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Heyerdahl, Thor

(Encyclopedia)Heyerdahl, Thor hāˈərdälˌ, hīˈ– [key], 1914–2002, Norwegian explorer and anthropologist, b. Larvik. He carried out research in the Marquesas Islands in 1937–38 and studied the indigenous ...

Silk Road

(Encyclopedia)Silk Road, ancient overland trade route linking Asia and Europe, consisting of a network of caravan routes running from China across central Asia to the shores of the Mediterranean. Its starting point...

Tartus

(Encyclopedia)Tartus tärto͞osˈ [key], town (1995 est. pop. 130,000), W Syria, a port on the Mediterranean Sea. Olive oil is pressed, and petroleum, phosphates, fish, and agricultural produce are shipped. The tow...

Jervis, John, earl of St. Vincent

(Encyclopedia)Jervis, John, earl of St. Vincent järˈvĭs, jûrˈ– [key], 1735–1823, British admiral. His most famous action as commander of the Mediterranean fleet was his defeat in 1797 of 27 Spanish ships o...

Dumyat

(Encyclopedia)Dumyat dămēĕtˈə [key], city (1986 pop. 89,069), capital of Dumyat governorate, N Egypt, on Lake Manzala near the Mediterranean Sea. It is a manufacturing and trade center. Its products include gl...

Kirkuk

(Encyclopedia)Kirkuk kĭrko͞okˈ [key], city (1987 pop. 418,624), NE Iraq. It is a center of Iraq's oil industry and is connected by pipelines to ports on the Mediterranean Sea. Kirkuk is a market for the region's...

Sudak

(Encyclopedia)Sudak so͞odäkˈ [key], town, SE Crimea, a resort on the Black Sea. From 1954 part of Ukraine (then the Ukrainian SSR), it passed to Russian control in 2014 after the occupation and annexation of Cri...

Bosporus

(Encyclopedia)Bosporus –pərəs [key] [Gr.,=ox ford, in reference to the story of Io], Turk. Boğaziçi, strait, c.20 mi (30 km) long and c.2,100 ft (640 m) wide at its narrowest, separating European from Asian T...

Atlas Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Atlas Mountains, system of ranges and plateaus in NW Africa, extending c.1,500 mi (2,410 km) from SW Morocco, through N Algeria, to N Tunisia; Jebel Toubkal (13,671 ft/4,167 m), in SW Morocco, is the ...

Maghreb

(Encyclopedia)Maghreb or Magrib both: mäˈgrĭb [key] [Arab.,=the West], Arabic term for NW Africa. It is generally applied to all of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia but actually pertains only to the area of the thr...