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Tripura

(Encyclopedia)Tripura trĭˈpo͝orä [key], state (2001 provisional pop. 3,191,168), 4,036 sq mi (10,453 sq km), NE India, bordered by Bangladesh on the north, west, and south, and on the east by the states of Assa...

Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni

(Encyclopedia)Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni pōl bĕlōnēˈ dü shāyüˈ [key], c.1831–1903, French-American explorer in Africa. Born probably in Paris, he spent his youth on the west coast of Africa, where his fath...

Karens

(Encyclopedia)Karens kərĕnzˈ [key], members of a Thai-Chinese cultural group, one of the most important minorities in Myanmar, living in the Kayah State, Kayin State, Tanintharyi, and the Ayeyarwady delta. They ...

California, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)California, Gulf of, or Sea of Cortés, arm of the Pacific Ocean, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long and 50 to 130 mi (80–209 km) wide, NW Mexico; separates Baja California from the Mexican mainland. The gulf...

pipe smoking

(Encyclopedia)pipe smoking. The habit of smoking various substances probably arose independently in different parts of the world. Herodotus in the 5th cent. b.c. describes the Scythians as inhaling the fumes of bur...

Morosini, Francesco

(Encyclopedia)Morosini, Francesco fränchĕsˈkō mōrōzēˈnē [key], 1618–94, Italian soldier, doge of Venice (1688–94), of a family distinguished in Venice for five centuries. Made (1657) captain general of...

Murano

(Encyclopedia)Murano mo͞oräˈnō [key], suburb of Venice, NE Italy, on five small islands in the Lagoon of Venice. From the late 13th cent. it was the center of the Venetian glass industry, which reached a peak i...

Saltonstall, Sir Richard

(Encyclopedia)Saltonstall, Sir Richard sôlˈtənstôl [key], 1586–1658, early English colonist in Massachusetts. Of a prominent Yorkshire family (he was knighted in 1618), Saltonstall became a member and was app...

Ravi

(Encyclopedia)Ravi räˈvē [key], one of the five rivers of the Punjab, 475 mi (764 km) long, rising in the Himalayas, NW India, and flowing generally W into Pakistan, past Lahore, to join the Chenab River, NE Pak...

vielle

(Encyclopedia)vielle vyĕl [key], bowed string instrument used throughout Europe from the 13th cent. through the 15th cent. The vielle resembles the violin, of which it is a direct precursor, but it has a longer bo...