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Muhammad IV, Ottoman sultan

(Encyclopedia)Muhammad IV or Mehmet IV, 1641–92, Ottoman sultan (1648–87). He was proclaimed sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) by the corps of Janissaries after the deposition and murder of his father, Sult...

Návpaktos

(Encyclopedia)Návpaktos nôpăkˈtəs [key], town, central Greece, a port on the strait (Strait of Ríon or Lepanto) between the gulfs of Corinth and Pátrai; also called Lepanto. The town was captured by Athens i...

Nicaea

(Encyclopedia)Nicaea nīsēˈə [key], city of Bithnyia, N Asia Minor, built in the 4th cent. b.c. by Antigonus I as Antigonia and renamed Nicaea by Lysimachus for his wife. It flourished under the Romans. It was t...

Acarnania

(Encyclopedia)Acarnania ăkˌərnāˈnēə [key], region of ancient Greece, between the Achelous River and the Ionian Sea. The chief city was Stratos. The Acarnanians sided with Athens during the Peloponnesian War,...

Cilicia

(Encyclopedia)Cilicia sĭlĭshˈə [key], ancient region of SE Asia Minor, in present S Turkey, between the Mediterranean and the Taurus range. It included a high and barren plateau, Cilicia Trachia or Cilicia Trac...

Merv

(Encyclopedia)Merv myĕrf [key], ancient city, in Turkmenistan, in a large oasis of the Kara Kum desert, on the Murgab River. The city, known in antiquity as Margiana, or Antiochia Margiana, was founded in the 3d c...

Abd al-Hamid II

(Encyclopedia)Abd al-Hamid II, 1842–1918, Ottoman sultan (1876–1909). His uncle, Abd al-Aziz, was deposed from the throne of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) in 1876 by the Young Turks, a liberal reformist group. Ab...

Manuel II, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Manuel II (Manuel Palaeologus), 1350–1425, Byzantine emperor (1391–1425), son and successor of John V. In his youth he was taken captive by the Turks, and during his reign the Ottomans reduced the...

Arabs

(Encyclopedia)Arabs, name originally applied to the Semitic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula. It now refers to those persons whose primary language is Arabic. They constitute most of the population of Algeria, Bahr...

Varna

(Encyclopedia)Varna värˈnä [key], city (1993 pop. 307,200), E Bulgaria, on the Black Sea. It is a major port and an industrial center. Manufactures include ships and boats, chemicals, electrical equipment, and t...