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Karim Khan

(Encyclopedia)Karim Khan kärēmˈ khän [key], d. 1779, ruler of Persia (1750–79), founder of the Zand dynasty. He emerged victorious from a contest for power and ruled under the title Vakil [representative]. Hi...

Kasala

(Encyclopedia)Kasala or Kassala both: käsäˈlä, kăsˈəlä [key], city (1993 pop. 234,622), E Sudan. It is a market center and rail transport hub and has extensive fruit gardens. Founded in 1840 as a military c...

Leo Africanus

(Encyclopedia)Leo Africanus ăfrĭkāˈnəs [key], c.1465–1550, Moorish traveler in Africa and the Middle East. His Arabic name was Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad. Captured by pirates, he was sent as a slave to Pope Leo X...

Hariri

(Encyclopedia)Hariri (Abu Muhammad al-Kasim al-Hariri) härēˈrē [key], 1054–1122, Arab writer of Basra. His principal work is one of the most popular of Arabic books. It is called Makamat [literary assemblies]...

An Najaf

(Encyclopedia)An Najaf än näˈjäf [key], city (2020 pop. 874,000), S central Iraq, on a lake near the Euphrates River. The city, one of Shi'a Islam's holiest, is also called Mashad A...

Ghor

(Encyclopedia)Ghor, Ghowr go͝or [key], mountainous region and province (1979 est. pop. 341,000), 14,085 sq mi (36,479 sq km), W central Afghanistan, including a ruined medieval city of the same name. Chagcharan i...

Stevenson, Teófilo

(Encyclopedia)Stevenson, Teófilo, 1952–2012, Cuban heavyweight boxer, b. Puerto Padre. One of the greatest amateur boxers ever to enter the ring, he won gold medals at the Munich (1972), Montreal (1976), and Mos...

Sulayman II

(Encyclopedia)Sulayman II, 1642–91, Ottoman sultan (1687–91), brother and successor of Muhammad IV to the throne of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). His grand vizier (chief executive officer), Mustafa Köprülü, w...

Abd ar-Rahman Khan

(Encyclopedia)Abd ar-Rahman Khan kän, khän [key], 1844?–1901, emir of Afghanistan (1880–1901); grandson of Dost Muhammad. He opposed his uncle, Sher Ali, and was forced into exile in 1869. He was, however, re...

Cosell, Howard

(Encyclopedia)Cosell, Howard kōsĕlˈ [key], 1920–95, American sports broadcaster, b. Winston-Salem, N.C., as Howard William Cohen. He grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and became a lawyer; in 1956 he began covering sp...