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Kuraish

(Encyclopedia)Kuraish ko͞orīshˈ [key], ancient Bedouin tribe near Mecca to which Muhammad belonged. At one time camel drivers and caravan guides, they became, after acquiring custody of the Kaaba (5th cent.), on...

Bosporus

(Encyclopedia)Bosporus –pərəs [key] [Gr.,=ox ford, in reference to the story of Io], Turk. Boğaziçi, strait, c.20 mi (30 km) long and c.2,100 ft (640 m) wide at its narrowest, separating European from Asian T...

Diori, Hamani

(Encyclopedia)Diori, Hamani, 1916–89, Nigerien political leader. A teacher in Niger and Paris, and then a school headmaster in Niamey, Niger, he helped found (1946) the Niger Progressive party (PPN). After servin...

Russo-Turkish Wars

(Encyclopedia)Russo-Turkish Wars. The great eastward expansion of Russia in the 16th and 17th cent., during the decline of the Ottoman Empire, nevertheless left the shores of the Black Sea in the hands of the Ottom...

mosque

(Encyclopedia)mosque mŏsk [key], building for worship used by members of the Islamic faith. Muhammad's house in Medina (a.d. 622), with its surrounding courtyard and hall with columns, became the prototype for the...

Rumelia

(Encyclopedia)Rumelia or Roumelia both: ro͞omēˈlēə [key], region of S Bulgaria, between the Balkan and Rhodope mts. Historically, Rumelia denoted the Balkan possessions (particularly Thrace and Macedonia, and ...

Foucauld, Charles, vicomte de

(Encyclopedia)Foucauld, Charles, vicomte de shärl vēkôNtˈ də fo͞okōˈ [key], 1858–1916, French priest and missionary in the Sahara. After a career as an army officer and an explorer in Algeria and Morocco,...

Wissmann, Hermann von

(Encyclopedia)Wissmann, Hermann von hĕrˈmän fən vĭsˈmän [key], 1853–1905, German explorer in Africa. He crossed (1880–82) Africa from Luanda to Zanzibar and, on behalf of Leopold II of Belgium, explored ...

Pinang

(Encyclopedia)Pinang or Penang both: pənăngˈ [key], state (1991 pop. 1,065,075), c.400 sq mi (1,040 sq km), Malaysia, on the Strait of Malacca. It consists of Pulau Pinang (an island of 108 sq mi/280 sq km), for...

Maura y Montaner, Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Maura y Montaner, Antonio äntōˈnyō môrˈä ē mōnˈtänār [key], 1853–1925, Spanish politician. He entered the Cortes in 1881 as a liberal but later joined the Conservative party. As premier ...