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Darboy, Georges

(Encyclopedia)Darboy, Georges zhôrzh därbwäˈ [key], 1813–71, French churchman, bishop of Nancy (1859–63) and archbishop of Paris (1863–71). In the Franco-Prussian War he behaved heroically, notably in the...

Abu Musa

(Encyclopedia)Abu Musa, island (2010 est. pop. 1,868), c. 4.6 sq mi (12 sq km), E Persian Gulf, disputed between Iran, who occupies it, and the United Arab Emirates. Strategically located near the entra...

Reza Shah Pahlevi

(Encyclopedia)Reza Shah Pahlevi rēˈzä shä päˈləvē [key], 1878–1944, shah of Iran (1925–41). He began his career as an army officer and gained a reputation for valor and leadership. He headed a coup in 1...

Bushehr

(Encyclopedia)Bushehr –shĭrˈ [key], city, SW Iran, on the Persian Gulf. It is one of the chief ports of ...

Behan, Brendan

(Encyclopedia)Behan, Brendan bēˈhăn [key], 1923–64, Irish dramatist. A notoriously outspoken and uninhibited man, he joined the Irish Republican Army in 1937 and was twice imprisoned for political offenses. Hi...

Raisi, Ebrahim

(Encyclopedia) Raisi, Ebrahim , 1960- , Iranian cleric and political leader, b. Mashhad, as Ebrahim Raisol-Sadati. Raisi’s educational history is unclear, with both...

Masjed Soleyman

(Encyclopedia)Masjed Soleyman mäsjĕdˈ sōlāmänˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 107,539), Khuzestan prov., SW Iran, on the Karun River. The site of the first discovery of petroleum in Iran (1908), it is now an oil-ref...

Zahedan

(Encyclopedia)Zahedan zähādänˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 361,623), capital of Sistan and Baluchistan prov., SE Iran, near the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan. One of Iran's poorer cities, Zahedan is a road j...

Hamun-i-Helmand

(Encyclopedia)Hamun-i-Helmand sēstänˈ [key], marshy lake in the Sistan, c.5,000 sq mi (12,950 sq km), on the Iran-Afghanistan border. The lake, fed by the Helmand, Farah, and other rivers, varies in size during ...

Hari Rud

(Encyclopedia)Hari Rud häˈrē ro͞od [key], river, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, rising in the Kuh-e Baba range, central Afghanistan, and flowing west and then north into the steppes S of the Kara Kum desert in Turkm...