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Comnenus

(Encyclopedia)Comnenus kŏmnēˈnəs [key], family name of several Byzantine emperors—Isaac I, Alexius I, John II, Manuel I, Alexius II, and Andronicus I—who reigned in the 11th and 12th cent., and of the histo...

Arabs

(Encyclopedia)Arabs, name originally applied to the Semitic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula. It now refers to those persons whose primary language is Arabic. They constitute most of the population of Algeria, Bahr...

minority

(Encyclopedia)minority, in international law, population group with a characteristic culture and sense of identity occupying a subordinate political status. Religious minorities were known from ancient times, but e...

Hebron, city, West Bank

(Encyclopedia)Hebron, Arab. Al-Khalil, city (2003 est. pop. 155,000), the West Bank. Hebron is situated at an altitude of 3,000 ft (910 m) in a region where grapes, cereal grains, and vegetables are grown. Tanning,...

Franks

(Encyclopedia)Franks, group of Germanic tribes. By the 3d cent. a.d., they were settled along the lower and middle Rhine. The two major divisions were the Salian Franks in the north and the Ripuarian Franks in the ...

Westphalia, Peace of

(Encyclopedia)Westphalia, Peace of, 1648, general settlement ending the Thirty Years War. It marked the end of the Holy Roman Empire as an effective institution and inaugurated the modern European state system. The...

Athens, city, Greece

(Encyclopedia)Athens ăthˈĭnz [key], Gr. Athínai, city (2021 urban agglomeration pop. 3,153,000), capital of Greece, E central Greece, on the plain of Attica, between the Kifisós an...

imperialism

(Encyclopedia)imperialism, broadly, the extension of rule or influence by one government, nation, or society over another. Imperialism was reborn in the West with the emergence of the modern nation-state and the ...

John III, Byzantine emperor of Nicaea

(Encyclopedia)John III (John Ducas Vatatzes) do͝oˈkəs vətătˈzēz [key], d. 1254, Byzantine emperor of Nicaea (1222–54), successor and son-in-law of Theodore I. He extended his territory in Asia Minor and th...

Huayna Capac

(Encyclopedia)Huayna Capac wīˈnä käˈpäk [key], d. 1525, Inca of Peru, last of the great emperors. The Inca empire reached its greatest extent and power under his rule, but disruptive forces were already at wo...