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Polo, Marco

(Encyclopedia)Polo, Marco märˈkō pōˈlō [key], 1254?–1324?, Venetian traveler in China. His father, Niccolò Polo, and his uncle, Maffeo Polo, had made (1253–60) a trading expedition to Constantinople. A w...

Amida

(Encyclopedia)Amida ămˈĭdə, əmīˈdə [key], ancient city, E Asia Minor, on the Tigris River. It became (a.d. 230) a Roman colony and was later (4th cent.) captured by Shapur II of Persia. It is the modern Diy...

cucumber

(Encyclopedia)cucumber, fruit of Cucumis sativus, a species of gourd whose many varieties are descended from a plant native to Asia and Africa. Cucumber is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliops...

Trans-Alai

(Encyclopedia)Trans-Alai trăns-älīˈ, trănz– [key], mountain range, central Asia, a part of the Pamir-Alai mountain system. The Trans-Alai extends 155 mi (249 km) W from China to form the border between Kyrgy...

bandicoot rat

(Encyclopedia)bandicoot rat, giant rat of southern Asia, unrelated to true bandicoots. It is an agricultural pest in the grain crops and gardens of India and Sri Lanka and is known for the piglike grunts it emits w...

Nicholson, James William Augustus

(Encyclopedia)Nicholson, James William Augustus, 1821–87, American naval officer, b. Dedham, Mass.; grandson of Samuel Nicholson. He was appointed a midshipman in 1838, served under Commodore Perry in East Asia (...

Celaenae

(Encyclopedia)Celaenae sĭlēˈnē [key], ancient city of Asia Minor, in Phrygia, near the source of the Maeander River, in present-day W central Turkey. In the days of the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great had a pal...

Bent, James Theodore

(Encyclopedia)Bent, James Theodore, 1853–97, English explorer and archaeologist. He engaged in archaeological research on the coast of Asia Minor (1888–89) and in Bahrain (1889), Cilicia Trachia (1890), Mashona...

Shaw, Run Run

(Encyclopedia)Shaw, Run Run, 1907–2014, Chinese film mogul, best known of the six Shaw brothers who founded an Asian movie empire. In Shanghai, he and his elder brother Runme Shaw made their first film (1924) and...

Sardis

(Encyclopedia)Sardis –dēz [key], ancient city of Lydia, W Asia Minor, at the foot of Mt. Tmolus, 35 mi (56 km) NE of the modern Izmir, Turkey. As capital of Lydia, it was the political and cultural center of Asi...