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Shaanxi

(Encyclopedia)Shaanxi shĕnˈsēˈ [key] [west of the mountain passes], province (2010 pop. 37,327,378), c.76,000 sq mi (196,840 sq km), N central China. Xi'an is the capital. From north to south Shaanxi has four m...

Antigonus I

(Encyclopedia)Antigonus I (Antigonus the One-Eyed or Antigonus Cyclops) ăntigˈənəs sīˈklo˘ps [key], 382?–301 b.c., general of Alexander the Great and ruler in Asia. He was made (333 b.c.) governor of Phryg...

Asia Minor

(Encyclopedia)Asia Minor, great peninsula, c.250,000 sq mi (647,500 sq km), extreme W Asia, generally coterminous with Asian Turkey, also called Anatolia. It is washed by the Black Sea in the north, the Mediterrane...

Palmyra, ancient city, Syria

(Encyclopedia)Palmyra pălmīˈrə [key], ancient city of central Syria. A small modern village known as Tudmor or Tadmor (the Syrian Arabic name of Palmyra) is nearby; residents were relocated from the ancient sit...

Sèvres, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Sèvres, Treaty of, 1920, peace treaty concluded after World War I at Sèvres, France, between the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), on the one hand, and the Allies (excluding Russia and the United States) on ...

Pan-Slavism

(Encyclopedia)Pan-Slavism, theory and movement intended to promote the political or cultural unity of all Slavs. Advocated by various individuals from the 17th cent., it developed as an intellectual and cultural mo...

mandates

(Encyclopedia)mandates, system of trusteeships established by Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations for the administration of former Turkish territories and of former German colonies. As finally adopt...

Herodotus

(Encyclopedia)Herodotus hērŏdˈətəs [key], 484?–425? b.c., Greek historian, called the Father of History, b. Halicarnassus, Asia Minor. Only scant knowledge of his life can be gleaned from his writings and fr...

patriarch, in Christian churches

(Encyclopedia)patriarch, in Christian churches, title of certain exalted bishops, implying authority over a number of other bishops. There were originally three patriarchates: the West, held by the bishop of Rome (...

sundial

(Encyclopedia)sundial, instrument that indicates the time of day by the shadow, cast on a surface marked to show hours or fractions of hours, of an object on which the sun's rays fall. Although any object whose sha...