Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Bamian or Bamiyan both: bəmyänˈ [key], town, capital of Bamian prov., N central Afghanistan, on the Kunduz ...

(Encyclopedia) Fès fĕz [key], Arab. Fas, city, N central Morocco. In a rich agricultural region, it is con...

(Encyclopedia) cane, walking stick. Probably used first as a weapon, it gradually took on the symbolism of strength and power and eventually authority and social prestige. Ancient Egyptian rulers carried the symboli...

(Encyclopedia) Southampton, city and unitary authority (2011 pop. 236,882), S England, at the head of Southampton Water. Southampton is Britain's second largest port. The London-Southampton railway, finished in 1840...

(Encyclopedia) trailing arbutus, Mayflower, or ground laurel, one of the best-loved American wildflowers, said by Whittier to have been the first blossom seen on these shores by the Pilgrims (introduction to “The...

(Encyclopedia) Santiago de Compostela säntyäˈgō ᵺā kōmpōstāˈlä [key] or Santiago, city (1990 pop. 91,419), capital of Galicia, in A Coruña prov., NW Spain, on the Sar River. The city is one of the chief...

(Encyclopedia) chansons de geste shäNsôNˈ də zhĕst [key] [Fr.,=songs of deeds], a group of epic poems of medieval France written from the 11th through the 13th cent. Varying in length from 1,000 to 20,000 lines...

(Encyclopedia) Philip Neri, Saint nāˈrē [key], 1515–95, Italian reformer. His original name was Filippo Romolo de' Neri. From boyhood he was religious, and in 1533 he went to Rome to study. From about 1537 on, ...

(Encyclopedia) Bradford, William, 1590–1657, governor of Plymouth Colony, b. Austerfield, Yorkshire, England. As a young man he joined the separatist congregation at Scrooby and in 1609 emigrated with others to Ho...

(Encyclopedia) Wampanoag wämˌpənōˈăg [key], confederation of Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). ...