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Kufa

(Encyclopedia)Kufa ko͞oˈfə [key], former Mesopotamian city, near the Euphrates River, c.110 mi (177 km) S of Baghdad. Founded in 638, Kufa soon rivaled Basra in size. The Arab governor of Iraq resided there unti...

Ibn al-Haytham

(Encyclopedia)Ibn al-Haytham ălhəzĕnˈ [key], 965–c.1040, Arab mathematician. Ibn al-Haytham was born in Basra, but made his career in Cairo, where he supported himself copying scientific manuscripts. Among hi...

Cunha, Tristão da

(Encyclopedia)Cunha, Tristão da dä ko͞oˈnyə [key], c.1460–1514?, Portuguese navigator. His most important voyage was undertaken in 1506, when he set out with 15 ships for India. He discovered three volcanic...

Baghdad Railway

(Encyclopedia)Baghdad Railway, railroad of international importance linking Europe with Asia Minor and the Middle East. The line runs from İstanbul, Turkey, to Basra, Iraq; it connected what were distant regions o...

Shatt al Arab

(Encyclopedia)Shatt al Arab shät äl äˈräb [key], tidal river, 120 mi (193 km) long, formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, flowing SE to the Persian Gulf, forming part of the Iraq-Iran bo...

Tigris

(Encyclopedia)Tigris tīˈgrĭs [key], river of SW Asia, c.1,150 mi (1,850 km) long, rising in the Taurus Mts., E Turkey, and flowing SE through Iraq to join the Euphrates River, with which it forms the Shatt al Ar...

Euphrates

(Encyclopedia)Euphrates yo͞ofrāˈtēz [key], Turkish Frat, Arabic Al Furat, river of SW Asia, c.1,700 mi (2,740 km) long, formed by the confluence of the Kara and the Murad rivers, E central Turkey, and flowing g...

Sufism

(Encyclopedia)Sufism so͞oˈfĭzəm [key], an umbrella term for the ascetic and mystical movements within Islam. While Sufism is said to have incorporated elements of Christian monasticism, gnosticism, and Indian m...

Iraq

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Iraq or Irak both: ēräkˈ, ĭrăkˈ [key], officially Republic of Iraq, republic (2005 est. pop. 26,075,000), 167,924 sq mi (434,924 sq km), SW Asia. Iraq is bordered on the south by Kuwait, ...

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