Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Jining

(Encyclopedia)Jining chēˈnĭngˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 180,500), Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, China. It is an important railroad center at the junction of the system connecting Beijing and Lanzhou, wi...

Ea

(Encyclopedia)Ea ĕngˈkē [key], ancient water god of Sumerian origin, worshiped in Babylonian religion. The great benefactor of mankind, Ea was called the lord of wisdom, of magic, and of the arts and sciences. W...

Gunbad-e-Qabus

(Encyclopedia)Gunbad-e-Qabus gōnbädˈ-ĕ kôvo͞osˈ [key], city, Mazandaran prov., N Iran, on th...

Hallelujah

(Encyclopedia)Hallelujah ăl– [key] [Heb.,=praise the Lord], joyful expression used in Hebrew worship; cf. Pss. 104–6, 111–13, 115–17, 135, 146–50. Christian liturgies make wide use of it, particularly at...

Haman

(Encyclopedia)Haman āˈ– [key], in the Bible, favored minister of Ahasuerus. He commanded that all Jews be put to death. Esther interceded for her people, and Haman was hanged on the gallows he had set up for Mo...

Khufu

(Encyclopedia)Khufu kēˈŏps [key], fl. c.2680 b.c., king of ancient Egypt, founder of the IV dynasty. He was king for 23 years and was famous as the builder of the greatest pyramid at Giza. ...

Kiaochow

(Encyclopedia)Kiaochow jēouˈjōˈ [key], former German territory, area c.200 sq mi (520 sq km), along the southern coast of Shandong prov., China. Its administrative center was the city of Qingdao. Germany leased...

archil

(Encyclopedia)archil ôrˈ– [key], blue, red, or purple dye extracted from several species of lichen, also called orchella weeds, found in various parts of the world. Commercial archil is either a powder (called ...

Tacheng

(Encyclopedia)Tacheng cho͞ogo͞ochäkˈ [key], town (1994 est. pop. 56,400), N Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, in the Dzungarian basin, bordering on Kazakhstan. Long a major center for trade with Central ...

Tagalog

(Encyclopedia)Tagalog tägälˈ [key], dominant people of Luzon, the Philippines, and the second largest ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines. They number about 16 million. Most of the population is Christian. ...

Browse by Subject