town, Sawhaj muhafazah (governorate), Upper Egypt, on the east bank of the Nile, above Sawhaj on the west bank. Extensive necropolises dating from the 6th dynasty (c. 2345-c. 2181 BC) until the late Coptic period reveal the site's antiquity. In ...
Jewish sage, a principal founder of rabbinic Judaism. He introduced a new method of interpreting Jewish oral law (Halakha), thereby laying the foundation of what was to become the Mishna, the first postbiblical written code of Jewish law.
emperor of Japan from 1989. As scion of the oldest imperial family in the world, he was, according to tradition, the 125th direct descendant of Jimmu, Japan's legendary first emperor.
scenic designer and producer, known for the diversity of his bold experiments in stage design and dramatic interpretation-most especially for his cynical reinterpretation of Hamlet (1932), in which the king's ghost was represented as a fiction cunningly devised by Hamlet, ...
Byzantine monk and theologian who was the principal opponent of Hesychasm, a Greek monastic movement of contemplative prayer. He was eventually condemned for heresy.
breed of working dog that originated in the mountains of northern Japan. In 1931 the Japanese government designated the breed as a national treasure. It was employed as a hunting and fighting dog and is now trained for police and ...
ken (prefecture), northwestern Honshu, Japan, on the Sea of Japan coast. Its area of 4,483 square miles (11,612 square km) is divided between lowlands (west) and a plateau region (east). The Hachiman Plateau is dotted with volcanoes such as Mount ...
ancient region in what is now central Iraq. Akkad was the northern (or northwestern) division of ancient Babylonian civilization. The region was located roughly in the area where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are closest to each other, and its ...
city, northwest Israel. It lies along the Mediterranean Sea, at the north end of the Bay of Haifa (formerly Bay of Acre). Its natural harbour was a frequent target for Palestine's many invaders over the centuries. The earliest mention of ...
hamlet, Inuvik region, northwestern Northwest Territories, Canada. It is situated in the Mackenzie River delta near the Yukon border. Its Eskimo name can be translated "where there are bears." Established as a Hudson's Bay Company trading post on the south ...
city, Hyogo ken (prefecture), western Honshu, Japan. During the Heian period (794-1185), it was a seaside resort for courtesans from Kyoto. It became a castle town in the 17th century, when the powerful Ikeda clan took up residence. Since the ...
city, north-central Maharashtra state, western India, on the Murna River. An important road and rail junction in the Tapti River valley, it is a commercial centre trading chiefly in cotton. There are also textile and vegetable-oil industries. In the past ...
rock-fill dam on the Volta River, near Akosombo, Ghana, completed in 1965 as part of the Volta River Project. Its construction was jointly financed by the government of Ghana, the World Bank, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The ...
town, western Iceland. It is situated along Faxa Bay, at the tip of a peninsula between Borgar and Hval fjords. A fishing port and local market centre, it is connected by road to Reykjavik, 20 miles (32 km) southeast. Akranes ...
set of beliefs held by heretic teachers in India who were contemporaries of the Buddha. The doctrine was a kind of antinomianism that, by denying the orthodox karmic theory of the efficacy of former deeds on a person's present and ...
city, seat (1842) of Summit county, northeastern Ohio, U.S. It lies along the Cuyahoga River, 41 miles (66 km) south-southeast of Cleveland. Akron is the centre of a metropolitan area that includes the cities of Cuyahoga Falls, Tallmadge, and Stow ...
public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Akron, Ohio, U.S. While the university is known for its research in polymer engineering and science, it also offers a curriculum of liberal arts, business, and education courses, including master's degree programs. Doctorate ...
British military enclave in south-central Cyprus that was retained as a "sovereign base area" by the United Kingdom under the London Agreement of 1959 granting the independence of Cyprus. Located southwest of Limassol, the enclave comprises Akrotiri Peninsula, the southernmost ...
variety of musical metre characterized by combinations of unequal units of beats, such as 2 plus 3 or 3 plus 2 and their extensions. Thus 3 + 3 + 2, or 2 + 3 + 3, produces 88 units quite ...
novelist noted for his realistic and comic narratives and for his introduction of a new genre, a cross between memoir and novel, into Russian literature.
Marxist theorist, a prominent member of the first Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party, and one of the leaders of the reformist wing of Russian social democracy, known after 1903 as the Mensheviks.
ancient city of Mesopotamia on the northern boundary of Akkad, identified by some authorities with the Babylonian city of Upi (Opis). About 2500 BC Akshak was conquered by Eannatum, king of Lagash. About a century later Akshak temporarily established its ...
downy seed fibre obtained from Calotropis procera and C. gigantea, plants of the Asclepiadaceae family. The plants are native to southern Asia and Africa and were introduced to South America and the islands of the Caribbean. The yellowish material is ...
town, capital of Ondo state, southwestern Nigeria. It lies in the southern part of the forested Yoruba Hills and at the intersection of roads from Ondo, Ilesha, Ado-Ekiti, and Owo. Akure is an agricultural trade centre for the yams, cassava, ...
town, northern Iceland. It lies at the southern end of Eyja Fjord. Akureyri is the chief centre of the north and is one of the island's most populous urban centres outside the Reykjavik metropolitan area. While primarily a commercial and ...
Japanese literary prize awarded semiannually for the best serious work of fiction by a promising new Japanese writer. The prize is generally considered, along with the Naoki Prize, Japan's most prestigious and sought-after literary award. Short stories or novellas win ...
state, southeastern Nigeria. Its area formed part of Cross River state until 1987, when Akwa Ibom state was created. Akwa Ibom is bounded by the Cross River on the east and by the Bight of Biafra of the Atlantic Ocean ...
Akan state (c. 1600-1730) of the Gold and Slave coasts of western Africa. At its apogee in the early 18th century, it stretched more than 250 miles (400 km) along the coast from Whydah (now Ouidah, Benin) in the east ...
narrow belt of ridges and hills in Ghana, western Africa. They extend in a southwest-northeast line for about 200 miles (320 km) from the Densu River mouth (near Accra) on the Atlantic coast to the boundary with Togo. Averaging 1,500 ...
diversified Dutch manufacturer of paints, coatings, and chemicals. The company was formed from the merger of Akzo NV and the Swedish firm Nobel Industries AB in 1994. Its headquarters are in Arnhem, Neth.
sandy desert, east-central Oman. It fronts the Arabian Sea on the southeast and stretches along the coast for more than 100 miles (160 km). The desert consists of honey-coloured dunes that are dark red at their base and rise to ...
Arabic definite article, meaning "the." It often prefixes Arabic proper nouns, especially place-names; an example is Al-Jazirah (Arabic: "The Island"), the name of an interfluvial region in The Sudan. The article is often used in lowercase form, hence al-Jazirah. Reference ...
southernmost portion of the Gobi (desert), occupying about 400,000 square miles (1,000,000 square km) in north-central China. Covering portions of the western Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and northern Kansu sheng (province), it is bounded by the Huang Ho (Yellow River) ...
sultan of the Malay kingdom of Johore from 1528. He is sometimes considered the cofounder of the kingdom with his father, Mahmud Shah, the last sultan of Malacca, who established Johore on the island of Bintang (southeast of Singapore) in ...
constituent state of the United States of America. Admitted as the 22nd state in 1819, Alabama comprises 51,705 square miles (133,915 square kilometres) forming a roughly rectangular shape, elongated in a north-south direction. Tennessee is the bordering state to the ...
public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Normal, Alabama, U.S., a historically black school. The university comprises the schools of Graduate Studies and Extended Education, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, and Engineering and Technology. It offers ...
maritime grievances of the United States against Great Britain, accumulated during and after the American Civil War (1861-65). The claims are significant in international law for furthering the use of arbitration to settle disputes peacefully and for delineating certain responsibilities ...
in U.S. history, Southern political leader William L. Yancey's response (1848) to the antislavery Wilmot Proviso (q.v.). The Alabama platform insisted that the U.S. government protect slavery in territories ceded to the United States by Mexico and that no territorial ...
river in southern Alabama, U.S. It is formed by the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Montgomery, winds westward to Selma, and then flows southward. Its navigable length is 305 miles (491 km), and the river ...
public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Montgomery, Alabama, U.S. It is a historically black school, and its enrollment is predominantly African American. Alabama State offers bachelor's and master's degree programs in the schools of Music and Graduate Studies and ...
state university with campuses at Tuscaloosa (main campus), Birmingham, and Huntsville. All three branches offer a wide university curriculum and programs for bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees. The University of Alabama School of Law is in Tuscaloosa, and the School ...
