Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Sinop sēnōpˈ [key], anc. Sinope, town (1990 pop. 25,537), capital of Sinop prov., N Turkey, on the Black Sea. A small port, it has an excellent harbor but lacks adequate communications with the int...

(Encyclopedia) swallow, common name for small perching birds of almost worldwide distribution. There are about 100 species of swallows, including the martins, which belong to the same family. Swallows have long, nar...

(Encyclopedia) Turner, Nat, 1800–1831, American slave, leader of the Southampton Insurrection (1831), b. Southampton co., Va. Deeply religious from childhood, Turner...

(Encyclopedia) go or i-go, a board game popular in Japan that probably originated in China or India as long ago as the third millennium b.c. The board is marked by a grid of 19 horizontal and 19 vertical lines to fo...

(Encyclopedia) Farrakhan, Louis fârˈəkănˌ, färˈəkänˌ [key], 1933–, African-American religious leader, b. New York City, as Louis Eugene Walcott. A former calypso singer known as “The Charmer,” he joi...

(Encyclopedia) natural law, theory that some laws are basic and fundamental to human nature and are discoverable by human reason without reference to specific legislative enactments or judicial decisions. Natural la...

(Encyclopedia) Ohrid, Lake, Albanian Ohrit, deepest lake of the Balkans, c.130 sq mi (340 sq km), on the North Macedonia–Albania border. It is connected with Lake Prespa by underground channels and is drained to t...

(Encyclopedia) Dixon, city (2020 pop. 15,274), seat of Lee co., N Ill., on the Rock River; founded 1830, inc. 1857. Corn and soybeans are grown, cattle are raised, and...

(Encyclopedia) incantation, set formula, spoken or sung, for the purpose of working magic. An incantation is normally an invocation to beneficent supernatural spirits for aid, protection, or inspiration. It may also...