)Menzel Bourguiba mănzĭlˈ äbo͞oˈ ro͞oˌkībäˈ [key], formerly Ferryville, town (1994 pop. 47,521), N Tunisia, on Lake Bizerte. It was founded as a naval installation during the period of Frenc...