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Puntland

(Encyclopedia)Puntland, semiautonomous region (2009 est. pop. 3,900,000), c.82,050 sq mi (212,500 sq km), extreme NE Somalia. It is bordered on the N by the Gulf of Aden, on the E by the Indian Ocean, on the S by t...

Arab League

(Encyclopedia)Arab League, popular name for the League of Arab States, formed in 1945 in an attempt to give political expression to the Arab nations. The original charter members were Egypt, Iraq, Jordan (then know...

Hamina

(Encyclopedia)Hamina häˈmĭnä [key], Swed. Fredrikshamn, city, South Finland prov., SE Finland, on the G...

Ogooué

(Encyclopedia)Ogooué or Ogowe both: ōgōwāˈ [key], river, c.560 mi (900 km) long, rising on the Batéké Plateau, SW Congo (Brazzaville). It flows NW and W across Gabon to the Gulf of Guinea, near Port-Gentil, ...

Arnhem Land

(Encyclopedia)Arnhem Land, 37,100 sq mi (96,089 sq km), N Northern Territory, Australia, on a wide peninsula W of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The great majority of the region belongs to the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Rese...

Biafra, Bight of

(Encyclopedia)Biafra, Bight of bēäˈfrə [key], eastern bay of the Gulf of Guinea, W Africa. It extends approximately from the Niger River delta, in S Nigeria, to N Gabon. The bight gave its name to the secession...

Pausanias, Spartan general

(Encyclopedia)Pausanias pôsāˈnēəs [key], d. c.470 b.c., Spartan general; nephew of King Leonidas. He was the victorious commander at Plataea (479) near Thebes in the Persian Wars and followed up the battle wit...

Tahpanhes

(Encyclopedia)Tahpanhes tēhăfˈnĭhēz [key], ancient city, NE Egypt, on Lake Manzala. The site is now on the Suez Canal. Herodotus states that the city (called by the Greeks Daphnae) had a garrison of Psamtik's ...

Baybars I

(Encyclopedia)Baybars I bīˈbärs [key], 1223–77, Mamluk sultan (1260–77) of Egypt and Syria. Once a Turkish slave, Baybars became a commander of the Ayyubid and then Mamluk armies. In 1260 he led Mamluk troop...

Plataea

(Encyclopedia)Plataea plətēˈə [key], ancient city of Greece, in S Boeotia (now Voiotía), on the slope of Mt. Cithaeron (Kithairón). Plataea had voluntarily passed from Theban to Athenian protection before the...