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Karabagh rug ... Karlsruhe
Karabagh rug
floor covering handmade in the district of Karabakh (Armenian-controlled Azerbaijan), just north of the present Iranian border. As might be expected, Karabagh designs and colour schemes tend to be more ...
Karabuk
town, northwestern Turkey, on the Yenice River. Once a small hamlet, it has grown rapidly since the establishment of Turkey's first major iron and steel complex there in 1940. The ...
Karachay-Cherkessia
republic, Stavropol kray (region), southwestern Russia. It extends south from the foreland plains across the northern ranges and deep intervening valleys and gorges of the Greater Caucasus range as far ...
Karachi
city and capital of Sindh province, southern Pakistan. It is the country's largest city and principal seaport and is a major commercial and industrial centre. Karachi is located on the ...
Karadjordje
leader of the Serbian people in their struggle for independence from the Turks and founder of the Karadjordjevic (Karageorgevic, or Karadordevici) dynasty.
Karadjordjevic dynasty
rulers descended from the Serbian rebel leader Karadjordje (Karageorge, or Karadorde). It rivaled the Obrenovic dynasty for control of Serbia during the 19th century and ruled that country as well ...
Karadzic, Vuk Stefanovic
language scholar and the father of Serbian folk-literature scholarship, who, in reforming the Cyrillic alphabet for Serbian usage, created one of the simplest and most logical spelling systems.
Karaganda
oblast (province), central Kazakhstan. It lies mostly in the Kazakh Uplands in a dry steppe zone, rising gradually in elevation eastward to a maximum in the Karkaraly Mountains of 5,115 ...
Karaganda
city in central Kazakstan. It lies at the centre of the important Qaraghandy (Karaganda) coal basin. It is the second largest city in the republic and derives its name from ...
Karagoz
(Turkish: "Black Eyes," or "Gypsy"), type of Turkish shadow play, named for its stock hero, Karagoz. The comically risque plays are improvised from scenarios for local audiences in private homes, ...
Karaikal
city, Pondicherry union territory, an enclave on the Coromandel Coast within eastern Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India, near the mouth of the Arasalar River. The chief city of the Karaikal ...
Karaiskakis, Georgios
a klepht, or brigand chief, who played an important role in the Greek War of Independence. He is remembered both for his treachery and for his reckless courage.
Karaism
(from Hebrew qara, "to read"), a Jewish religious movement that repudiated oral tradition as a source of divine law and defended the Hebrew Bible as the sole authentic font of ...
Karaja rug
floor covering handmade in or near the village of Qarajeh (Karaja), in the Qareh Dagh (Karadagh) region of Iran just south of the Azerbaijan border, northeast of Tabriz. The best-known ...
Karajan, Herbert von
Austrian-born orchestra and opera conductor, a leading international musical figure of the mid-20th century.
Karaji, al-
mathematician and engineer who held an official position in Baghdad (c. 1010-1015), perhaps culminating in the position of vizier, during which time he wrote his three main works, al-Fakhri fi'l-jabr ...
Karak, al-
town, west-central Jordan. It lies along the Wadi al-Karak, 15 miles (24 km) east of the Dead Sea. Built on a small, steep-walled butte, about 3,100 feet (950 m) above ...
Karakalpakstan
autonomous republic in Uzbekistan, situated southeast and southwest of the Aral Sea.
Karakhan Manifesto
manifesto issued on July 25, 1919, by Lev Karakhan, a member of the foreign ministry of the newly formed Soviet republic, in which he offered to relinquish all Soviet claims ...
Karakol
city, eastern Ysyk-kol oblast (province), Kyrgyzstan, at the northern foot of the Terskey-Alatau Mountains at an elevation of 5,807 feet (1,770 m) on the Karakol River. The city was founded ...
Karakoram Highway
roadway that connects Kashgar, China, with Islamabad, Pak. The road, which took almost 20 years (1959-78) to complete, extends for about 500 miles (800 km) through some of the most ...
Karakoram Range
great mountain system extending some 300 miles (500 kilometres) from the easternmost extension of Afghanistan in a southeasterly direction along the watershed between Central and South Asia. Found there are ...
Karakorum
ancient capital of the Mongol empire, whose ruins lie on the upper Orhon River in north-central Mongolia.
Karakul
sheep breed of central or west Asian origin, raised chiefly for the skins of very young lambs, which are covered with glossy, tightly curled black coats and are called Persian ...
Karakum Canal
waterway in Turkmenistan. The main section, begun in 1954 and completed in 1967, runs some 520 miles (840 km) from the Amu Darya (river) to Gokdepe, west of Ashgabat, skirting ...
Karakum Desert
great sandy region in Central Asia. It occupies about 70 percent of the area of Turkmenistan. Another, smaller desert in Kazakhstan near the Aral Sea is called the Aral Karakum.
Karamanlis, Konstantinos
Greek statesman who was prime minister from 1955 to 1963 and again from 1974 to 1980. He then served as president from 1980 to 1985 and from 1990 to 1995. ...
Karamanlis, Kostas
Greek politician who became prime minister of Greece in 2004.
Karamay
city in northern Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, China. Located in the Dzungarian Basin, it is about 200 miles (320 km) northwest of Wu-lu-mu-ch'i (Urumchi), the provincial capital. Rich oil ...
Karamzin, Nikolay Mikhaylovich
Russian historian, poet, and journalist who was the leading exponent of the sentimentalist school in Russian literature.
Karankawa
several groups of North American Indians (now extinct) that lived along the Gulf of Mexico from about Galveston Bay to Corpus Christi Bay. They were first encountered by the French ...
Karaosmanoglu, Yakup Kadri
writer and translator, one of the most renowned figures in modern Turkish literature, noted for vigorous studies of 20th-century Turkish life.
Karasi Dynasty
Turkmen dynasty (c. 1300-60) that ruled in the Balikesir-Canakkale region of western Anatolia.
karat
a measure of the fineness (i.e., purity) of gold. It is spelled carat outside the United States but should not be confused with the unit used to measure the weight ...
Karatau
mountain range, a northwestern spur of the Tien Shan, in southern Kazakstan. The name is Turkic, meaning "black mountain." The range extends for 260 miles (420 km) along the Syr ...
karate
unarmed martial-arts discipline employing kicking, striking, and defensive blocking with arms and legs. Emphasis is on concentrating as much of the body's power as possible at the point and instant ...
Karatepe
(Turkish: "Black Hill"), site of a Late Hittite fortress city, located in the piedmont country of the Taurus Mountains in south-central Turkey. The city, dating from the 8th century BC, ...
Karatsu
city, Saga ken (prefecture), northern Kyushu, Japan. Located about 30 miles (50 km) southeast of Fukuoka, it faces Karatsu Bay. Its name is derived from the Japanese ...
Karatsu ware
Japanese ceramic ware of Korean origin produced in Kyushu. The actual date of production is thought to be sometime during the first half of the 16th century, in the late ...
Karavelov, Lyuben Stoychev
Bulgarian writer and revolutionary who contributed to the national reawakening of Bulgaria.
Karawanken
mountain range of the Eastern Alps, extending eastward along the Slovenian-Austrian border for 50 miles (80 km) from the town of Tarvisio in Italy. The range lies between the Drava ...
Karbala'
city, capital of Karbala' muhafazah (governorate), central Iraq. One of Shi'ite Islam's foremost holy cities, it lies 55 miles (88 km) southwest of Baghdad, with which it ...
Karbala', Battle of
(Oct. 10, 680 [10th of Muharram, AH 61]), brief military engagement in which a small party led by al-Husayn ibn 'Ali, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and son of 'Ali, ...
Kardelj, Edvard
Yugoslav revolutionary and politician, a close colleague and chosen successor of Josip Broz Tito. He was the chief ideological theoretician of Yugoslav Marxism, or Titoism.
Kardhitsa
market town and capital, nomos (department) of Kardhitsa, Greece. It lies in the southwestern Thessaly (Thessalia) plain near the Pamisos River. Laid out in rectilinear fashion by the Ottoman Turks, ...
Karelia
respublika (republic), far northwestern Russia. It is bordered to the north by Nenets, to the east by the White Sea, to the south by Lake Ladoga, and ...
Karelian Isthmus
neck of land lying between Lake Ladoga (east; in Saint Petersburg oblast [province]) and the Gulf of Finland (west; part of the Baltic Sea). The isthmus shows evidence of ancient ...
Karelian language
member of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family, spoken in Karelia republic of northwestern Russia and by emigrants in neighbouring Finland. There are two dialects of Karelian-Karelian proper ...
Kareline, Aleksandr
Russian Greco-Roman wrestler revered for his extraordinary strength and unprecedented success in international competition.
Karen
variety of tribal peoples of southern Myanmar (Burma), speaking languages of the Sino-Tibetan family. They are not a unitary group in any ethnic sense, differing linguistically, religiously, and economically. One ...
Karen languages
languages spoken in lower Myanmar (Burma) and on the borders of Thailand. The Karen languages are usually divided into three groups: northern (including Taungthu), central (including Bwe and Geba), and ...
Karg-Elert, Sigfrid
a principal German organ composer of his generation.
Kariba
town, northern Zimbabwe. Situated on the south bank of the Zambezi River and built on the twin hills of Botererkwa overlooking the Kariba Gorge and the man-made Lake Kariba (one ...
Kariba Dam
concrete arch dam across the Zambezi River at Kariba Gorge, on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Completed in 1959, the structure is 420 feet (128 m) high with a ...
Kariba, Lake
lake in central Africa, between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It was formed by damming the Zambezi River in the Kariba Gorge, where the river narrows between hills of hard rock 250 ...
Kariera
Aboriginal tribe of Western Australia that became one of the type groups for the study of Aboriginal social organization and religion. The Kariera originally occupied the coastal and neighbouring inland ...
Karim Khan Zand
first Zand ruler of Iran. He restored peace to the kingdom after the strife following the collapse of the Safavid dynasty.
Karimnagar
city, northern Andhra Pradesh state, southern India. The city is an agricultural (millet, rice, oilseeds, and cotton) centre and road junction.
Karimojong
eastern Nilotic pastoral people of northeastern Uganda. The Karimojong are the largest of a cluster of culturally and historically related peoples, including the Jie, Teso, Dodoth (or Dodos), and Labwor ...
Karina, Anna
Danish beauty prominently featured in French films of the 1960s, notably in those directed by her husband Jean-Luc Godard.
Kariotakis, Kostas
Greek poet influenced by the 19th-century French Symbolist poets.
Karisimbi, Mount
highest peak (14,787 feet [4,507 m]) in the volcanic Virunga Mountains of east-central Africa. It lies on the border of the republics of Congo (Kinshasa) and Rwanda, 18 miles (29 ...
Kariya
city, Aichi ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, southeast of Nagoya. It was founded as a small castle town in 1533 by the Mizuno clan and was passed to various daimyo families ...
Karkar
ancient fortress on the Orontes River, northwest of Hamah, in western Syria. It was the site of two ancient battles.
Karkavitsas, Andreas
Greek novelist and short-story writer whose subject was village life.
Karl Marx Peak
mountain peak in the extreme southwestern Pamirs in Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous oblast (province) of Tajikistan. At an elevation of 22,067 feet (6,726 m), it is the highest summit of the Shakhdarin ...
Karle, Jerome
American crystallographer who, along with Herbert A. Hauptman, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1985 for their development of mathematical methods for deducing the molecular structure of chemical ...
Karlfeldt, Erik Axel
Swedish poet whose essentially regional, tradition-bound poetry was extremely popular and won him the Nobel Prize for Literature posthumously in 1931; he had refused it in 1918, at least in ...
Karli
village, Maharashtra state, west-central India, situated about 32 miles (51 km) northwest of Pune and noted for its rock-cut chaitya, or Buddhist sanctuary.
Karloff, Boris
English actor who became internationally famous for his sympathetic and chilling portrayal of the monster in the classic horror film Frankenstein (1931).
Karlovac
city in Croatia, southwest of Zagreb at the confluence of the Korana and Kupa rivers. It has Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic cathedrals and the oldest public library in Croatia. ...
Karlovy Vary
spa city, Zapadocesky kraj (region), western Czech Republic. The city lies along the Tepla River where it flows into the valley of the Ohre River, 70 miles (113 km) west ...
Karlskoga
town, in the lan (county) of Orebro, south-central Sweden, at the north end of Mockeln (lake). Karlskoga is a modern industrial town that was incorporated in 1940. With the exception ...
Karlskrona
town and port, capital of the lan (county) of Blekinge, southern Sweden, on the Baltic coast. Founded by Charles XI in 1679 as a Baltic base, it has been Sweden's ...
Karlsruhe
city, Baden-Wurttemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. It lies at the northern edge of the Black Forest, northwest of Stuttgart and just a few miles from the Rhine ...
Karlsruhe
Regierungsbezirk (administrative district), northwestern Baden-Wurttemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. Karlsruhe is bordered by France and Rhineland-Palatinate Land to the west, the Lander of Hesse and Bavaria to the north, and ...