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Tyumen

(Encyclopedia)Tyumen tyo͞omĕnˈyə [key], city (1989 pop. 477,000), capital of Tyumen region, SW Siberian Russia, on the Tura River. On the Trans-Siberian RR, Tyumen is a major transfer point for river and rail f...

panhandle

(Encyclopedia)panhandle, in geography, a strip of land projecting from the main body of an area and shaped like the handle of a pan, such as the panhandles of West Virginia, Texas, and Alaska. ...

Tobolsk

(Encyclopedia)Tobolsk təbôlskˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 94,000), W Siberian Russia, a port on the Irtysh River near its confluence with the Tobol. Industries revolve around oil and gas from the W Siberian oil fiel...

Irtysh

(Encyclopedia)Irtysh ĭrtĭshˈ [key], river, c.2,650 mi (4,260 km) long, W Siberian Russia and Kazakhstan. It is the chief tributary of the Ob and one of the two major rivers of W Siberia. As the Ertix, it rises i...

Ivanov, Vsevolod Vyacheslavovich

(Encyclopedia)Ivanov, Vsevolod Vyacheslavovich ēväˈnôf [key], 1895–1963, Russian short-story writer, novelist, and dramatist, b. Siberia. Ivanov had an adventurous early life as a sailor, circus performer, f...

Turk-Sib

(Encyclopedia)Turk-Sib: see Turkistan-Siberia RR. ...

Trans-Siberian Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Trans-Siberian Railroad, rail line, linking European Russia with the Pacific coast. Its construction began in 1891, on the initiative of Count S. Y. Witte, and was completed in 1905. The completion of...

Bering, Vitus Jonassen

(Encyclopedia)Bering, Vitus Jonassen vēˈto͝os yōˈnäsən bārˈĭng [key], 1681–1741, Danish explorer in Russian employ. In 1725 he was selected by Peter I to explore far NE Siberia. Having finally moved men...

Leiden, University of

(Encyclopedia)Leiden, University of, at Leiden, the Netherlands; founded 1575 by William the Silent, Prince of Orange. It became a state institution in the 19th cent. It has faculties of theology, law, medicine, sc...

Yermak

(Encyclopedia)Yermak or Ermak both: yĕrmäkˈ [key], d. 1584?, Russian conqueror of Siberia; his name also occurs as Yermak Timofeyevich. The leader of a band of independent Russian Cossacks, he spent his early ca...