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Mongols

(Encyclopedia)Mongols mŏngˈgəlz, –gōlz [key], Asian people, numbering about 6 million and distributed mainly in the Republic of Mongolia, the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of China, and Kalmykia and the B...

Baybars I

(Encyclopedia)Baybars I bīˈbärs [key], 1223–77, Mamluk sultan (1260–77) of Egypt and Syria. Once a Turkish slave, Baybars became a commander of the Ayyubid and then Mamluk armies. In 1260 he led Mamluk troop...

Yüan

(Encyclopedia)Yüan yüän [key], Mongol dynasty of China that ruled from 1271 to 1368. It was a division of the great empire conquered by the Mongols. Kublai Khan, who adopted the Chinese dynastic name Yüan in 12...

Carpini, Giovanni de Piano

(Encyclopedia)Carpini, Giovanni de Piano jōvänˈnē dā pyäˈnō kärpēˈnē [key], c.1180–1252, Italian traveler and Franciscan monk, b. Pian del Carpini (now Piano della Magione), Umbria. He was a companion...

Saffarid

(Encyclopedia)Saffarid säˈfärĭd [key], a dynasty of Sistan that flourished in the 9th cent., ruling (867–1495) in E Persia. Its founder, Yaqub ibn Layth, d. 879?, was a coppersmith who raised an army during a...

Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region

(Encyclopedia)Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, Mandarin Nei Monggol zizhiqu, autonomous region, c.455,000 sq mi (1,178,755 sq km), NE China. It is bounded on the no...

Chifeng

(Encyclopedia)Chifeng chûr-fŭng [key], city (1994 est. pop. 392,000), Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, China. It is an agricultural distribution center, trading in wool, furs, hides, and grain. Coal and gold mi...

Muş

(Encyclopedia)Muş mo͞osh [key], city (1990 pop. 44,019), capital of Muş prov., E Turkey. It is in a region with many vineyards. Founded c.400 b.c., it was an important town of Armenia. Called Tarun by the Arabs,...

Ust-Ordyn-Buryat Autonomous Area

(Encyclopedia)Ust-Ordyn-Buryat Autonomous Area, former administrative division, 9,000 sq mi (24,000 sq km), S Siberian Russia, in the Irkutsk region. Formed in 1937, it stretched from the Baykal Mts. to the Angara ...

Semnan

(Encyclopedia)Semnan sĕmnänˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 75,131), capital of Semnan prov., N Iran. It is the trade and transportation center of a fertile agricultural region. Manufactures of the city include textiles...