Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Van vän [key], city (1990 pop. 153,525), capital of Van prov., E Turkey, near the eastern shore of Lake Van, at an altitude of 5,659 ft (1,725 m). It is the trade center for a fruit- and grain-growin...

(Encyclopedia) Alexander, 1893–1920, king of the Hellenes (1917–20), second son of Constantine I. After his father's forced abdication, he succeeded to the Greek throne with the support of the Allies, who distru...

(Encyclopedia) Boris I, d. 907, khan [ruler] of Bulgaria (852–89). Baptized in 864, he introduced Christianity of the Byzantine rite among the Bulgarians. There followed a rivalry between Rome and Constantinople f...

(Encyclopedia) Fontainebleau, school of, group of 16th-century artists who decorated the royal palace at Fontainebleau. The major figures in this group were Italian painters invited to France by Francis I. Il Rosso,...

(Encyclopedia) Trondheim trônˈhām [key], city (1995 pop. 142,792), capital of Sør-Trøndelag co., central Norway, a port on the Trondheimsfjord (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean). It is also known by its original na...

(Encyclopedia) Simeon I, c.863–927, ruler (893–927) and later first czar of Bulgaria. He was placed on the throne by his father, Boris I, who had returned from a monastery to depose his first son, Vladimir (reig...

(Encyclopedia) James II, 1315–49, king of Majorca (1324–49), count of Roussillon and Cerdagne, lord of Montpellier; grandson of James I, nephew and successor of Sancho IV. In 1329 he declared himself a vassal of...

(Encyclopedia) Joseph, 1714–77, king of Portugal (1750–77), son and successor of John V. Little inclined to rule, his reign was dominated by his minister, the marquês de Pombal. After Lisbon was partially destr...

(Encyclopedia) Menshikov, Aleksandr Danilovich, Prince əlyĭksänˈdər dənyēˈləvĭch mĕnˈshĭkəf [key], 1672?–1729, Russian field marshal and statesman. Of lowly origin, he became an intimate companion of...

(Encyclopedia) Bolshevism and Menshevism bōlˈshəvĭzəm, bŏlˈ–, mĕnˈshəvĭzəm [key], the two main branches of Russian socialism from 1903 until the consolidation of the Bolshevik dictatorship under Lenin ...