Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

45 results found

Shan State

(Encyclopedia)Shan State shän [key], state (1983 pop. 3,718,706), c.60,000 sq mi (155,400 sq km), E central Myanmar. Taunggyi, the capital, and Lashio are its principal cities. It borders on China in the north, La...

Chulalongkorn

(Encyclopedia)Chulalongkorn räˈmä [key], 1853–1910, king of Siam (1868–1910). Educated in part by a British governess, Anna Leonowens, and an English tutor, he greatly advanced the Westernization of Siam (pr...

Hue

(Encyclopedia)Hue hwā [key], city (1989 pop. 260,489), former capital of the historic region of Annam, Vietnam, in a rich farming area on the Hue River near the South China Sea. Probably founded in the 3d cent. a....

Magna Graecia

(Encyclopedia)Magna Graecia măgˈnə grēˈshə [key] [Lat.,=great Greece], Greek colonies of S Italy. The Greek overseas expansion of the 8th cent. b.c. founded a number of towns that became the centers of a new,...

Pentagon Papers

(Encyclopedia)Pentagon Papers, government study of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia. Commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara in June, 1967, the 47-volume, top secret study covered the period from ...

Tonkin

(Encyclopedia)Tonkin tŏnˈkĭnˈ, tŏngˈ– [key], historic region (c.40,000 sq mi/103,600 sq km), SE Asia, now forming the heartland of N Vietnam. The capital was Hanoi. Tonkin was bordered on the north by China...

Hammarskjöld, Dag

(Encyclopedia)Hammarskjöld, Dag däg hämˈərshōldˌ, Swed. hämˈärshöldˈ [key], 1905–61, Swedish statesman, secretary-general of the United Nations (1953–61). He attended the universities of Uppsala and...

narcotic

(Encyclopedia)narcotic, any of a number of substances that have a depressant effect on the nervous system. The chief narcotic drugs are opium, its constituents morphine and codeine, and the morphine derivative hero...

Yunnan

(Encyclopedia)Yunnan or Yun-nan both: yünˈnän [key] [south of the clouds], province (2010 pop. 45,966,239), c.162,000 sq mi (419,600 sq km), SW China. It borders Myanmar on the west and Laos and Vietnam on the s...

Thailand

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Thailand tīˈlănd, –lənd [key], Thai Prathet Thai [land of the free], officially Kingdom of Thailand, constitutional monarchy (2015 est. pop. 68,658,000), 198,455 sq mi (514,000 sq km), So...

Browse by Subject