Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Lessing, Doris, 1919–2013, British novelist, b. Kermanshah, Persia (now Iran) as Doris May Tayler. Largely self-educated, she was brought up on a farm in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and in 194...

(Encyclopedia) Philip II, 382–336 b.c., king of Macedon (359–336 b.c.), son of Amyntas II. While a hostage in Thebes (367–364), he gained much knowledge of Greece and its people. He was appointed regent for Am...

(Encyclopedia) Kandahar or Qandahar both: kănˌdəhärˈ [key], city (1989 est. pop. 203,000), capital of Kandahar prov., S Afghanistan. The country's second largest city and chief trade center, Kandahar is a marke...

(Encyclopedia) Plotinus plōtīˈnəs [key], 205–270, Neoplatonist philosopher. A native of Egypt, perhaps of Roman descent, he went to Alexandria c.232 to devote himself to philosophy. For 10 years he was a dedic...

(Encyclopedia) polo, indoor or outdoor ball and goal game played on horseback. Some historians claim that polo originated in Persia in the 6th cent.; it spread to Turkey, India, and Tibet and, with some modificati...

(Encyclopedia) extraterritoriality or exterritoriality, privilege of immunity from local law enforcement enjoyed by certain aliens. Although physically present upon the territory of a foreign nation, those aliens po...

(Encyclopedia) Persian literature, literary writings in the Persian language, nearly all of it written in the area traditionally known as Persia, now Iran. The 15th cent. period of the second Turko-Tartar invasi...

(Encyclopedia) irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e...

(Encyclopedia) Bakı bəko͞oˈ [key], city (2021 est. pop. 2,371,000), capital of Azerbaijan, on the Caspia...

(Encyclopedia) Curzon of Kedleston, George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess kûrˈzən, kĕdˈəlstən [key], 1859–1925, British statesman. A member of the minor aristocracy, he attended Eton and Oxford. From his un...