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Abbadids

(Encyclopedia)Abbadids ăˈbədĭdz [key], Arab dynasty in Spain that ruled Seville from 1023 to 1091. Taking advantage of the disintegration of the caliphate of Córdoba, the cadi [judge-governor] of Seville seize...

Qattara Depression

(Encyclopedia)Qattara Depression mo͝ongkhäfädˈ äl-kät-täräˈ [key], desert basin, c.7,000 sq mi (18,130 sq km), NW Egypt, NE Africa, in the Libyan Desert. It was long believed to be the lowest point (436 ft...

Cairo, city, Egypt

(Encyclopedia)Cairo kīˈrō [key], Arab. Al Qahirah, city (2021 est. metro. area pop. 21,323,000), capital...

Faiyum, El

(Encyclopedia)Faiyum, El fīyo͞omˈ [key], region, coextensive with El Faiyum governorate, N Egypt, W of the Nile River, a depression (entirely below sea level) in the Libyan (or Western) Desert. It is an irrigat...

amphoterism

(Encyclopedia)amphoterism ămˌfətĕrˈĭzm [key], in chemistry, the property of certain substances of acting either as acids or as bases depending on the reaction in which they are involved. Many hydroxide compou...

Arabic literature

(Encyclopedia)Arabic literature, literary works written in the Arabic language. The great body of Arabic literature includes works by Arabic speaking Turks, Persians, Syrians, Egyptians, Indians, Jews, and other Af...

Condé, Louis II de Bourbon, prince de

(Encyclopedia)Condé, Louis II de Bourbon, prince de, 1621–86, French general, called the Great Condé; son of Henri II de Condé. Among his early victories in the Thirty Years War were those of Rocroi (1643), Fr...

Aleutian Islands World War II National Monument

(Encyclopedia)Aleutian Islands World War II National Monument: see National Parks and Monuments (table). ...

Ferdinand II, king of the Two Sicilies

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand II, 1810–59, king of the Two Sicilies (1830–59), son and successor of Francis I. Although initially he sought to improve the wretched conditions of his kingdom, he soon relapsed into the...

Francis II, king of the Two Sicilies

(Encyclopedia)Francis II, 1836–94, last king of the Two Sicilies (1859–61), son and successor of Ferdinand II. A weak ruler, he let his ministers follow his father's reactionary policy. Faced with the growing m...