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Seoul

(Encyclopedia)Seoul sāˈo͞ol, sāˈo͝ol, sōl [key], city (1995 pop. 10,229,262), capital of South Korea, NW South Korea, on the Han River. It has special status equivalent to that of a province. The political, ...

Mandaeans

(Encyclopedia)Mandaeans or Mandeans mănˈdēənz [key], a small religious sect who maintain an ancient belief resembling that of Gnosticism and that of the Parsis. They are also known as Christians of St. John, Na...

Numidia

(Encyclopedia)Numidia no͞omĭdˈēə [key], ancient country of NW Africa, very roughly the modern Algeria. It was part of the Carthaginian empire until Masinissa, ruler of E Numidia, allied himself (c.206 b.c.) wi...

Gerasa

(Encyclopedia)Gerasa both: jĕˈräsh, jəräshˈ [key], ancient city of the Decapolis, 22 mi (35 km) N of Amman, in present-day Jordan. According to Josephus it was captured (83 b.c.) by Alexander Jannaeus, king o...

Thailand

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Thailand tīˈlănd, –lənd [key], Thai Prathet Thai [land of the free], officially Kingdom of Thailand, constitutional monarchy (2015 est. pop. 68,658,000), 198,455 sq mi (514,000 sq km), So...

Ahtisaari, Martti Oiva Kalevi

(Encyclopedia)Ahtisaari, Martti Oiva Kalevi äkhˈtēsärrē [key], 1937–, Finnish diplomat, political leader, and international mediator; grad. Univ. of Oulu (1959). Joining (1965) the foreign affairs ministry, ...

Samarkand

(Encyclopedia)Samarkand sămərkăndˈ, Rus. səmərkäntˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 395,000), capital of Samarkand region, in Uzbekistan, on the Trans-Caspian RR. It is one of the oldest existing cities in the world...

United Nations Members (table)

(Encyclopedia)United Nations Members

farming, in taxation

(Encyclopedia)farming, in the history of taxation, collection of taxes through private contractors. Usually, the tax farmer paid a lump sum to the public treasury; the difference between that sum and the sum actual...

Basque language

(Encyclopedia)Basque language, tongue of uncertain relationship spoken by close to a million people, most of whom live in NE Spain and some of whom reside in SW France. The language has eight dialects. Speakers of ...