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Lycia

(Encyclopedia)Lycia lĭshˈə [key], ancient country, SW Asia Minor. Egyptian sources ally the Lycians to the Hittites at the time of Ramses II; the Lycians spoke an Anatolian language. Lycia was frequently mention...

socialized medicine

(Encyclopedia)socialized medicine, publicly administered system of national health care. The term is used to describe programs that range from government operation of medical facilities to national health-insurance...

Syria

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Syria sērˈēə [key], officially Syrian Arab Republic, republic (2015 est. pop. 18,735,000), 71,467 sq mi (185,100 sq km), W Asia. It borders on Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea in the west,...

Golan Heights

(Encyclopedia)Golan Heights, strategic upland region (2003 est. pop. 10,500), c.500 sq mi (1,250 sq km), SW Syria. It borders S Lebanon, NE Israel, and NW Jordan. It takes its name from the ancient city of Golan an...

Mongkut

(Encyclopedia)Mongkut rämˈə [key], 1804–68, king of Siam, now Thailand (1851–68). A devout Buddhist monk, he was displaced in succession to the throne by his brother, who ascended as Rama III. Mongkut became...

Przhevalsky, Nikolai Mikhailovich

(Encyclopedia)Przhevalsky, Nikolai Mikhailovich nyĭkəlīˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch pərzhĭvälˈskē [key], 1839–88, Russian geographer and explorer in central and E Asia. He made five major expeditions—one to the...

Falashas

(Encyclopedia)Falashas fäläˈshəs [key] [Amharic,=exiles], Jews of Ethiopia who refer to themselves as Beta Israel (House of Israel). Long isolated from mainstream Judaism, they practice a form of the religion b...

El Dorado, legendary country of South America

(Encyclopedia)El Dorado ĕlˈdəräˈdō, –rāˈ– [key] [Span.,=the gilded man], legendary country of the Golden Man sought by adventurers in South America. The legend supposedly originated in a custom of the C...

Tel Aviv

(Encyclopedia)Tel Aviv tĕl əvēvˈ [key], city (1994 pop. 355,200), W central Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea. Oficially named Tel Aviv–Jaffa, it is Israel's commercial, financial, communications, and cultural...

Amos

(Encyclopedia)Amos āˈməs [key], prophetic book of the Bible. The majority of its oracles are chronologically earlier than those of the Bible's other prophetic books. His activity is dated c.760 b.c. The prophet ...