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Gustavus III

(Encyclopedia)Gustavus III, 1746–92, king of Sweden (1771–92), son and successor of Adolphus Frederick. When Gustavus ascended the throne, he found his kingdom torn by civil strife. To the conflicting interests...

Josephine

(Encyclopedia)Josephine, 1763–1814, empress of the French (1804–9) as the consort of Napoleon I. Born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie in Martinique, she was married in 1779 to Alexandre de Beauharnais...

Banat

(Encyclopedia)Banat bäˈnät [key], region extending across W Romania, NE Serbia, and S Hungary. The term banat originally referred to any of several frontier provinces of Hungary and Croatia that were ruled by ba...

İstanbul

(Encyclopedia)İstanbul ĭsˌtănbo͞olˈ, ĭstanˈbo͞ol [key], city and metropolitan muncipality,...

Macedonia, region, Europe

(Encyclopedia)Macedonia măsˌədōˈnēə [key], region, SE Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula, divided among the countries of Greece, Bulgaria, and North Macedonia. A secret terrorist organization working for Mace...

despotism

(Encyclopedia)despotism, government by an absolute ruler unchecked by effective constitutional limits to his power. In Greek usage, a despot was ruler of a household and master of its slaves. The title was applied ...

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...

Erzurum

(Encyclopedia)Erzurum –zə– [key], city, capital of Erzurum prov., E Turkey. It is an agricultural trad...

Idfu

(Encyclopedia)Idfu ĕdˈ– [key], town (1986 pop. 45,737), S central Egypt, on the Nile River. It is an agricultural trade center and has paper mills and a sugar refinery. Idfu was the capital of a predynastic upp...

Andronicus II

(Encyclopedia)Andronicus II (Andronicus Palaeologus) pālēŏlˈəgəs [key], 1258–1332, Byzantine emperor (1282–1328), son and successor of Michael VIII. He devoted himself chiefly to church affairs, renewing ...