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Kublai Khan

(Encyclopedia)Kublai Khan ko͞oˈblī kän [key], 1215–94, Mongol emperor, founder of the Yüan dynasty of China. From 1251 to 1259 he led military campaigns in S China. He succeeded (1260) his brother Mongke (Ma...

Franks

(Encyclopedia)Franks, group of Germanic tribes. By the 3d cent. a.d., they were settled along the lower and middle Rhine. The two major divisions were the Salian Franks in the north and the Ripuarian Franks in the ...

Westphalia, Peace of

(Encyclopedia)Westphalia, Peace of, 1648, general settlement ending the Thirty Years War. It marked the end of the Holy Roman Empire as an effective institution and inaugurated the modern European state system. The...

Beirut

(Encyclopedia)Beirut bāro͞otˈ [key], Arab. Bayrut, Fr. Beyrouth, city (1996 est. pop. 1,200,000), W Lebanon, capital of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of the Lebanon Mts. Beirut is an important p...

Alexander, prince of Bulgaria

(Encyclopedia)Alexander (Alexander of Battenberg), 1857–93, prince of Bulgaria (1879–86); second son of Prince Alexander of Hesse-Darmstadt and nephew of Alexander II of Russia. He served in the Russian army ag...

Chişinău

(Encyclopedia)Chişinău kĭshˈənĕfˌ [key], city (1996 est. pop. 735,229), capital of Moldova, on the Byk River, a tributary of the Dniester. Major industries include food and tobacco processing, the assembly o...

Hodeida

(Encyclopedia)Hodeida äl ho͞odāˈdä [key], city, W Yemen, on the Red Sea. An important port, it exported ...

Gourgues, Dominique de

(Encyclopedia)Gourgues, Dominique de dômēnēkˈ də go͞org [key], c.1530–1593, French soldier and adventurer. He served in the French army in Italy, was captured by the Spanish, then by the Turks, served as ga...

Miskolc

(Encyclopedia)Miskolc mĭshˈkôlts [key], city (1991 est. pop 194,000), NE Hungary, on the Sajó River. Hungary's second largest city and a major industrial center, Miskolc has large iron and steel mills, lime and...

Oradea

(Encyclopedia)Oradea –mäˈrĕ [key], Hung. Nagyvárad, Ger. Grosswardein, city (1990 pop. 228,956), W Romania, in Crişana-Maramureş, near the Hungarian border. It is the marketing and shipping center for a liv...