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Benin, city and former kingdom, Nigeria

(Encyclopedia)Benin bĕnēnˈ [key], city, S Nigeria, a port on the Benin River. Palm nuts and timber are p...

barrow, in archaeology

(Encyclopedia)barrow, in archaeology, a burial mound. Earth and stone or timber are the usual construction materials; in parts of SE Asia stone and brick have entirely replaced earth. A barrow built primarily of st...

Orkhan

(Encyclopedia)Orkhan ôr-khänˈ [key], 1288?–1362?, Ottoman sultan (1326–1362?), son and successor of Osman I as leader of the Ottoman Turks. He defeated Byzantine Emperor Andronicus III and conquered large pa...

Hatay

(Encyclopedia)Hatay hätīˈ [key], formerly sanjak of Alexandretta, province, 2,141 sq mi (5,545 sq km), S...

Mélusine

(Encyclopedia)Mélusine mĕlyo͝osēˈnä [key], in French legend, a fairy who changed into a serpent from the waist down every Saturday. She married a mortal, Count Raymond, said to be the ancestor of the house of...

elk

(Encyclopedia)elk, name applied to several large members of the deer family. It most properly designates the largest member of the family, Alces alces, found in the northern regions of Eurasia and North America. In...

Scandinavian art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)Scandinavian art and architecture, works of art and structures created in the Scandinavian area of Europe. The Swedish sculptor Carl Milles, who worked extensively in the United States, was among th...

Tigris

(Encyclopedia)Tigris tīˈgrĭs [key], river of SW Asia, c.1,150 mi (1,850 km) long, rising in the Taurus Mts., E Turkey, and flowing SE through Iraq to join the Euphrates River, with which it forms the Shatt al Ar...

Bug, river, E Europe, also known as Western Bug

(Encyclopedia)Bug bo͞og, bŭg [key], Pol. Bug, Ukr. Buh or Zakhidnyy Buh, river, c.480 mi (770 km) long, rising in the Volhynian-Podolian hills, W Ukraine. It flows N along the Polish-Ukrainian and Polish-Belarusi...

catnip

(Encyclopedia)catnip or catmint, strong-scented perennial herb (Nepeta cataria) of the family Labiatae (mint family), native to Europe and Asia but naturalized in the United States. A tea of the leaves and flowing ...