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cucumber

(Encyclopedia)cucumber, fruit of Cucumis sativus, a species of gourd whose many varieties are descended from a plant native to Asia and Africa. Cucumber is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliops...

Amida

(Encyclopedia)Amida ămˈĭdə, əmīˈdə [key], ancient city, E Asia Minor, on the Tigris River. It became (a.d. 230) a Roman colony and was later (4th cent.) captured by Shapur II of Persia. It is the modern Diy...

Bent, James Theodore

(Encyclopedia)Bent, James Theodore, 1853–97, English explorer and archaeologist. He engaged in archaeological research on the coast of Asia Minor (1888–89) and in Bahrain (1889), Cilicia Trachia (1890), Mashona...

Celaenae

(Encyclopedia)Celaenae sĭlēˈnē [key], ancient city of Asia Minor, in Phrygia, near the source of the Maeander River, in present-day W central Turkey. In the days of the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great had a pal...

bluegrass music

(Encyclopedia)bluegrass music: see country and western music. ...

Sardis

(Encyclopedia)Sardis –dēz [key], ancient city of Lydia, W Asia Minor, at the foot of Mt. Tmolus, 35 mi (56 km) NE of the modern Izmir, Turkey. As capital of Lydia, it was the political and cultural center of Asi...

Shaw, Run Run

(Encyclopedia)Shaw, Run Run, 1907–2014, Chinese film mogul, best known of the six Shaw brothers who founded an Asian movie empire. In Shanghai, he and his elder brother Runme Shaw made their first film (1924) and...

Ürümqi

(Encyclopedia)Ürümqi or Urumchi both: o͞oro͞omˈchē [key], city (1994 est. pop. 1,130,300), capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, NW China, in the Dzungarian basin. Ürümqi is an administrative and com...

prime minister

(Encyclopedia)prime minister or premier, chief member of the cabinet in a parliamentary system of government. The prime minister is head of the government, in contrast with the head of state, who may be a constitut...

balance of trade

(Encyclopedia)balance of trade, relation between the merchandise exports and imports of a country. The concept first became important in the 16th and 17th cent. with the growth of mercantilism. Mercantilist theoris...