Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

333 results found

Sabin, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Sabin, Joseph săbˈĭn [key], 1821–81, American bibliophile, b. England. Sabin came to the United States in 1848 and established himself as a dealer in rare books in New York City and Philadelphia....

Ben Ali, Zine el-Abidine

(Encyclopedia)Ben Ali, Zine el-Abidine zēˈnĕl abĭdēn bĕn älēˈ [key], 1936–2019, president of Tunisia (1987–2011). Educated in France and the United States, he entered the army and became ambassador to ...

Lampedusa

(Encyclopedia)Lampedusa, island, 8 sq mi (20.7 sq km), S Sicily, Italy, in the Mediterranean Sea between Malta and Tunisia, the largest of the Pelagie Islands and Italy's southernmost territory. Il Porto is the onl...

Diop, Birago

(Encyclopedia)Diop, Birago bērägōˈ dyōp [key] (Birago Ishmael Diop), 1906–89, Senegalese author who wrote in French. He was best known for his collections of aphoristic stories based on African folk tales, i...

Ghudamis

(Encyclopedia)Ghudamis or Ghadames both: gədäˈmĕs [key], town, W Libya, in an oasis in the Sahara, near the borders with Algeria and Tunisia. It was long an important caravan center on the route from Tripoli to...

Agostini, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Pierre Agostini,1941– , b. Tunis, Tunisia, French physicist, studied at Prytanée Militaire La Flèche (B.A.) and Université Aix-Marseille (Ph.D., 1968). He is an emeritus professor at ...

Zama

(Encyclopedia)Zama zāˈmə [key], ancient town near the northern coast of Africa, in present Tunisia. Although there was more than one town named Zama, tradition says that in 202 b.c. Scipio Africanus Major defeat...

Barbary States

(Encyclopedia)Barbary States, term used for the North African states of Tripolitania, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. From the 16th cent. Tripolitania, Tunisia, and Algeria were autonomous provinces of the Turkish E...

French Union

(Encyclopedia)French Union, 1946–58, political entity established by the French constitution of 1946. It comprised metropolitan France (the 90 departments of continental France and Corsica); French overseas depar...

Atlas Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Atlas Mountains, system of ranges and plateaus in NW Africa, extending c.1,500 mi (2,410 km) from SW Morocco, through N Algeria, to N Tunisia; Jebel Toubkal (13,671 ft/4,167 m), in SW Morocco, is the ...