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Abkhazia

(Encyclopedia)Abkhazia äpsnēˈ [key], autonomous republic, 3,300 sq mi (8,547 sq km), in Georgia, between the Black Sea and the Greater Caucasus. Sukhumi (the capital) and Gagra are t...

Andrew, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Andrew, Saint [Gr.,=manly], in the New Testament, one of the Twelve Apostles, brother of Peter. According to tradition he was a missionary in Asia Minor, Macedonia, and S Russia. According to the apoc...

Berlin, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Berlin, Congress of, 1878, called by the signers of the Treaty of Paris of 1856 (see Paris, Congress of) to reconsider the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano, which Russia had forced on the Ottoman Em...

Turkmanchai, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Turkmanchai, Treaty of to͝orkmänchīˈ [key], 1828, agreement signed by Russia and Persia at the village of Turkmanchai (Torkaman), East Azerbaijan prov., NW Iran. It concluded the Russo-Persian war...

Staraya Russa

(Encyclopedia)Staraya Russa stäˈrīə ro͞oˈsə [key] [Rus.,=Old Russia], city (1989 pop. 41,500), W European Russia, near Lake Ilmen. It is a health resort with salt springs and mud baths. It is one of the olde...

Cumans

(Encyclopedia)Cumans or Kumans both: ko͞oˈmänz [key], nomadic East Turkic people, identified with the Kipchaks (or the western branch of the Kipchaks) and known in Russian as Polovtsi. Coming from NW Asian Russi...

Muscovy Company

(Encyclopedia)Muscovy Company mŭsˈkəvē [key] or Russia Company, first major English joint-stock trading company. It began in 1553 as a group supporting exploration of a possible northeast passage to Asia. An ex...

Karelian Isthmus

(Encyclopedia)Karelian Isthmus, land bridge, NW European Russia, connecting Russia and Finland. Situated between the Gulf of Finland in the west and Lake Ladoga in the east, it is 25 to 70 mi (40–113 km) wide and...

Caulaincourt, Armand Augustin Louis, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Caulaincourt, Armand Augustin Louis, marquis de ärmäNˈ ōgüstăNˈ lwē märkēˈ də kōlăNko͞orˈ [key], b. 1772 or 1773, d. 1827, French diplomat and general, created duke of Vicenza by Napol...

Pogodin, Mikhail Petrovich

(Encyclopedia)Pogodin, Mikhail Petrovich mēkhəyēlˈ pētrôˈvĭch pəgôˈdyĭn [key], 1800–1875, Russian historian and publisher. His conservative journal The Muscovite (1841–56) defended the policies of N...