Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

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...

Misratah

(Encyclopedia)Misratah mēzo͞oräˈtä [key], city (1984 pop. 131,031), NW Libya, located in an oasis. A seaport on the Mediterranean Sea, the city exports dates and grain and is noted for its handwoven carpets, p...

Lateran Council, Second

(Encyclopedia)Lateran Council, Second, 1139, 10th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, convened at the Lateran Palace, Rome, by Pope Innocent II. The council attempted to heal the wounds left by the sch...

Ksar el Kebir

(Encyclopedia)Ksar el Kebir ksär ĕl kĕbĭrˈ [key], city (1994 pop. 107,065), N Morocco. The name also appears as Alcazarquivir and Al Qasr al Kabir. Near the city on Aug. 4, 1578, the Moroccans soundly defeated...

Teruel

(Encyclopedia)Teruel tĕrwĕlˈ [key], town (1990. pop. 28,488), capital of Teruel prov., E central Spain, in Aragón, at the confluence of the Guadalaviar and Alfambra rivers. The city is an agricultural trade cen...

Rethel

(Encyclopedia)Rethel rətĕlˈ [key], town (1993 est. pop. 8,639), Ardennes dept., N France, on the Aisne River. It is a farm trade center with textile industries and plants making farm machinery. It was (13th cent...

Craig, Sir James Henry

(Encyclopedia)Craig, Sir James Henry, 1748–1812, British soldier, governor of Canada (1807–11), b. Gibraltar. He served in the British army from 1763, fighting in the American Revolution and later holding posts...

Crespo, Joaquín

(Encyclopedia)Crespo, Joaquín hwäkēnˈ krāsˈpō [key], 1841?–1898, president of Venezuela (1884–86, 1894–98). He served his first term under the dominance of Antonio Guzmán Blanco. In 1892 he led a revo...

Amanullah

(Encyclopedia)Amanullah ăməno͝olˈə [key], 1892–1960, emir (1919–26) and king (1926–29) of Afghanistan. To win popular support for his rule he invaded India in an attempt to free Afghanistan from British-...

Grey, Sir George

(Encyclopedia)Grey, Sir George, 1812–98, British colonial administrator. He explored the Swan River district in NW Australia (1838) and later was governor of South Australia (1841–45) and of New Zealand (1845�...