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Sebastian

(Encyclopedia)Sebastian, 1554–78, king of Portugal (1557–78), grandson and successor of John III. He was under the regency first of his grandmother (until 1562) and then of his uncle Henry (a cardinal and later...

Sheba, region, Arabian Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Sheba, biblical name of a region, called in Arabic Saba, of S Arabia, including present-day Yemen and the Hadhramaut. Its inhabitants were called Sabaeans or Sabeans. According to some passages in Gen...

Uthman

(Encyclopedia)Uthman ōthˈ [key], c.574–656, 3d caliph (644–56), also known as Uthman ibn al-Affan; son-in-law of Muhammad. He belonged to the great Umayyad family and was selected as caliph after the murder o...

Sundarbans

(Encyclopedia)Sundarbans, large, heavily forested swamp region, c.3,860 sq mi (10,000 sq km), in the S Ganges delta on the Bay of Bengal, about 60% in SW Bangladesh and the rest in West Bengal state, India. The mor...

Adygey Republic

(Encyclopedia)Adygey Republic ədĭgyĕˈ [key] or Adygeya, formerly Adyge Autonomous Region, constituent republic (1990 est. pop. 435,000), c.2,935 sq mi (7,600 sq km), an enclave within Krasnodar Territory, SE Eu...

Scanderbeg

(Encyclopedia)Scanderbeg or Skanderbeg both: skănˈdərbĕg [key], c.1404–1468, Albanian national hero. His original name was George Castriota or Kastriotes, but the Ottomans called him Iskender Bey, and this wa...

Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz

(Encyclopedia)Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz äbdo͝olˈlä ĭbˈən ăbdo͝olˈ ăzēzˈ [key], 1924–2015, king of Saudi Arabia (2005–15), b. Riyadh. Like his predecessor, King Fahd, he was a son of Saudi Arabia's fo...

Champa

(Encyclopedia)Champa chämˈpä [key], the kingdom of the Chams, which flourished in Vietnam from the 2d cent. a.d. until the 17th cent. At its greatest extent it occupied Annam as far north as central Vietnam. Its...

Gbowee, Leymah Roberta

(Encyclopedia)Gbowee, Leymah Roberta lāˈmä, bōwēˈ [key], 1972–, Liberian peace activist. A social worker and trauma counselor, she worked with ex-child soldiers from Charles Taylor's army, joined the Women ...

Goa

(Encyclopedia)Goa gōˈə [key], state (2001 provisional pop. 1,343,998), c.1,430 sq mi (3,700 sq km), W India, on the Malabar coast. A former Portuguese colony and Indian union territory, Goa became a state in 198...