Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Rohingya

(Encyclopedia)Rohingya, Muslim ethnic, cultural, and linguistic group living primarily in Rakhine State, W Myanmar. A minority of some 1.5 million in a country that is predominantly Buddhist, they speak a language ...

Vespucci, Amerigo

(Encyclopedia)Vespucci, Amerigo ämārēˈgō vāspo͞otˈchē [key], 1454–1512, Italian navigator in whose honor America was named, b. Florence. He entered the commercial service of the Medici and in 1492 moved ...

sharia

(Encyclopedia)sharia, the religious law of Islam. As Islam makes no distinction between religion and life, Islamic law covers not only ritual but many aspects of life. The actual codification of canonic law is the ...

Disarmament Conference

(Encyclopedia)Disarmament Conference, 1932–37, meeting for the discussion of general disarmament. The first systematic efforts to limit armaments on an international scale, in either a quantitative or a qualitati...

Tribal Areas

(Encyclopedia)Tribal Areas, officially the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), former administrative region, 10,510 sq mi (27,220 sq km), NW Pakistan, comprising seven agencies (or tribal areas) and six gen...

Tsvangirai, Morgan

(Encyclopedia)Tsvangirai, Morgan chänˌgərīˈ [key], 1952–2018, Zimbabwean trade unionist and political leader. In the 1970s, while working in a nickel mine, he joined the Associated Mineworkers Union. Rising ...

protocol

(Encyclopedia)protocol prōˈtəkŏl [key], term referring to rules governing diplomatic conduct or to a variety of written instruments. Examples of the latter are authenticated minutes of international conferences...

Fox Quesada, Vicente

(Encyclopedia)Fox Quesada, Vicente vēsānˈtā fōks kāsäˈᵺä [key], 1942–, Mexican political leader, president of Mexico (2000–6). Raised on a ranch in rural central Mexico's Guanajuato state, he became ...

fraud

(Encyclopedia)fraud, in law, willful misrepresentation intended to deprive another of some right. The offense, generally only a tort, may also constitute the crime of false pretenses. Frauds are either actual or co...

Hague Tribunal

(Encyclopedia)Hague Tribunal, popular name for the Permanent Court of Arbitration established in 1899 by a convention of the First Hague Peace Conference to facilitate arbitration and other forms of dispute resolut...

Browse by Subject