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apogee

(Encyclopedia)apogee p´j [key], point farthest from the earth in the orbit of a body about the earth. See apsis. ...

John III

(Encyclopedia)John III (John the Fortunate), 1502–57, king of Portugal (1521–57), son of Manuel I. His reign saw the Portuguese empire at its apogee. The great Asian possessions were extended by further conques...

apsis

(Encyclopedia)apsis (pl. apsides), point in the orbit of a body where the body is neither approaching nor receding from another body about which it revolves. Any elliptical orbit has two apsides. At the perigee the...

Tripura

(Encyclopedia)Tripura tr´poorä [key], state (2001 provisional pop. 3,191,168), 4,036 sq mi (10,453 sq km), NE India, bordered by Bangladesh on the north, west, and south, and on the east by the states of Assa...

Harun ar-Rashid

(Encyclopedia)Harun ar-Rashid häroon är-räshd´ [key] [Arab.,=Aaron the Upright], c.764–809, 5th and most famous Abbasid caliph (786–809). He succeeded his brother Musa al-Hadi, fourth caliph, a year aft...

Olmec

(Encyclopedia)Olmec l´mk [key], term denoting the culture of ancient Mexican natives inhabiting the tropical coastal plain of the contemporary states of Veracruz and Tabasco, between 1300 and 400 BC The term i...

Moorish art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)Moorish art and architecture, branch of Islamic art and architecture developed in the westernmost lands of the Muslims, known as the Maghreb: N Africa and Spain. The Great Mosque at Al Qayrawan in Tun...

Kiev

(Encyclopedia)Kiev or Kyivk´f, –v [key], Ukrainian Kyyiv, Rus. Kiyev, city (1990 est. pop. 2,600,000) and municipality with the status of a region (oblast), capital of Ukraine and of Kiev region, a port on...

fur

(Encyclopedia)fur, hairy covering of an animal, especially the skins of animals that have thick, soft, close-growing hair next to the skin itself and coarser protective hair above it. The underhair is frequently ca...

eclipse

(Encyclopedia)eclipse klps´, – [key] [Gr.,=failing], in astronomy, partial or total obscuring of one celestial body by the shadow of another. Best known are the lunar eclipses, which occur when the earth b...

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