Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tel Aviv

(Encyclopedia)Tel Aviv tĕl əvēvˈ [key], city (1994 pop. 355,200), W central Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea. Oficially named Tel Aviv–Jaffa, it is Israel's commercial, financial, communications, and cultural...

Shevardnadze, Eduard Amvrosiyevich

(Encyclopedia)Shevardnadze, Eduard Amvrosiyevich ĕdˈwärd shəvˈärdnädˈzyə [key], 1928–2014, Georgian politician and diplomat. Known for pragmatism rather than polemicism, Shevardnadze served as the head o...

Amman

(Encyclopedia)Amman ämänˈ [key], city (1997 est. pop. 1,415,000), capital of Jordan, N central Jordan, on the Jabbok (Wadi Zerka) River. Jordan's largest city and industrial and commercial heart, it is also a tr...

Hussein I

(Encyclopedia)Hussein I ho͝osānˈ, –īnˈ [key], 1935–99, king of Jordan; educated in England at Harrow and Sandhurst. He ascended the throne (1953) after his grandfather Abdullah I had been killed (1951) by ...

Samanid

(Encyclopedia)Samanid sämäˈnĭd [key], Muslim Persian dynasty that ruled (819–1005) in Khorasan and Transoxiana as vassals of the Abbasids; founded by Saman-Khuda, of old Persian aristocracy. The Samanids were...

Artemisium

(Encyclopedia)Artemisium ärˌtəmĭshˈēəm [key], cape, N Euboea (now Évvoia), Greece, named for a great temple of Artemis. Off the cape in 480 b.c. was fought a naval battle of the Persian Wars. The delay won ...

Hussein, Saddam

(Encyclopedia)Hussein, Saddam sädämˈ ho͞osānˈ [key], 1937–2006, Iraqi political leader. A member of the Ba'ath party, he fled Iraq after participating (1959) in an assassination attempt on the country's pri...

Alexander the Great

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Empire of Alexander the Great (including dependencies) Alexander the Great or Alexander III, 356–323 b.c., king of Macedon, conqueror of much of Asia. Whether or not Alexander had plans fo...

Artaxerxes I

(Encyclopedia)Artaxerxes I ärˌtəzûrkˈsēz [key], d. 425 b.c., king of ancient Persia (464–425 b.c.), of the dynasty of the Achaemenis. Artaxerxes is the Greek form of “Ardashir the Persian.” He succeeded...

Mobile Bay

(Encyclopedia)Mobile Bay, arm of the Gulf of Mexico, SW Ala., from 8 to 18 mi (12.9–29 km) wide, extending c.35 mi (56 km) from the Gulf to the mouth of the Mobile River. A ship channel connects Mobile Bay with t...