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Muhammad IV, Ottoman sultan

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad IV or Mehmet IV, 1641–92, Ottoman sultan (1648–87). He was proclaimed sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) by the corps of Janissaries after the deposition and murder of his father, Sult...

Stratford de Redcliffe, Stratford Canning, Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Stratford de Redcliffe, Stratford Canning, Viscount, 1786–1880, British diplomat. He entered (1807) the foreign office under the aegis of his cousin, George Canning. Sent (1808) to Turkey, he negoti...

Selim III

(Encyclopedia)Selim III, 1761–1808, Ottoman sultan (1789–1807), nephew and successor of Abd al-Hamid I to the throne of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). He suffered severe defeats in the second of the Russo-Turkish...

Ibn Batuta

(Encyclopedia)Ibn Batuta ĭˈbən bäto͞oˈtä [key], 1304?–1378?, Muslim traveler, b. Tangier. No other medieval traveler is known to have journeyed so extensively. In 30 years (from c.1325) he made a series of...

Wahhabi

(Encyclopedia)Wahhabi or Wahabi wähäˈbē [key], reform movement in Islam, originating in Arabia; adherents of the movement usually refer to themselves as Muwahhidun [unitarians]. It was founded by Muhammad ibn A...

Khalid bin Abd al-Aziz al-Saud

(Encyclopedia)Khalid bin Abd al-Aziz al-Saud khälēdˈ ĭbˌən äbd ăl-äzēzˈ ăl-säo͞odˈ [key], 1913–82, king of Saudi Arabia (1975–82). He became king after the assassination of his half-brother Faisa...

Mahmud II

(Encyclopedia)Mahmud II, 1784–1839, Ottoman sultan (1808–39), younger son of Abd al-Hamid I. He was raised to the throne of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) upon the deposition of his brother, Mustafa IV, and contin...

Pétain, Henri Philippe

(Encyclopedia)Pétain, Henri Philippe äNrēˈ fēlēpˈ pātăNˈ [key], 1856–1951, French army officer, head of state of the Vichy government (see under Vichy). In World War I he halted the Germans at Verdun (1...

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