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Ksar el Kebir

(Encyclopedia)Ksar el Kebir ksär ĕl kĕbĭrˈ [key], city (1994 pop. 107,065), N Morocco. The name also appears as Alcazarquivir and Al Qasr al Kabir. Near the city on Aug. 4, 1578, the Moroccans soundly defeated...

Alfonso XIII, king of Spain

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso XIII, 1886–1941, king of Spain (1886–1931), posthumous son and successor of Alfonso XII. His mother, Maria Christina (1858–1929), was regent until 1902. In 1906, Alfonso married Princess...

Ifni

(Encyclopedia)Ifni ēfˈnē [key], former Spanish possession (580 sq mi/1,502 sq km), SW Morocco, on the Atlantic Ocean. The main industry is fishing. Ifni was ceded by Morocco to Spain in 1860, but Spanish adminis...

Lyautey, Louis Hubert Gonzalve

(Encyclopedia)Lyautey, Louis Hubert Gonzalve lwē übĕrˈ gôNzälvˈ lyōtāˈ [key], 1854–1934, colonial administrator and marshal of France. A career soldier, he served in Indochina, Madagascar, and Algeria b...

Safavid

(Encyclopedia)Safavid säfäˈwēd [key], Iranian dynasty (1499–1736), that established Shiite Islam in Iran as an official state religion. The Safavid state provided both the territorial and societal foundations...

Ahmad al-Mansur

(Encyclopedia)Ahmad al-Mansur äˈməd äl-mänso͞orˈ, Arabic äkhmädˈ [key] [al-Mansur,=the victorious], d. 1603, emir of Morocco (1578–1603). Proclaimed ruler after his brother's death at the battle of Ksar...

Melilla

(Encyclopedia)Melilla mālēˈlyä [key], autonomous city (2011 pop. 81,323), 5 sq mi (13 sq km), Spanish possession on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, NW Africa. Administered directly by the Spanish government...

Alfonso V, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso V, 1432–81, king of Portugal (1438–81), son of Duarte and Queen Leonor. During his minority there was a struggle for the regency between the queen mother and Alfonso's uncle, Dom Pedro, du...

John III, king of Poland

(Encyclopedia)John III (John Sobieski) sôbyĕˈskē [key], 1624–96, king of Poland (1674–96), champion of Christian Europe against the Ottomans. Born to an ancient noble family, he was appointed (1668) command...

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