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Åland Islands

(Encyclopedia)Åland Islands ōˈläntsûˈu̇rnä [key], archipelago, 581 sq mi (1,505 sq km), in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland, at the entrance of the Gulf of Bothnia. Pol...

Babel, Isaac Emmanuelovich

(Encyclopedia)Babel, Isaac Emmanuelovich ēˈsäk əmäno͞oāˈləvĭch bäˈbəl [key], 1894–1940, Russian writer, b. Odessa. Babel was quick to embrace the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, but in the end it was t...

Nazarbayev, Nursultan

(Encyclopedia)Nazarbayev, Nursultan no͝orso͝oltänˈ näzˌərbīˈəf [key], 1940–, Kazakh politician, president of Kazakhstan (1991–2019). Trained as a metallurgical engineer, he was employed at the Karagan...

Adjarian Autonomous Republic

(Encyclopedia)Adjarian Autonomous Republic or Ajarian Autonomous Republic əjärˌĭstänˈ, əjärˈĭstănˌ [key], autonomous region, c.1,160 sq mi (3,000 sq km), SW Georgia...

Manchuria

(Encyclopedia)Manchuria măncho͝orˈēə [key], Mandarin Dongbei sansheng [three northeastern provinces], region, c.600,000 sq mi (1,554,000 sq km), NE China. It is officially known as the Northeast. Manchuria is ...

Estonia

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Estonia ĕstōˈnēə [key], Estonian Eesti, officially Republic of Estonia, republic ...

Russian language

(Encyclopedia)Russian language, also called Great Russian, member of the East Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages). The principal language of administ...

totalitarianism

(Encyclopedia)totalitarianism tōtălˌĭtârˈēənĭzəm [key], a modern autocratic government in which the state involves itself in all facets of society, including the daily life of its citizens. A totalitarian...

Kursk

(Encyclopedia)Kursk ko͝orsk [key], city (1989 pop. 424,000), capital of Kursk region, W European Russia, at the confluence of the Tuskor and Seim rivers. An important rail junction, it has machine, chemical, and s...

Jaroszewicz, Piotr

(Encyclopedia)Jaroszewicz, Piotr pyôˈtər yärôshĕˈvĭch [key], 1909–92, Polish political leader. A schoolmaster, he lived during World War II in the Soviet Union, where he joined the Polish army in 1943. In...