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Abbasid

(Encyclopedia)Abbasid –sīd, –sĭd [key], Arab family descended from Abbas, the uncle of Muhammad. The Abbasids held the caliphate from 749 to 1258, but they were recognized neither in Spain nor (after 787) W o...

Srebrenica

(Encyclopedia)Srebrenica srĕbrĕnētˈsä [key], town, E central Bosnia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Serb Republic of Bosnia Herzegovina. Lead has been mined here and nearby since Roman times, and silver and me...

Tashkent

(Encyclopedia)Tashkent tŏsh– [key], city (1992 pop. 2,133,000), capital of Tashkent region and of Uzbekistan, in the foothills of the Tian Shan mts.; the name is also spelled Dashkent. The largest and one of the...

Tbilisi

(Encyclopedia)Tbilisi tĭfˈlĭs, Rus. tĭflyēsˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 1,259,682), capital of Georgia, SW Asia, on the Kura River and the Transcaucasian RR and at the southern end of the Georgian Military Road. ...

Sulawesi

(Encyclopedia)Sulawesi sĕlˈəbēz [key], island (1990 pop. 12,511,163), c.73,000 sq mi (189,070 sq km), largest island in E Indonesia, E of Borneo, from which it is separated by the Makasar Strait. Extremely irre...

Umayyad

(Encyclopedia)Umayyad o͞omäˈyäd [key], the first Islamic dynasty (661–750). Their reign witnessed the return to leadership roles of the pre-Islamic Arab elite, and the rejuvenation of tribal loyalties. The Ba...

pilgrim

(Encyclopedia)pilgrim, one who travels to a shrine or other sacred place out of religious motives. Pilgrimages are a feature of many religions and cultures. Examples in ancient Greece were the pilgrimages to Eleusi...

Xinjiang

(Encyclopedia)Xinjiang shĭnˈjyängˈ, sĭnˈkyăng [key] [Chinese,=new frontier], officially Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Mandarin Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu), autonomous region (2010 pop. 21,813,334), c.637,000...

Sudan

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Sudan so͞odănˈ [key], officially Republic of the Sudan, republic (2015 est. pop. 38,648,000), 718,723 sq mi (1,861,484 sq km), NE Africa. It borders on Egypt in the north, on the Red Sea in ...

Central African Republic

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Central African Republic, republic (2020 est. pop. 4,829,767), 240,534 sq mi (622,983 sq km), central Africa. The landlocked nation is bordered b...