Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Kiev ... Kim Jong Il

Kiev: chief city and capital of Ukraine and capital of Kiev oblast (province). A port on the Dnieper River and a large railroad junction, it is a city with an ancient and proud history. As the centre of ...
Kiev: oblast (province), north-central Ukraine. In the mid-1990s the oblast was separated administratively from the city of Kiev, which serves as the oblast capital though it is a self-governing city not under oblast jurisdiction. The oblast lies astride ...
Kigali: city and capital of Rwanda. It is located in the centre of the country on the Ruganwa River. Kigali was a trade centre (after 1895) during the German colonial administration and became a regional centre during the Belgian colonial period ...
Kii Peninsula: peninsula of southern Honshu, Japan, facing the Pacific Ocean (east and south) and the Kii Strait and the Inland Sea (west). The peninsula is composed of the Kii Range, whose mountains end abruptly on the north in a fault scarp ...
Kija: legendary Korean king of Chinese origin whose arrival in Korea with 5,000 rice- and barley-bearing refugees reputedly introduced Chinese civilization (and these new grains) to the Korean people. The band allegedly had fled China in 1111 BC, refusing to serve ...
Kikuchi Kan: playwright, novelist, and founder of one of the major publishing companies in Japan.
Kikutake Kiyonori: post-World War II Japanese architect particularly concerned with the problems of a changing world.
Kikuyu: Bantu-speaking people who live in the highland area of south-central Kenya, near Mount Kenya. In the late 20th century the Kikuyu numbered more than 4,400,000 and formed the largest ethnic group in Kenya, approximately 20 percent of the total population. ...
Kikwit: town and river port, southwestern Congo (Kinshasa). It lies along the Kwilu River, which is a tributary of the Kasai River. European settlement of the site began in 1901, and the town became a colonial administrative centre about 1910. Kikwit ...
Kilauea: the world's largest active volcanic mass, located on southeastern Hawaii Island, Hawaii, U.S. The central feature of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Kilauea ("Much Spreading") is an elongated dome built of lava eruptions from a central crater and from lines of ...
Kilburn, Tom: British engineer and coinventor of the first working computer memory. Kilburn also designed and built the first stored-program computer and led a team that produced a succession of pioneering computers over the next 25 years.
Kilby, Jack: American engineer and one of the inventors of the integrated circuit, a system of interconnected transistors on a single microchip. In 2000 Kilby was a corecipient, with Herbert Kroemer and Zhores Alferov, of the Nobel Prize for Physics.
Kildare: county in the province of Leinster, east-central Ireland. It comprises part of the lowland west of the Wicklow Mountains and part of the Irish central lowland. County Kildare is bounded by Counties Meath (north), Dublin and Wicklow (east), Carlow (south), ...
Kildare: market town, County Kildare, Ireland. The Protestant cathedral church (1229) is dedicated to St. Brigit of Ireland, who founded a community there in the 5th century. Restoration of the church was begun in 1875. Near the church are an ancient ...
Kildare, Thomas Fitzgerald, 10th Earl of: leader of a major Irish rebellion against King Henry VIII of England. The failure of the uprising ended the Fitzgerald family's hereditary viceroyalty of Ireland and led to the tightening of English control over the country.
Kildonan: historic district within the city of Winnipeg, southern Manitoba, Canada. Situated on both sides of the Red River, it comprises the former cities of East Kildonan and West Kildonan and the former municipalities of Old Kildonan and North Kildonan. The ...
Kilgore: city, on the Gregg-Rusk county line, northeastern Texas, U.S., about 50 miles (80 km) west of the border with Louisiana. The city is part of the Longview-Kilgore-Gladewater-Tyler oil complex in the middle of the East Texas oil field. In 1871 ...
Kili: coral island in the Ralik chain of the Marshall Islands, west-central Pacific Ocean. It is about 230 acres (93 hectares) in area. Islanders from Bikini, site of U.S. atomic-bomb tests, were moved to Kili in 1949. Some of the Bikinians ...
Kilian, Saint: missionary bishop who, with his companions Saints Colman and Totnan, gave his life for the Christianization of Thuringia and eastern Franconia. At Wurzburg, in about 689, all three were beheaded by orders of Duke Gozbert of Wurzburg, whom Kilian had ...
kilim: pileless floor covering handwoven in most places where pile rugs are made. The term is applied both generally and specifically, with the former use referring to virtually any ruglike fabric that does not have pile. When used specifically the term ...
Kilimanjaro: volcanic massif in northeastern Tanzania, near the Kenya border. Its central cone, Kibo, rises to 19,340 feet (5,895 metres) and is the highest point in Africa. Kilimanjaro lies about 100 miles (160 km) east of the East African Rift System ...
Kilis: town, extreme southern Turkey. It lies near the Syrian border north of Aleppo, Syria, and is often identified with the ancient town of Kilisi mentioned in Assyrian records. It was occupied by France after World War I but was returned ...
Kilkeel: fishing port and seaside resort, at the mouth of the River Kilkeel, Newry and Mourne district (established 1973), formerly in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the foot of the Mourne Mountains, and the quarrying and dressing of Mourne ...
Kilkenny: city, municipal borough, and seat of County Kilkenny, Ireland. It lies on both banks of the River Nore, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Waterford. The ancient capital of the kingdom of Ossory, Kilkenny in Norman times had two ...
Kilkenny: county, province of Leinster, southeastern Ireland. It is bounded by Counties Laoighis (north), Carlow and Wexford (east), Waterford (south), and Tipperary (west). The principal rivers are the Barrow, Suir, and Nore. The climate is mild. The county is well wooded; ...
Killaloe: town, County Clare, Ireland. It lies on the west bank of the River Shannon, between Mount Bernagh and the Arra Mountains. The town is connected with Ballina, on the opposite bank of the river, by a bridge. St. Flannan's Cathedral ...
Killanin, Michael Morris, 3rd Baron: Irish author and businessman who in 1972 succeeded Avery Brundage as president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), after having served as IOC vice president since 1968.
Killarney: market town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. It lies near the Killarney lakes, famed for their beauty, about 45 miles (70 km) north-northwest of Cork. Rising steeply to the west are Tomies Mountain and Purple Mountain (2,739 feet [835 metres]), ...
Killarney Provincial Park: wilderness park, southeastern Ontario, Canada, on the northern shore of Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. Established in 1964, it has an area of 132 sq mi (342 sq km), including the Canadian Shield country made famous by the painter A. ...
killdeer: (Charadrius, sometimes Oxyechus, vociferus), American bird that frequents grassy mud flats, pastures, and fields. It belongs to the plover family of shorebirds (Charadriidae, order Charadriiformes). The killdeer's name is suggestive of its loud insistent whistle. The bird is about 25 ...
Killeen: city, Bell county, central Texas, U.S., west of Temple, 65 miles (105 km) north of Austin. Laid out (1882) as Palo Alto by the Santa Fe Railway and named for Frank P. Killeen, a civil engineer with the line, it ...
killer whale: largest member of the dolphin family (Delphinidae). The killer whale is easy to identify by its size and striking coloration: jet-black on top and pure white below with a white patch behind each eye, another extending up each flank, and ...
Killian, James Rhyne, Jr.: American statesman and academic administrator who was instrumental in the formation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) both as chairman of the President's Science Advisory Committee and as presidential assistant to Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1957 to 1959.
killifish: any of a few hundred species of usually elongated fishes of the family Cyprinodontidae (order Atheriniformes), found worldwide, especially in the tropics of Africa and the New World. They inhabit brackish, salt, and fresh water, including certain desert hot springs. ...
Killigrew, Thomas: English dramatist and playhouse manager who was better known for his wit than for his plays, although some of the jokes in The Parson's Wedding (acted c. 1640) were appropriated by the playwright William Congreve.
Killy, Jean-Claude: French skier, a dominant figure in men's international Alpine skiing competitions from 1965 through 1968 and a popular sports personage known for his irreverent behaviour.
Kilmarnock: industrial town, East Ayrshire council area, historic county of Ayrshire, southeastern Scotland. It lies along Kilmarnock Water south of the metropolitan complex of Glasgow.
Kilmer, Joyce: American poet known chiefly for his 12-line verse entitled "Trees."
kiln: oven for firing, drying, baking, hardening, or burning a substance, particularly clay products but originally also grain and meal. The brick kiln was a major advance in ancient technology because it provided a stronger brick than the primitive sun-dried product. ...
kilogram: basic unit of mass in the metric system, equal to the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram, a platinum-iridium cylinder kept at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures laboratory at Sevres, France. A kilogram is very nearly ...
kilometre: unit of length equal to 1,000 metres and the equivalent of 0.6214 mile (see metric system).
Kilpi, Volter: Finnish novelist and social critic who was an exponent of the modern experimental novel.
kilt: knee-length skirtlike garment that is worn by men as a major element of the traditional national garb of Scotland. (The other main component of Highland dress, as the traditional male garb of Scotland is called, is the plaid, which is ...
Kilwa: former Islamic city-state on an island off the coast of what is now southern Tanzania. Founded in the late 10th century by settlers from Arabia and Iran, it became one of the most active commercial centres on the east coast ...
Kim Chong-hui: the best-known Korean calligrapher of the 19th century.
Kim Dae Jung: South Korean politician, who became a prominent opposition leader during the tenure of President Park Chung Hee. He became the first opposition leader to win election to his country's presidency (1998-2003). Kim received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2000 ...
Kim Dae-gon, Saint: the first Korean Catholic priest.
Kim Hong-do: one of the first Korean artists to depict the common people in his work.
Kim Il-sung: communist leader of North Korea from 1948 until his death in 1994. He was the nation's premier from 1948 to 1972, chairman of its dominant Korean Workers (Communist) Party from 1949, and president and head of state from 1972.
Kim Jae Kyu: South Korean military officer and head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) who, on Oct. 26, 1979, assassinated the South Korean president, Park Chung Hee.
Kim Jong Il: North Korean politician, son of the former North Korean premier and (communist) Korean Workers' Party (KWP) chairman Kim Il-sung, and successor to his father as ruler of North Korea.