Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Sind or Sindh sĭnd [key], province (2017 provisional pop. 47,886,051), c.50,000 sq mi (129,500 sq km), SE Pakistan, roughly coextensive with the lower Indus River valley and bounded by India on the e...

(Encyclopedia) Georgian literature. Early Georgian literature shows the influence of two distinctly different civilizations—medieval Eastern Orthodox Christianity and, later, Persia. The Passion of St. Shushanik, ...

(Encyclopedia) Nicholas I, 1796–1855, czar of Russia (1825–55), third son of Paul I. His brother and predecessor, Alexander I, died childless (1825). Constantine, Paul's second son, was next in succession but ha...

(Encyclopedia) bow and arrow, weapon consisting of two parts; the bow is made of a strip of flexible material, such as wood, with a cord linking the two ends of the strip to form a tension from which is propelled th...

(Encyclopedia) Ionia īōˈnēə [key], ancient region of Asia Minor. It occupied a narrow coastal strip on the E Mediterranean (in present-day W Turkey) as well as the neighboring Aegean Islands, which now mainly b...

(Encyclopedia) Dagestan Republic or Daghestan Republic dägəstänˈ [key], constituent republic, c.19,4...

(Encyclopedia) Kabul käˈbo͝ol, kəbo͞olˈ [key], city (1997 est. pop. 1,500,000), capital of Afghanistan and of Kabul prov. and its largest city and economic and cultural center, E Afghanistan, on the Kabul Rive...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Arches arch, the spanning of a wall opening by means of separate units (such as bricks or stone blocks) assembled into an upward curve that maintains its shape and stability through the mutual...

(Encyclopedia) Romani or Romany both: rŏmˈənē, rōˈ– [key], people known historically in English as Gypsies and their language. 1 A traditionally nomadic people with particular folkways and a unique language,...

(Encyclopedia) plum, common name for a tree of any of many species of the genus Prunus of the family Rosaceae (rose family) and for its fruit, a drupe. The plum is generally cultivated in the temperate zones, though...