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  • kabīr (ancient Arabian title)
    ...of varying size and importance, some quite small, with none exercising a dominating role over the others. Among the other three peoples the office of “elder” (kabīr) was normally filled by the head of one of the associated communities in a national federation. Among the Minaeans, however, the ......
  • Kabīr (Indian mystic and poet)
    iconoclastic Indian poet-saint revered by Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs alike....
  • Kabīr Panth (Indian religious sect)
    The importance of these writers is not limited to literature. A small sect, the Kabirpanthis, acknowledges Kabir as its founder, but its importance is less than that of the vigorous new religion (Sikhism) founded by one of Kabir’s disciples, Nanak....
  • Kabīr, Wādī Al- (river, Spain)
    major watercourse of southern Spain. Rising in the mountains of Jaén province, it flows in a generally westward direction for 408 miles (657 km), emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at Sanlúcar de Barrameda, on the Gulf of Cádiz. It drains an area of 22,318 square miles (57,803 square km)....
  • Kabirpanthis (Indian religious sect)
    The importance of these writers is not limited to literature. A small sect, the Kabirpanthis, acknowledges Kabir as its founder, but its importance is less than that of the vigorous new religion (Sikhism) founded by one of Kabir’s disciples, Nanak....
  • Kabistan rug
    usually small floor covering woven in the republic of Dagestan in the eastern Caucasus (Russia). Dagestan rugs are finer than the Kazakh types, but less fine than rugs from the vicinity of Kuba to the south. While many of the rugs are given the Derbent label, after a major collecting point, much of the weaving has occurred to the south in villages around Ortasal and Kasumkent....
  • Kābol (Afghanistan)
    capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It lies along the Kābul River at an elevation of about 5,900 feet (1,800 metres) in the east-central part of the country. The nation’s cultural and economic centre, the city lies in a triangular valley between the two steep Asmai and Sherdawaza mountain ranges. Roads connect it with most other areas of Afghanistan, with Uzbe...
  • Kabompo River (river, Zambia)
    ...is the Barotse, or Zambezi, Plain. The region is inundated during the summer floods, when it receives fertile alluvial soils. The main tributaries intersecting the river along the plains are the Kabompo River from the east and the larger Lungué-Bungo (Lungwebungo) River from the west....
  • Kaboyo, Prince (Toro leader)
    ...created the earliest centralized political organization in the area and that these people were succeeded by the Cwezi and then by the Bito—a Nilotic people who had come from the north. Led by Prince Kaboyo, the Toro seceded from the Bito-ruled Bunyoro kingdom about 1830. Royal regalia were received from the Bunyoro rulers, and, as Kaboyo consolidated and extended his kingdom, he gained.....
  • Kabti-ilani-Marduk (Babylonian poet)
    In 764, after an epidemic, the Erra epic, the myth of Erra (the god of war and pestilence), was written by Kabti-ilani-Marduk. He invented an original plot, which diverged considerably from the old myths; long discourses of the gods involved in the action form the most important part of the epic. There is a passage in the epic claiming that the text was divinely revealed to the poet during a......
  • kabu nakama (Japanese guild)
    ...them concentrate on rice farming. He tried to lower the prices of commodities in the cities through detailed regulations on the lives of townspeople. Tadakuni further ordered the dissolution of kabu nakama, the merchant and artisan guilds, since he regarded them as the cause of rising commodity prices. Concerned as well with the foreign threat, he planned to reclaim the Imba Swamp (in......
  • Kabua, Amata (president of Marshall Islands)
    Marshallese politician who founded the Political Movement for the Marshall Islands Separation from Micronesia (1972) and served as president of the Marshall Islands from 1979 when the republic gained independence; he was elected to his fifth term of office in 1995 (b. Nov. 17, 1928--d. Dec. 19, 1996)....
  • Kabua, Emlain (wife of president, Marshall Islands)
    ...government was introduced there on May 1, 1979, the occasion was heralded by the hoisting of a national flag, which had been created in a flag design competition. The winning entry was designed by Emlain Kabua, wife of the president of the new government, Amata Kabua. The blue background of the flag refers to the Pacific Ocean, the white stripe stands for brightness, and the orange stripe is......
  • Kabuki (Japanese arts)
    traditional Japanese popular drama with singing and dancing performed in a highly stylized manner. A rich blend of music, dance, mime, and spectacular staging and costuming, it has been the chief theatrical form in Japan for almost four centuries. The term kabuki originally suggested the unorthodox and shocking character of this art form....
  • Kabuki jūhachiban (Kabuki plays)
    Danjūrō VII (1791–1859), the greatest actor of the late Tokugawa period (1603–1867), established the Kabuki jūhachiban (“18 Grand Plays of Kabuki”), the special repertoire of the Ichikawa family. Danjūrō IX (1838–1903), of the Meiji period (1868–1912), revitalized the theatre and participated in the first kabuki......
  • Kabuki Theatre (theatre, Tokyo, Japan)
    At present, regular performances are held at the Kabuki Theatre (Kabuki-za)—with a capacity of 1,600—and the National Theatre, both in Tokyo. Other theatres have occasional performances. Troupes of Kabuki actors also perform outside of Tokyo. There are several such companies, but their memberships often overlap. At the Kabuki Theatre, the length of an average program is about five......
  • Kabuki-za (theatre, Tokyo, Japan)
    At present, regular performances are held at the Kabuki Theatre (Kabuki-za)—with a capacity of 1,600—and the National Theatre, both in Tokyo. Other theatres have occasional performances. Troupes of Kabuki actors also perform outside of Tokyo. There are several such companies, but their memberships often overlap. At the Kabuki Theatre, the length of an average program is about five......
  • Kabul (Afghanistan)
    capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It lies along the Kābul River at an elevation of about 5,900 feet (1,800 metres) in the east-central part of the country. The nation’s cultural and economic centre, the city lies in a triangular valley between the two steep Asmai and Sherdawaza mountain ranges. Roads connect it with most other areas of Afghanistan, with Uzbe...
  • Kābul Kohestān (mountain range, Asia)
    ...Marco Polo and his group is said to have passed along the Hindu Kush through the Badakhshān and Vākhān regions in the 13th century. The central section of the range, known as Kābul Kūhestān (Kohistan), was famous in antiquity as the location of the triodon, three great transmontane routes. The first of these was either the Khawāk Pass in t...
  • Kābul Kūhestān (mountain range, Asia)
    ...Marco Polo and his group is said to have passed along the Hindu Kush through the Badakhshān and Vākhān regions in the 13th century. The central section of the range, known as Kābul Kūhestān (Kohistan), was famous in antiquity as the location of the triodon, three great transmontane routes. The first of these was either the Khawāk Pass in t...
  • Kabul Pohantoon (university, Kabul, Afghanistan)
    Higher education has been limited to two institutions: Kabul University, founded in 1946 by the incorporation of a number of faculties, the oldest of which is the faculty of medicine, established in 1932, and the University of Nangarhār, established in Jalālābād in 1963. The civil war interfered with their operation, especially during the 1990s and again during the U.S....
  • Kābul River (river, Pakistan-Afghanistan)
    river in eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, 435 miles (700 km) long, of which 350 miles are in Afghanistan. Rising in the Sanglākh Range 45 miles west of Kabul city, it flows east past Kabul and Jalālābād, north of the Khyber Pass into Pakistan, and past Peshāwar; it joins the Indus River northwest of Islāmābād. The river has four...
  • Kabul University (university, Kabul, Afghanistan)
    Higher education has been limited to two institutions: Kabul University, founded in 1946 by the incorporation of a number of faculties, the oldest of which is the faculty of medicine, established in 1932, and the University of Nangarhār, established in Jalālābād in 1963. The civil war interfered with their operation, especially during the 1990s and again during the U.S....
  • Kābul University (university, Kabul, Afghanistan)
    Higher education has been limited to two institutions: Kabul University, founded in 1946 by the incorporation of a number of faculties, the oldest of which is the faculty of medicine, established in 1932, and the University of Nangarhār, established in Jalālābād in 1963. The civil war interfered with their operation, especially during the 1990s and again during the U.S....
  • Kaburagi Ken’ichi (Japanese painter)
    Japanese painter known for his works depicting Tokyo and its people in the Meiji era (1868–1912)....
  • Kaburagi Kiyokata (Japanese painter)
    Japanese painter known for his works depicting Tokyo and its people in the Meiji era (1868–1912)....
  • Kabushiki Kaisha Hitachi Seisakusho (Japanese manufacturer)
    highly diversified Japanese manufacturing corporation that comprises more than 1,000 subsidiaries, including 335 overseas corporations. Headquarters are in Tokyo....
  • Kabwe (Zambia)
    town, central Zambia. It is an important transportation and mining centre north of Lusaka on the Great North Road, at an elevation of 3,879 feet (1,182 metres). The Rhodesian Broken Hill Development Company (formed 1903) was instrumental in opening the region to foreign mining interests. After the mine was sunk for extraction of the high-grade zinc, vanadium, and lead ores, the ...
  • Kabwe cranium (anthropology)
    fossilized skull of an extinct human species (genus Homo) found near the town of Kabwe, Zambia (formerly Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia), in 1921. It was the first discovered remains of premodern Homo in Africa and until the early 1970s was considered to be 30,000 to 40,000 years old—only on...
  • Kabyle (ancient city, Bulgaria)
    town, east-central Bulgaria, on the Tundzha (Tundja) River. North of the present town are the ruins of Kabyle (or Cabyle), which originated as a Bronze Age settlement in the 2nd millennium bc and was conquered by the Macedonians under Philip II in 342–341 bc. Taken by Rome in 72 bc, Kabyle became a city in the Roman province of Thrace, governing the...
  • Kabyle (people)
    Berber people of Algeria inhabiting a partially mountainous region stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the southern slopes of the Great Kabylie mountains and from Dellys to Cape Aokas. Numbering about 2,000,000 in the late 20th century, they are mainly Muslims with a few Christians and are predominantly agricultural, growing grains and olives and herding goats. Their language, Kabyle (also c...
  • Kabyle language
    ...Numbering about 2,000,000 in the late 20th century, they are mainly Muslims with a few Christians and are predominantly agricultural, growing grains and olives and herding goats. Their language, Kabyle (also called Zouaouah, or Zwāwah), is a Berber language of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) family....
  • Kabylia (region, Algeria)
    mountainous coastal region in northern Algeria, between Algiers and Skikda. It comprises: (1) the Great Kabylie (Grande Kabylie) or Djurdjura Mountains bounded on the west by the Isser River and on the southeast by the Wadi Soummam; (2) the Little Kabylie (Petite Kabylie, or Kabylie des Babors) around the Gulf of Bejaïa (Bougie); and (3) the Collo Kabyl...
  • Kabylie (region, Algeria)
    mountainous coastal region in northern Algeria, between Algiers and Skikda. It comprises: (1) the Great Kabylie (Grande Kabylie) or Djurdjura Mountains bounded on the west by the Isser River and on the southeast by the Wadi Soummam; (2) the Little Kabylie (Petite Kabylie, or Kabylie des Babors) around the Gulf of Bejaïa (Bougie); and (3) the Collo Kabyl...
  • Kabylie de Collo (mountains, Algeria)
    ...bounded on the west by the Isser River and on the southeast by the Wadi Soummam; (2) the Little Kabylie (Petite Kabylie, or Kabylie des Babors) around the Gulf of Bejaïa (Bougie); and (3) the Collo Kabylie (Kabylie de Collo) forming the hinterland of Cape Bougarʿoun. The Kabylie is joined to the Tell Atlas on the west by the Bou Zegza Mountains....
  • Kabylie des Babors (region, Algeria)
    With increased altitude the temperature drops rapidly; despite the proximity of the sea, the coastal massifs are cold regions. At 6,575 feet the summits of Mount Babor in the Little Kabylie region are covered with snow for four or five months, while the Moroccan High Atlas retains its snows until the height of summer. Winter in the Atlas is hard, imposing severe conditions upon the......
  • kacapi (musical instrument)
    ...which reached China from Persia a number of centuries ago; it is the only representative of the box zither in East Asia. Indonesian chamber music often uses a kacapi, a box zither with 12 to 18 strings and movable bridges. The history of this type of chordophone is obscure indeed, but two instruments of this general shape that may be very old......
  • kaccā (food)
    ...who provide honorific services. Food is regarded as pakkā if it contains ghee (clarified butter), which is a very costly fat and which is believed to promote health and virility. Kaccā is defined as inferior because it contains no ghee; it is used as ordinary family fare or as daily payment for servants and artisans. When food serves as payment for services......
  • kacch (Sikh religious dress)
    ...Ks”—kes or kesh (uncut hair), kangha (comb), kacch (short trousers), kara (steel bracelet), and kirpan (double-edged dagger)—did not become an......
  • Kacchi (language)
    ...Indo-Aryan language spoken in the province of Sindh, Pakistan, and in the neighbouring Rann of Kutch and Kāthiāwār Peninsula in India. The standard Sindhi dialect is Vicholi. Kacchi, spoken in Kutch, is classified by some as a Sindhi dialect strongly influenced by the Gujarati language and is considered by others to be a transitional dialect between Sindhi and Gujarati.......
  • Kacchi (desert, Pakistan)
    ...trading post at Lothal on the Gulf of Khambhat (Cambay), as well as many other sites, some of which are major. West of the Indus River a number of important sites are situated on the alluvial Kacchi desert region of Balochistan, Pak., toward Sibi and Quetta. East of the Indus system, toward the north, a number of sites occur right up to the edge of the Himalayan foothills, where at......
  • kacchi ghori (dance)
    ...ghoomar, danced by women in long full skirts and colourful chuneris (squares of cloth draping head and shoulders and tucked in front at the waist). Especially spectacular are the kacchi ghori dancers of this region. Equipped with shields and long swords, the upper part of their bodies each arrayed in the traditional attire of a bridegroom and the lower part concealed by a.....
  • Kacew, Romain (French author)
    Lithuanian-born French novelist whose first work, L’Éducation européenne (1945; Forest of Anger), won him immediate acclaim. Humanistic and optimistic despite its graphic depictions of the horrors of World War II, the novel was later revised and reissued in English as Nothing Important Ever Dies (1960)....
  • Kach Party (political party, Israel)
    There Kahane formed the Kach Party and stirred nationalist fervor against Arabs, whom he campaigned to remove (violently, if necessary) from Israel and all Israeli-occupied areas. He won a seat in the Israeli Knesset (parliament) in 1984, but his term ended when Israel banned the Kach Party for its antidemocratic and racist beliefs....
  • Kacha (people)
    ...to Khakassia republic in central Russia. The general name Khakass encompasses five Turkic-speaking groups that differ widely in their ethnic origin as well as in their culture and everyday life: the Kacha, Sagay (Sagai), Beltir, Kyzyl, and Koybal. Before the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Kacha were seminomadic pastoralists raising cattle, sheep, and horses. The Kyzyl had permanent villages and...
  • Kachari (people)
    The Kachārī tribe is divided into clans named after aspects of nature (e.g., heaven, earth, rivers, animals, and plants). Descent and succession to property are in the male line. They have a tribal religion, with an extensive pantheon of village and household gods. Marriage is usually arranged by the parents and involves the payment of a bride-price. Such institutions as the.....
  • Kachchh, Gulf of (gulf, India)
    northeastern arm of the Arabian Sea, extending between the Rann of Kachchh (a salt waste) and the Kāthiāwār Peninsula of west-central India. Reaching eastward for some 110 miles (180 km), the gulf varies in width from 10 to 40 miles (16 to 65 km). It is rimmed with mudflats, and many small islands rise from its waters. The port at the entrance to the gulf is Okha; other ports ...
  • Kachchh, Rann of (mud flats, Asia)
    saline mudflats, west-central India and southern Pakistan. The Great Rann covers an area of about 7,000 square miles (18,000 square km) and lies almost entirely within Gujarāt state, India, along the border with Pakistan. The Little Rann of Kachchh extends northeast from the Gulf of Kachchh and occupies about 2,000 square miles (5,100 square km) in Gujarāt state. Originally an extens...
  • Kachemak culture (Alaskan culture)
    a culture found around the Kachemak Bay of the southern Kenai Peninsula in central southern Alaska. It is divided into three phases, the oldest of which may date back as far as the 8th century bc and the most recent lasting until historic times. The first phase was more distinctly Eskimo in character than the later ones....
  • Kachh, Gulf of (gulf, India)
    northeastern arm of the Arabian Sea, extending between the Rann of Kachchh (a salt waste) and the Kāthiāwār Peninsula of west-central India. Reaching eastward for some 110 miles (180 km), the gulf varies in width from 10 to 40 miles (16 to 65 km). It is rimmed with mudflats, and many small islands rise from its waters. The port at the entrance to the gulf is Okha; other ports ...
  • Kachh, Rann of (mud flats, Asia)
    saline mudflats, west-central India and southern Pakistan. The Great Rann covers an area of about 7,000 square miles (18,000 square km) and lies almost entirely within Gujarāt state, India, along the border with Pakistan. The Little Rann of Kachchh extends northeast from the Gulf of Kachchh and occupies about 2,000 square miles (5,100 square km) in Gujarāt state. Originally an extens...
  • Kachin (people)
    tribal peoples occupying parts of northeastern Myanmar (Burma) and contiguous areas of India (Arunachal Pradesh and Nāgāland) and China (Yunnan). The greatest number of Kachin live in Myanmar (roughly 590,000), but some 120,000 live in China and a few thousand in India. Numbering about 712,000 in the late 20th century, they speak a variety of languages of the Tibe...
  • Kachin Hills (highlands, Myanmar)
    heavily forested group of highlands situated in the northeasternmost section of Myanmar (Burma). They range north-south and are bordered on the northwest by Arunachal Pradesh state of India, on the north by the Tibet autonomous region of China, and on the east by Yunnan province of China. The hills blend with the Kumon Range to the west. The Kachin Hills are drained by the Mali and Nmai rivers, wh...
  • Kachin language
    ...in the widest sense of the word) comprises a number of dialects and languages spoken in Tibet and the Himalayas. Burmic (Burmese in its widest application) includes Yi (Lolo), Hani, Lahu, Lisu, Kachin (Jingpo), Kuki-Chin, the obsolete Xixia (Tangut), and other languages. The Tibetan writing system (which dates from the 7th century) and the Burmese (dating from the 11th century) are derived......
  • kachina (North American Indian religion)
    in traditional religions of the Pueblo Indians of North America, any of more than 500 divine and ancestral spirit beings who interact with humans. Each Pueblo culture has distinct forms and variations of kachinas....
  • Kachina Bridge (geological formation, Utah, United States)
    The largest bridge, Sipapu, rises 220 feet (67 metres) above the streambed and has a span of 268 feet (82 metres). The Kachina and Owachomo bridges are, respectively, 210 and 106 feet (64 and 32 metres) high with spans of 204 and 180 feet (62 and 55 metres). There are many Native American ruins in the vicinity, and pictographs are found on the abutments of Kachina, carved by early Ancestral......
  • kachina doll (North American Indian religion)
    ...those found in Inca and Aztec graves (see photograph), such as those near the pyramids of Teotihuacán. Colonial dolls mostly followed European models. Among American Indian dolls, the kachina doll of the Pueblo Indians is noteworthy....
  • kachina mask (North American Indian religion)
    Kachinas are believed to reside with the tribe for half of each year. They will allow themselves to be seen by a community if its men properly perform a traditional ritual while wearing kachina masks and other regalia. The spirit-being depicted on the mask is thought to be actually present with or within the performer, temporarily transforming him....
  • Kachinish languages
    ...their most likely affiliation. Some scholars believe the Tibetic and Burmic divisions to be premature and that for the present their subdivisions (such as Bodish, Himalayish, Kirantish, Burmish, Kachinish, and Kukish) should be considered as the classificatory peaks around which other Sino-Tibetan languages group themselves as members or more or less distant relatives. Certainly the stage......
  • K’achta (Russia)
    town, Buryatiya, south-central Russia. It lies in the basin of the Selenga River, on the frontier with Mongolia. The town is on the railway and motor road from Ulan-Ude to Ulaanbaatar; both routes follow an ancient caravan track that was the only recognized link between Russia and China in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Russian fortress of Troitskosavsk, founded in 1728 adjacent to Kyakhta villa...
  • Kachwaha Rajput (Indian clan)
    ...urban agglomeration and is noted for its magnificent palace. The town is entirely surrounded by hills and stands at the foot of a rocky gorge. Āmer was made the capital of the state of the Kachwāhā Rājputs (warrior rulers of the historical region of Rājputāna) in the 12th century and for 600 years continued to be a political centre. Its name is derived....
  • KACST (Saudi Arabian government organization)
    Also located in Riyadh is the King ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz City for Science and Technology (KACST), which carries out research designed to promote the enrichment of Saudi society through technological development. KACST is linked to some of the world’s preeminent scientific and technological centres, with whom a number of cooperative projects—including the establishment of...
  • Kaczmarek, Jan A. P. (Polish composer)
    ...Robert Richardson for The AviatorArt Direction: Dante Ferretti (art direction) and Francesca Lo Schiavo (set decoration) for The AviatorOriginal Score: Jan A.P. Kaczmarek for Finding NeverlandOriginal Song: “Al otro lado del rio” from The Motorcycle Diaries; music and lyrics by Jorge......
  • Kaczynski, Jarosław (prime minister of Poland)
    It was not exactly a surprise when, on July 10, 2006, Lech Kaczynski, president of Poland, appointed his twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, as prime minister. When the brothers’ Law and Justice (PiS) party won a plurality in the elections of Sept. 25, 2005, and formed a ruling coalition, many had expected that Jaroslaw would become prime minister. He dec...
  • Kaczynski, Jaroslaw, and Kaczynski, Lech (Polish statesmen)
    It was not exactly a surprise when, on July 10, 2006, Lech Kaczynski, president of Poland, appointed his twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, as prime minister. When the brothers’ Law and Justice (PiS) party won a plurality in the elections of Sept. 25, 2005, and formed a ruling coalition, many had expected that Jaroslaw would become prime minister. He dec...
  • Kaczyński, Lech (president of Poland)
    politician who served as president of Poland (2005– )....
  • Kada Azumamaro (Japanese religious leader)
    Kada Azumamaro (1669–1736) was a pioneer in the Fukko Shintō movement. Kamo Mabuchi (1697–1769) rejected both the Buddhist- and Confucian-centred interpretations of Shintō and stressed a morality of pure simplicity in accordance with the order of heaven and earth as preserved in ancient Japanese tradition. Kamo Mabuchi’s disciple,......
  • Kadai languages (language family)
    ...most populous being the Kam-Sui languages, spoken mostly in Guizhou, China; and the Li, or Hlai, languages of Hainan. The entire language family containing Tai and all its relatives is called either Tai-Kadai or simply Kadai. The former assumption that Tai and its relatives belonged to the Sino-Tibetan family is now not widely accepted. The similarity between the Tai and Chinese phonological......
  • Kadalie, Clements (South African labour leader)
    ...of recognition, and police harassment; strikes were illegal and often were put down with violence. Nevertheless, the period 1918–22 saw a great deal of working-class militancy, and in 1920 Clements Kadalie, a Nyasaland migrant, founded the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU). Initially consisting of dockworkers in Cape Town, the ICU spread rapidly as a mass movement in ...
  • Kadam, Mount (mountain, Uganda)
    The northeastern border of the plateau is defined by a string of volcanic mountains that include Mounts Morungole, Moroto, and Kadam, all of which exceed 9,000 feet (2,750 metres) in elevation. The southernmost mountain—Mount Elgon—is also the highest of the chain, reaching 14,178 feet (4,321 metres). South and west of these mountains is an eastern extension of the Rift Valley, as......
  • Kadamba family (Indian dynasty)
    minor dynastic power that held sway in an area to the northwest of Mysore city on the Indian subcontinent between the 4th and 6th century ad....
  • Kādambarī (work by Bāṇa)
    ...involving extremely lengthy constructions, elaborate descriptions, and poetic devices, the work has great vitality and a wealth of keenly observed detail. His second great work, the prose romance Kādambarī, describes the affairs of two sets of lovers through a series of incarnations. Both works were left unfinished; the second was completed by the author’s son,......
  • Kadampa (Buddhist sect)
    Indian Buddhist reformer whose teachings formed the basis of the Tibetan Bka’-gdams-pa (“Those Bound by Command”) sect of Buddhism, founded by his disciple ’Brom-ston....
  • Kadar (people)
    small tribe of southern India residing along the hilly border between Cochin in the state of Kerala and Coimbatore in the state of Tamil Nādu....
  • Kadár, Ján (Czechoslovak director)
    motion-picture director who was important in the “New Wave” of Czechoslovak cinema of the early 1960s....
  • Kádár, János (premier of Hungary)
    premier of Hungary (1956–58, 1961–65) and first secretary (1956–88) of Hungary’s Communist Party who played a key role in Hungary’s transition from the 1956 anti-Soviet government of Imre Nagy to the pro-Soviet regime that followed. Kádár managed to convince the Soviet Union to withdraw its troops and allow Hungary a modicum of in...
  • Kadare, Ismail (Albanian writer)
    Albanian novelist and poet whose work, which explores his country’s history and culture, has gained an international readership....
  • Kadashman-Enlil I (Kassite king)
    ...in Uruk (Erech) around 1420. A new capital west of Baghdad, Dūr Kurigalzu, competing with Babylon, was founded and named after Kurigalzu I (c. 1400–c. 1375). His successors Kadashman-Enlil I (c. 1375–c. 1360) and Burnaburiash II (c. 1360–c. 1333) were in correspondence with the Egyptian rulers Amenhotep III and Akhenaton......
  • Kadavu Island (island, Fiji)
    island of Fiji, in the South Pacific, 50 miles (80 km) south of Viti Levu, across the Kadavu (Kandavu) Passage. It was visited by the British naval captain William Bligh in 1792. Volcanic in origin, Kadavu has an area of 159 square miles (411 square km) and is bisected by a central mountain ridge with fertile slopes; it rises to 2,750 feet (838 metres) at Ndelainambukelevu (Moun...
  • Kadazan (people)
    term embracing a number of peoples that together constitute the largest indigenous ethnic group in the state of Sabah, Malaysia, on the northeastern extremity of the island of Borneo. The Kadazan are grouped along the coastal plain from Kudat to Beaufort and in the hills around Tambunan. They speak Kadazan (sometimes called Kadazandusun), an...
  • Kaddafi, Muammar (Libyan statesman)
    de facto leader of Libya from 1969 and a controversial Arab statesman....
  • Kaddish (poem by Ginsberg)
    ...Pound’s Cantos and Williams’s Paterson. Allen Ginsberg’s incantatory, prophetic Howl (1956) and his moving elegy for his mother, Kaddish (1961), gave powerful impetus to the Beat movement. Written with extraordinary intensity, these works were inspired by writers as diverse as Whitman, the biblical ...
  • Kaddish (Judaism)
    in Judaism, a doxology (hymn of praise to God) that is usually recited in Aramaic at the end of principal sections of all synagogue services. The nucleus of the prayer is the phrase “Glorified and sanctified be God’s great name throughout the world which He has created according to His will. May He establish His kingdom in your lifetime and during your days.” The congregation ...
  • KADEK (Kurdish militant organization)
    The PKK, quiescent since the capture of Öcalan, resumed guerrilla activities in 2004 under a new name, Kongra-Gel, chosen in 2003. Although the organization reverted to its former designation (PKK) in 2005, some elements continued to make use of the new name. The group was thought to be the source of a number of subsequent attacks, and in October 2007 the Turkish parliament approved......
  • “Kaden sho” (work by Zeami Motokiyo)
    ...collection Fūshi kaden (1400–18; “The Transmission of the Flower of Acting Style”), “flower” representing the freshness and appropriateness of fine acting—written as manuals for his pupils, Zeami said the actor must master three basic roles: the warrior, the woman, and the old person, including the singing and dancing appropriate to each. ...
  • Kaden-Bandrowski, Juliusz (Polish writer)
    Polish sociopolitical novelist and lyrical short-story writer whose experimental works savagely satirized Polish society after World War I....
  • Kades, Charles Louis (American lawyer)
    U.S. lawyer who, as a lieutenant colonel under Gen. Douglas MacArthur during World War II, oversaw the drafting of Japan’s postwar constitution (adopted May 3, 1947), in which the quasi-divine emperor was replaced with a constitutional monarchy and the nation made a formal renunciation of war (b. March 12, 1906--d. June 18, 1996)....
  • Kadesh (ancient city, Syria)
    ancient city on the Orontes (Al-ʿĀṣī) River in western Syria. The site is located about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Ḥimṣ. It was the site of two battles in ancient times....
  • Kadesh, Battle of (Syrian history)
    (1275 bc), major battle between the Egyptians under Ramses II and the Hittites under Muwatallis, in Syria, southwest of Ḥimṣ, on the Orontes River. Seeking to recapture the Hittite-held city of Kadesh in Syria, Ramses II invaded Syria with four divisions and an auxiliary force. Muwatallis gathered a large alliance among his vassal s...
  • Kadet (Russian political party)
    a Russian political party advocating a radical change in Russian government toward a constitutional monarchy like Great Britain’s. It was founded in October 1905 by the Union of Liberation and other liberals associated with the zemstvos, local councils that often were centres of liberal opinion and agitation....
  • kadhi (Muslim judge)
    a Muslim judge who renders decisions according to the Sharīʿah, the canon law of Islām. The qadi hears only religious cases such as those involving inheritance, pious bequests (waqf), marriage, and divorce, though theoretically his jurisdiction extends to both civil and criminal matters. Originally, the qadi’s work was restricted to nonadminist...
  • kadi (Muslim judge)
    a Muslim judge who renders decisions according to the Sharīʿah, the canon law of Islām. The qadi hears only religious cases such as those involving inheritance, pious bequests (waqf), marriage, and divorce, though theoretically his jurisdiction extends to both civil and criminal matters. Originally, the qadi’s work was restricted to nonadminist...
  • Kadiak Island (island, Alaska, United States)
    island, southern Alaska, U.S. It lies in the Gulf of Alaska and is separated from the Alaska Peninsula by Shelikof Strait, 30 miles (50 km) off the Alaskan coast and some 250 miles (400 km) southwest of Anchorage. The largest Alaskan island (and the second largest island in the United States), it is 100 miles (160 km) long...
  • Kadiköy (ancient city, Turkey)
    ancient maritime town on the eastern shore of the Bosporus, opposite modern Istanbul, Turkey. It was originally a Megarian colony founded in the early 7th century bc on a site so obviously inferior to that of Byzantium (Istanbul) on the opposite shore that it was accorded the name of the “city of the blind.” In its early history it shared the fortunes of Byzantium, vaci...
  • Kadima (political party, Israel)
    ...earlier practice, in which the governing coalition’s leader sits as prime minister. Despite the change, the two main parties continued to face challenges from minor parties and from new ones such as Kadima, which quickly rose to prominence after being formed in 2005....
  • Kaḍiri (historical kingdom, Indonesia)
    Hinduized kingdom in eastern Java, established about the 11th century. Little is known of the kingdom. According to the Pararaton (“Book of Kings”), a mighty king of eastern Java, Airlangga, divided his kingdom between his two sons before he died in 1049: the western part was called Kaḍiri, or Panjalu, with Daha as its capital, while the eastern part...
  • Kadiri (Indonesia)
    city, Jawa Timur provinsi (province), eastern Java, Indonesia. It is situated on the Brantas River, at the foot of Mount Wilis, 65 miles (105 km) southwest of Surabaya. It is the centre of a sugar industry and of trade in such agricultural products as coffee, tobacco, rice, and cassava. The city’s light manufacturing includes textile and lumber mills ...
  • Kadiri (regency, Indonesia)
    traditional region of eastern Java, Indonesia. From the 11th to the early 13th century, Kediri was the dominant kingdom in eastern Java, renowned for its naval and commercial strength and for its achievements in literature. It was absorbed into the later kingdoms of Singasari and Majapahit and then by the central Java kingdom of Mataram. After the Java War (1825–30) the region was ceded to ...
  • Kadiyevka (Ukraine)
    city, eastern Ukraine. It is situated in the northern part of the Donets Basin. The city developed in the 19th century as a coal-mining settlement. From 1935 to 1943, it was known as Sergo. Stakhanov was one of the major coal-mining towns of the Donets Basin, though it declined in importance as pits became worked out and as other fuels increased in importance....
  • Kadiyivka (Ukraine)
    city, eastern Ukraine. It is situated in the northern part of the Donets Basin. The city developed in the 19th century as a coal-mining settlement. From 1935 to 1943, it was known as Sergo. Stakhanov was one of the major coal-mining towns of the Donets Basin, though it declined in importance as pits became worked out and as other fuels increased in importance....
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