historic region along the Amu Darya (ancient Oxus River) of Turkistan, in the territories of present-day Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Khwarezm formed part of the empire of Achaemenian Persia (6th-4th century BC); the Arabs conquered it and introduced Islam to the ...
Muslim mathematician and astronomer whose major works introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals and the concepts of algebra into European mathematics. Latinized versions of his name and of his most famous book title live on in the terms algorithm and algebra.
any of several Hindustani folk-dance dramas of Rajasthan, northwestern India. Khyal dances date from the 16th century and use themes taken from folklore and legend. They are performed exclusively by men, are characterized by the powerful body movements of the ...
most northerly and important of the passes between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The pass connects Kabul with Peshawar. The pass has historically been the gateway for invasions of the Indian subcontinent from the northwest. The name Khyber is also applied to ...
yellow-toned ceramic ware made from fine, white clay covered with iron-ash glazes in the Mino area in central Honshu, Japan, from the late Muromachi period (1338-1573) onward. Ki Seto ("Yellow Seto") is divided into two main types: a glossy chartreuse ...
town, Illawara district, eastern New South Wales, Australia. The town is situated near the Minamurra River. Its harbour was visited in 1797 by the British explorer George Bass. Its name is Aboriginal for either "good fishing ground" or "where the ...
river in Oklahoma, U.S., rising in Le Flore county, near the Arkansas state line in the Ouachita Mountains. It flows southwest, past Pine Valley and Clayton to Antlers, where after a course of 165 miles (266 km) it turns southeast ...
in Shanghai, major Chinese centre during the 1860s and 1870s for the manufacture of modern arms and the study of Western technical literature and Western languages. It was opened in 1865 as part of China's Self-Strengthening movement. Begun as an ...
sheng (province) of south-central China. It is bounded by the provinces of Hupeh and Anhwei on the north, Chekiang and Fukien on the east, Kwangtung on the south, and Hunan on the west. The area of the ...
(1931-34), independent government established by the Communist leader Mao Zedong and his comrade Zhu De in Kiangsi province in southeastern China. It was from this small state within a state that Mao gained the experience in guerrilla warfare and peasant ...
sheng (province) on the east coast of China. It is bounded by the Yellow Sea and by the provinces of Chekiang to the south, Anhwei to the west, and Shantung to the north. It occupies an area ...
in Nanking, China, one of the outstanding provincial museums of China. It contains objects reflecting 5,000 years of Chinese culture. The prehistoric section contains objects found during excavations in 1954 and 1956 in Kiangsu Province, including polished stone tools, gray ...
("gathering," or "collective"), Israeli collective settlement, usually agricultural and often also industrial, in which all wealth is held in common. Profits are reinvested in the settlement after members have been provided with food, clothing, and shelter and with social and ...
early envoy to China who did much to introduce Chinese culture to the comparatively primitive Japanese state. In 717, when Chinese culture under the great T'ang dynasty (618-907) was at its height, Kibi traveled there as a student. Upon his ...
Algonkian-speaking Indians, related to the Sauk and Fox, who lived at the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, probably in present Columbia county, Wisconsin, U.S., when first reported by Europeans in the late 17th century. The Kickapoo were known ...
pass in the Canadian Rockies at the Alberta-British Columbia border and the Banff-Yoho national parks boundary; it is the highest point on the Canadian Pacific Railway, at an elevation of 5,338 feet (1,627 m). The approach from the east is ...
Cuban professional boxer and world welterweight champion. Gavilan is credited with inventing the "bolo punch," which was a combination of a hook and an uppercut. He said he developed the punch by cutting sugarcane during his youth in Cuba.
17th-century British privateer and semilegendary pirate who became celebrated in English literature as one of the most colourful outlaws of all time. Fortune seekers have hunted his buried treasure in vain through succeeding centuries.
foremost American archaeologist of the southwestern United States and Middle America of his day and the force behind the first comprehensive, systematic approach to North American archaeology.
town, Wyre Forest district, administrative and historic county of Worcestershire, England. It is situated along the River Stour and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Recorded as Stour-in-Usmere in 736 CE, it was given to the comes (count) Cyneberght by King ...
Jewish benediction and prayer recited over a cup of wine immediately before the meal on the eve of the sabbath or of a festival; the ceremony acknowledges the sanctity of the day that has just begun. Chanting, or recitation, usually ...
national park, northeastern Uganda, East Africa. It occupies an area of 540 square miles (1,399 square km) in wooded grasslands and mountainous scenery in the northeastern corner of the country. It straddles the Kidepo and Larus rivers, which are seasonally ...
astronomer and mathematician who may have discovered the precession of the equinoxes, the slow rotation of the Earth's axis that results in slight variations in the length of the year. Head of the astronomical school at Sippar, Kidinnu was probably ...
criminal offense consisting of the unlawful taking and carrying away of a person by force or fraud or the unlawful seizure and detention of a person against his will. The principal motives for kidnapping are to subject the victim to ...
in vertebrates and some invertebrates, organ that maintains water balance and expels metabolic wastes. Primitive and embryonic kidneys consist of two series of specialized tubules that empty into two collecting ducts, the Wolffian ducts (see Wolffian duct). The more advanced ...
any clinical and laboratory procedure designed to evaluate various aspects of renal (kidney) capacity and efficiency and to aid in the diagnosis of kidney disorders. Such tests can be divided into several categories, which include (1) clearance tests that give ...
concretion of minerals and organic matter that forms in the kidneys. Such stones may become so large as to impair normal renal function. Urine contains many salts in solution and if the concentration of mineral salts becomes excessive, the excess ...
replacement of a diseased or damaged kidney with a healthy one obtained either from a living relative or a recently deceased person. Although kidney transplants were carried out in the late 1950s, clinically significant transplantation did not begin until around ...
perennial herb, of the pea family (Fabaceae), found in meadows, alpine pastures, and dry places of Europe and northern Africa. The low, hairy plant grows to a height of 15-40 cm (6-16 inches) and has narrow leaves 1.4-3.8 cm (0.5-1.5 ...
one of the heroes of the Meiji Restoration, the overthrow of the 264-year rule by the Tokugawa family and return of power to the Japanese emperor. After the imperial restoration of 1868, Kido became one of the most effective officials ...
city, capital (1945) of Schleswig-Holstein Land (state), northern Germany. Kiel is a port on both sides of the Kiel Fjord, an inlet of the western Baltic Sea, and lies at the eastern end of the Kiel Canal. ...
("North Sea-Baltic Sea Canal"), waterway extending eastward for 61 miles (98 km) from Brunsbuttelkoog (on the North Sea, at the mouth of the Elbe River) to Holtenau (at Kiel Harbour on the Baltic Sea), in northern Germany. The canal is ...
(Jan. 14, 1814), the peace treaty ending the hostilities between Denmark and Sweden during the Napoleonic Wars. By the treaty, Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden, thus ending the union initiated in 1380 and further reducing Denmark's status as a Baltic ...
city, capital of Swietokrzyskie wojewodztwo (province), southeastern Poland. It lies in the Swietokrzyskie ("Holy Cross") Mountains. Located on the Warsaw-Krakow rail line, Kielce is a major industrial centre that has metallurgical, machine-making, building materials, and food-production facilities.
novelist, short-story writer, and dramatist, one of the "big four" (with Henrik Ibsen, B.M. Bjornson, and Jonas Lie) of 19th-century Norwegian literature.
Danish religious philosopher and critic of rationalism, regarded as the founder of existentialist philosophy. He is famous for his critique of systematic rational philosophy, particularly Hegelianism, on the grounds that actual life cannot be contained within an abstract conceptual system. ...
conservative politician and chancellor (1966-69) of the Federal Republic of Germany whose "grand coalition" brought the Social Democratic Party (SPD) into the government for the first time since 1930.
leading Polish director of documentaries, feature films, and television films of the 1970s, '80s, and '90s that explored the social and moral themes of contemporary times.
town, southeast coast of Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea. It is situated on Arawa Bay (Rawa Harbour) and is a port of call with a long wharf for coastal and Australian shipping. The town trades chiefly in copra, cocoa, and ...
