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Kumarajiva

(Encyclopedia)Kumarajiva ko͞omärˈəjĭvə [key], 344–413, Buddhist scholar and missionary, b. Kucha, in what is now Xinjiang, China. When his mother, a Kuchean princess, became a nun, he followed her into mona...

Paleolithic period

(Encyclopedia)Paleolithic period pāˌlēəlĭthˈĭk, –lēō–, pălˌ– [key] or Old Stone Age, the earliest period of human development and the longest phase of mankind's history. It is approximately coexten...

Tertiary period

(Encyclopedia)Tertiary period tûrˈshēĕrˌē [key], name for the major portion of the Cenozoic era, the most recent of the geologic eras (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table) from around 26 to...

Monte Albán

(Encyclopedia)Monte Albán mōnˈtā älbänˈ [key], ancient city, c.7 mi (11.3 km) from Oaxaca, SW Mexico, capital of the Zapotec. Monte Albán was built on an artificially leveled, rocky promontory above the Val...

Turner, Frederick Jackson

(Encyclopedia)Turner, Frederick Jackson, 1861–1932, American historian, b. Portage, Wis. He taught at the Univ. of Wisconsin from 1885 to 1910 except for a year spent in graduate study at Johns Hopkins. From 1910...

plover

(Encyclopedia)plover plŭvˈər [key], common name for some members of the large family Charadriidae, shore birds, small to medium in size, found in ice-free lands all over the world. Plovers are plumpish wading bi...

Sahara

(Encyclopedia)Sahara səhârˈə [key] [Arab.,=desert], world's largest desert, c.3,500,000 sq mi (9,065,000 sq km), N Africa; the western part of a great arid zone that continues into SW Asia. Extending more than ...

James, William

(Encyclopedia)James, William, 1842–1910, American philosopher, b. New York City, M.D. Harvard, 1869; son of the Swedenborgian theologian Henry James and brother of the novelist Henry James. In 1872 he joined the ...

cubism

(Encyclopedia)cubism, art movement, primarily in painting, originating in Paris c.1907. In painting the several sources of cubist inspiration included the later work of Cézanne; the geometric forms and compresse...

Long Island, island, United States

(Encyclopedia)Long Island (1990 pop. 6,861,454), 1,723 sq mi (4,463 sq km), 118 mi (190 km) long, and from 12 to 20 mi (19–32 km) wide, SE N.Y.; fourth largest island of the United States and the largest outside ...

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