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Cumans

(Encyclopedia)Cumans or Kumans both: ko͞oˈmänz [key], nomadic East Turkic people, identified with the Kipchaks (or the western branch of the Kipchaks) and known in Russian as Polovtsi. Coming from NW Asian Russi...

Pechenegs

(Encyclopedia)Pechenegs pätsĭnäksˈ [key], nomadic people of the Turkic family. Their original home is not known, but in the 8th and 9th cent. they inhabited the region between the lower Volga and the Urals. Pus...

Lifar, Serge

(Encyclopedia)Lifar, Serge sĕrˈgā lēˈfär [key], 1905–86, Russian dancer, choreographer, director, teacher, and dance historian, b. Kiev. Lifar studied briefly with Bronislava Nijinska, but he was primarily ...

Podgorny, Nikolai Viktorovich

(Encyclopedia)Podgorny, Nikolai Viktorovich nēkôlyīˈ vēkˈtôrəvĭch pōdgôrˈnyē [key], 1903–83, Soviet Communist leader, b. Ukraine. An engineer, trained at the Technological Institute of the Food Indus...

Fabergé, Peter Carl

(Encyclopedia)Fabergé, Peter Carl fäbĕrzhāˈ [key], 1846–1920, Russian goldsmith and jeweler, b. St. Petersburg. Sometimes described as a latter-day Cellini, he was descended from Huguenots and inherited (187...

Boleslaus III

(Encyclopedia)Boleslaus III, 1085–1138, duke of Poland (1102–38). The kingdom had been divided by his father, Ladislaus Herman, between Boleslaus and his elder brother Zbigniew, whose legitimacy was disputed. Z...

Batu Khan

(Encyclopedia)Batu Khan bäˈto͞o kän [key], d. 1255, Mongol leader; a grandson of Jenghiz Khan. In 1235 Batu became commander of the Mongol army assigned to the conquest of Europe; his chief general was Subutai....

Bukovina

(Encyclopedia)Bukovina bo͞okəvēˈnə [key], Rom. Bucovina, Ukr. Bukovyna, historic region of E Europe, in SW Ukraine and NE Romania. Traversed by the Carpathian Mts. and the upper Prut and Siretul rivers, it is ...

Dnieper

(Encyclopedia)Dnieper nēˈpər [key], Belarusian Dnyapro, Rus. Dnepr, Ukr. Dnipro, river, c.1,430 mi (2,300 km) long, in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. One of the longest rivers in Europe, it rises in the Valdai Hi...

Varangians

(Encyclopedia)Varangians vərănˈjēənz [key], name given by Slavs and Byzantine Greeks to Scandinavians who began to raid the eastern shores of the Baltic and penetrate Eastern Europe by the 9th cent. Their lead...

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