(Encyclopedia) Ershad, Hussain Muhammad, 1930–2019, Bangladeshi military and political leader, b. Cooch Behar (now part of West Bengal, India). Commissioned in Pakistan's army in 1952, he was a…
(Encyclopedia) chant, general name for one-voiced, unaccompanied, liturgical music. Usually it refers to the liturgical melodies of the Byzantine, Russian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Anglican…
(Encyclopedia) Farabi, al-Farabi, al-äl-färäˈbē [key], d. 950, Islamic philosopher. He studied in Baghdad and later flourished in Aleppo as a sufi mystic (see Sufism). He died in Damascus. Al-Farabi…
(Encyclopedia) Pirenne, HenriPirenne, HenriäNrēˈ pērĕnˈ [key], 1862–1935, Belgian historian. He was for many years a professor of history at the Univ. of Ghent. A leader of Belgian passive resistance…
(Encyclopedia) SyriacSyriacsērˈēăkˌ [key], late dialect of Aramaic, which is a West Semitic language (see Afroasiatic languages). The early Christians of Mesopotamia and Syria gave the Greek name…
(Encyclopedia) Bulgars, EasternBulgars, Easternbŭlˈgärz, –gərz [key], Turkic-speaking people, who possessed a powerful state (10th–14th cent.) at the confluence of the Volga and the Kama, E European…
(Encyclopedia) MeccaMeccamĕkˈə [key] or MakkahMakkahmăkˈə [key], city (1993 pop. 966,381), capital of the Hejaz, W Saudi Arabia. The birthplace c.a.d. 570 of Muhammad the Prophet, it is the holiest…
(Encyclopedia) caliphatecaliphatekălˈĭfātˌ, –fĭt [key], the rulership of Islam; caliphcaliphkălˈĭfˌ [key], the spiritual head and temporal ruler of the Islamic state. In principle, Islam is…
U.S. Department of State Background Note Index: Geography History Government Political Conditions Economy Foreign Relations U.S.-Somali Relations GEOGRAPHY The Cushitic populations of the…
Holidays: Religious and Secular, 2005 In the United States, there are ten federal holidays set by law. Four are set by date (New Year's Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day, and Christmas Day). The…
