Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

tenure, in law

(Encyclopedia)tenure, in law, manner in which property in land is held. The nature of tenure has long been of great importance, both in law and in the broader economic and political context. Tenure has varied great...

Suppiluliumas

(Encyclopedia)Suppiluliumas, fl. 14th cent. b.c., Hittite king (1390–54 b.c.). The greatest statesman-warrior in Hittite history, he left on his death an empire that was stronger, though not richer, than Egypt. H...

North Africa, campaigns in

(Encyclopedia)North Africa, campaigns in, series of military contests for control of North Africa during World War II. The desert war started in 1940 and for more than two years thereafter seesawed between NE Libya...

Zaghlul Pasha, Saad

(Encyclopedia)Zaghlul Pasha, Saad säd zäglo͞olˈ päshäˈ [key], c.1850–1927, Egyptian nationalist leader, founder of the Wafd party. He suffered both arrest (1882) and exile (1919) for his attempts to end fo...

Zawahiri, Ayman al-

(Encyclopedia)Zawahiri or Zawahri, Ayman al- both: īˈmän äl-zäwäˈrē [key], 1951–, militant Egyptian Islamist. A surgeon by education and training, he became involved with the Muslim Brotherhood and joined...

Arish, Al

(Encyclopedia)Arish, Al äl ärēshˈ [key], town (1986 pop. 67,337), NE Egypt, in the Sinai peninsula, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is a fishing port and a military and administrative center; since the 1980s it ha...

Mariette, Auguste Édouard

(Encyclopedia)Mariette, Auguste Édouard ōgüstˈ ādwärˈ märyĕtˈ [key], 1821–81, French Egyptologist. On a visit (1850–54) to Egypt to collect Coptic manuscripts for the Louvre, he excavated (1851) the r...

Belzoni, Giovanni Battista

(Encyclopedia)Belzoni, Giovanni Battista jōvänˈnē bät-tēsˈtä bĕltsôˈnē [key], 1778–1823, Italian adventurer and antiquities dealer. He began as a Capuchin monk and later sold religious goods and worke...

Restoration, in English history

(Encyclopedia)Restoration, in English history, the reestablishment of the monarchy on the accession (1660) of Charles II after the collapse of the Commonwealth (see under commonwealth) and the Protectorate. The ter...

Nahas Pasha

(Encyclopedia)Nahas Pasha (Mustafa Nahas Pasha) nähäsˈ päˈshä [key], 1876–1965, Egyptian statesman, leader (1927–52) of the Wafd party. He was premier five times between 1928 and 1952. During World War II...