Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ismailis

(Encyclopedia)Ismailis ĭsmäēlˈēz [key], Muslim Shiite sect that holds Ismail, the son of Jafar as-Sadiq, as its imam. On the death of the sixth imam of the Shiites, Jafar as-Sadiq (d. 765), the majority of Shi...

Hariri, Rafik

(Encyclopedia)Hariri, Rafik or Rafiq räfēkˈ härēˈrē [key], 1944–2005, Lebanese tycoon and political leader, b. Sidon. The son of a poor Sunni Muslim farmer, he moved to Saudi Arabia in 1965. After teaching...

ghetto

(Encyclopedia)ghetto gĕtˈō [key], originally, a section of a city in which Jews lived; it has come to mean a section of a city where members of any racial group are segregated. In the early Middle Ages the segre...

Jacobite Church

(Encyclopedia)Jacobite Church jăkˈəbītˌ [key], officially Syrian Orthodox Church, Christian church of Syria, Iraq, and India, recognizing the Syrian Orthodox patriarch of Antioch as its spiritual head, regarde...

Moses

(Encyclopedia)Moses mōˈzĭs [key], Hebrew lawgiver, probably b. Egypt. The prototype of the prophets, he led his people in the 13th cent. b.c. out of bondage in Egypt to the edge of Canaan. The narrative in the B...

Maharashtra

(Encyclopedia)Maharashtra məhäˈrəshtrə [key], state (2001 provisional pop. 96,752,247), 118,530 sq mi (306,993 sq km), W India, on the Arabian Sea. The city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is the capital. The stat...

Armenian literature

(Encyclopedia)Armenian literature. The Armenian Church fostered literature, and the principal early works are religious or hagiographical, most of them translations. The first major Armenian literary work is a 5th ...

Karachi

(Encyclopedia)Karachi kəräˈchē [key], city (1998 pop. 9,269,265), largest city and former capital of Pakistan, SE Pakistan, on the Arabian Sea near the Indus River delta. The capital of Sind prov., it is Pakist...

Xi'an

(Encyclopedia)Xi'an shēˈänˈ, sēˈ– [key], city (1994 est. pop. 2,114,900), capital of Shaanxi prov., China, in the Wei River valley. Situated on the Longhai RR, China's principal east-west line, it is an imp...

Bombay

(Encyclopedia)Bombay bŏmbāˈ [key], former state, W central India, on the Arabian Sea. The state contained within its borders the former Portuguese colonies of Goa and Daman and Diu. Historical remains exist from...