fylke (county), southeastern Norway. Covering 1,898 square miles (4,917 square km), it extends north from Oslo Fjord to the southern end of Lake Mjosa and east to the Swedish frontier. ...
in Egyptian religion, the spirit of a deceased person and, with the ka and ba (qq.v.), a principal aspect of the soul. By enabling the soul to assume temporarily any ...
mountain range of northeastern Libya that extends along the Mediterranean coast for about 100 miles (160 km) in an east-northeasterly direction between the towns of al-Marj and Darnah. Rising sharply ...
king of Egypt (1353-36 BC) of the 18th dynasty, who established a new monotheistic cult of Aton (hence his assumed name, Akhenaton, meaning "One Useful to Aton").
town, western Turkey, in a fertile plain on the Great Zab River (the ancient Lycus). The ancient town, originally called Pelopia, was probably founded by the Lydians. It was made ...
ancient Semitic nomads of northern Syria and Mesopotamia and traditional enemies of the Assyrians. They are first mentioned about 1375 BC in an Egyptian source (one of the Tell el-Amarna ...
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) ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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). ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
fine-grained, massive gypsum (q.v.) that has been used for centuries for statuary, carvings, and other ornaments. It normally is snow-white and translucent but can be artificially dyed; it may be ...
English poet, mystic, and scholar in Latin and Hebrew, author of a Latin tragedy, Roxana (1597, published 1632), which the 18th-century critic Samuel Johnson thought was the finest Latin writing ...
elongated, narrow-necked flask, used as a perfume or unguent container. The Greek alabastron has no handles but often lugs (ear-shaped projections), sometimes pierced with string holes. There are three types ...
ancient Anatolian site northeast of the old Hittite capital of Hattusa at Bogazkoy, north-central Turkey. Its excavation was begun by Makridi Bey in 1907 and resumed in 1935 by the ...
hero of one of the best known stories in The Thousand and One Nights. The son of a deceased Chinese tailor and his poor widow, Aladdin is a lazy, careless ...
(Yoruba: "Owners of Prayer"), religious movement among the Yoruba peoples of western Nigeria, embracing some of the independent prophet-healing churches of West Africa. The movement, which in the early 1970s ...
estado ("state") of northeastern Brazil. It is the second smallest of Brazil's states and is an agricultural region in the early stages of industrialization. Situated on the ...
city, northeastern Bahia state, northeastern Brazil, lying 35 miles (56 km) inland from the Atlantic coast at 607 feet (185 metres) above sea level. It was elevated to city rank ...
French writer whose only completed novel, Le Grand Meaulnes (1913; The Wanderer, 1928, or The Lost Domain, 1959), is a modern classic. Based on his happy childhood in a remote ...
city, northwestern Costa Rica. It lies on the central plateau at an altitude of 3,141 feet (957 metres). Known in colonial days as La Lajuela and Villahermosa, the town was ...
salt lake in Kazakstan, 110 miles (180 km) east of Lake Balqash, near the border with the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, China. Lake Alakol has a drainage basin of ...
ancient Syrian city in the Orontes (Asi) valley, southern Turkey. Excavations (1936-49) by Sir Leonard Woolley uncovered numerous impressive buildings, including a massive structure known as the palace of Yarim-Lim, ...
politician and historian, the leader of Mexican conservatives for nearly 30 years and the spokesman for a strong, centralized government that would support industrialization, educational expansion, and agricultural modernization. Living ...
city, Alameda county, California, U.S. It lies on a 6.5-mile- (11-km-) long by 1-mile- (1.6-km-) wide island in San Francisco Bay, across the Oakland Harbor Channel from Oakland, with which ...
coastal town in northwestern Egypt, about 60 miles (100 km) west of Alexandria, that was the site of two major battles between British and Axis forces in 1942 during World ...
