Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Bophuthatswana

(Encyclopedia)Bophuthatswana bōpo͞oˈtätswänˌə [key], former black “homeland” and nominal republic, c.17,000 sq mi (44,000 sq km), N South Africa. Bophuthatswana comprised seven separate areas, one along ...

Botha, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Botha, Louis bōˈtə [key], 1862–1919, South African soldier and statesman. A Boer (Afrikaner), he participated in the founding (1884) of the New Republic, which joined (1888) the Transvaal. Althou...

Ciskei

(Encyclopedia)Ciskei sĭskīˈ [key], former black “homeland” and nominal republic, SE South Africa, in what is now Eastern Cape prov. Surrounded by the former Cape Province of South Africa, it consisted of two...

mountain ash, in botany

(Encyclopedia)mountain ash, name for any species of the genus Sorbus of the family Rosaceae (rose family), hardy ornamental trees and shrubs native to the Northern Hemisphere, not related to the true ashes. They ar...

jasmine

(Encyclopedia)jasmine jĕsˈəmĭn [key], any plant of the genus Jasminum of the family Oleaceae (olive family). The genus, which includes shrubs and clambering plants, is an Old World group, chiefly of tropical an...

Viet Cong

(Encyclopedia)Viet Cong vēĕtˈ kông [key], officially Viet Nam Cong San [Vietnamese Communists], People's Liberation Armed Forces in South Vietnam. The term was originally applied by Diem's regime to Communist t...

Simon's Town

(Encyclopedia)Simon's Town or Simonstown sīˈmənztoun [key], town, now part of City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, Western Cape prov., SW South Africa, on False Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a...

Suncheon

(Encyclopedia)Suncheon or Sunchon so͝onˈchônˈ [key], city (1995 pop. 249,241), South Jeolla (Cholla) prov., SW South Korea. It is a transportation, administrative, agricultural, and service center. It is the si...

Mphahlele, Es'kia

(Encyclopedia)Mphahlele, Es'kia (Ezekiel Es'kia Mphahlele) ĕskēˈə əmfəlāˈlā [key], 1919–2008, South African writer, grad. Univ. of South Africa (M.A., 1956). He began his career as a writer for Drum maga...

Abyei

(Encyclopedia)Abyei, disputed region, c.4,000 sq mi (10,400 sq km), on the border of Sudan and South Sudan. Claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, the area was given special administative status under the 2004 peac...