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  • Qaraghandy (Kazakstan)
    city in central Kazakhstan. It lies at the centre of the important Qaraghandy (Karaganda) coal basin. It is the second largest city in the republic and derives its name from the caragana bush, which grows abundantly in the surrounding steppe....
  • Qaraghandy (oblast, Kazakstan)
    oblast (province), central Kazakhstan. It lies mostly in the Kazakh Uplands in a dry steppe zone, rising gradually in elevation eastward to a maximum in the Karkaraly Mountains of 5,115 feet (1,559 m). The principal rivers, the Nura and Sarysu, are in the west, in the Musbel lowland. The climate is continental (tending to extremes) and dry, with severe winters, marked by prolonged snowstorm...
  • Qaraism (religious sect)
    (from Hebrew qara, “to read”), a Jewish religious movement that repudiated oral tradition as a source of divine law and defended the Hebrew Bible as the sole authentic font of religious doctrine and practice. In dismissing the Talmud as man-made law substituted for the God-given Torah, Karaism set itself in direct opposition to rabbinic Judaism...
  • Qarakhanid dynasty (Asian history)
    Turkic dynasty (999–1211) that ruled in Transoxania in Central Asia....
  • Qarakhanid language (language)
    The literary languages of the “Old Turkic” period may be divided into Old Turkic proper, Old Uighur, and Qarakhanid. The earliest known records of Old Turkic proper are inscriptions on stone stelae erected in the 8th century in the Orhon River valley (Mongolia) in honour of certain rulers of the Old Turkic empire. This language is also represented in somewhat later inscriptions and.....
  • Qarāmiṭah (Shīʿite sect)
    a member of the Shīʿite Muslim sect known as the Ismāʿīlites. The Qarmatians flourished in Iraq, Yemen, and especially Bahrain during the 9th to 11th centuries, taking their name from Ḥamdān Qarmaṭ, who led the sect in southern Iraq in the second half of the 9th century. The Qarmatians became notorious for an insurrection i...
  • Qaraqalpaq (people)
    ...likely that the Aral Sea could disappear within 20 to 30 years, leaving a large desert in its place. The health costs to people living in the area were beginning to emerge. Hardest hit were the Karakalpaks, who live in the southern portion of the region. Exposed seabeds led to dust storms that blew across the region, carrying a toxic dust contaminated with salt, fertilizer, and pesticides.......
  • Qaraqalpaqstan (republic, Uzbekistan)
    autonomous republic in Uzbekistan, situated southeast and southwest of the Aral Sea....
  • Qarase, Laisenia (prime minister of Fiji)
    ...Speight, led to the release of the insurgents’ hostages (including Chaudhry) on July 13. A few days later Bainimarama returned power to an interim government led by newly appointed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and Pres. Ratu Josefa Iloilovatu Uluivuda....
  • Qaratal River (river, Kazakstan)
    ...it contributed 80–90 percent of the total influx into the lake until a hydroelectric project reduced the volume of the river’s inflow late in the 20th century. Only such small rivers as the Qaratal, Aqsū, Ayaguz, and Lepsi feed the eastern part of the lake. With almost equal areas in both parts of the lake, this situation creates a continuous flow of water from the western ...
  • Qarataū (mountain range, Kazakstan)
    mountain range, a northwestern spur of the Tien Shan, in southern Kazakhstan. The name is of Turkic origin, meaning “Black Mountain.” The range extends for 260 miles (420 km) along the Syr Darya (ancient Jaxartes River) and rises to 7,139 feet (2,176 metres), with an average elevation of 3,300–5,000 feet (1,000–1,...
  • Qarataū Zhotasy (mountain range, Kazakstan)
    mountain range, a northwestern spur of the Tien Shan, in southern Kazakhstan. The name is of Turkic origin, meaning “Black Mountain.” The range extends for 260 miles (420 km) along the Syr Darya (ancient Jaxartes River) and rises to 7,139 feet (2,176 metres), with an average elevation of 3,300–5,000 feet (1,000–1,...
  • Qarawīyīn (mosque and university, Fès, Morocco)
    mosque and Islāmic university in Fès, Morocco....
  • Qarawīyīn University, al- (mosque and university, Fès, Morocco)
    mosque and Islāmic university in Fès, Morocco....
  • Qarawīyyīn (mosque and university, Fès, Morocco)
    mosque and Islāmic university in Fès, Morocco....
  • Qareh Sū (river, Azerbaijan)
    ...the Aras are the Arpa Çayı (Akhuryan), which receives the waters of the Kars River and Lake Çıldır in Turkey, the Hrazdan, draining Lake Sevan in Armenia, and the Qareh Sū, flowing off the Sabalān Mountains in northeastern Iranian Azerbaijan. On an island in the Aras stood Artaxata, seat of the Artaxiad kings of Armenia from 180 bc ...
  • Qāren I (Bāvand ruler)
    ...was centred at Ferīm, in the mountainous country southwest of Sārī. Its geographical isolation and the difficult nature of the terrain enabled it to survive. In c. 854 Qāren I (ruled 837–867) converted to Islam. During the 10th century the Bāvands maintained their independence through various marriage alliances with the Būyid and......
  • Qāren II (Bāvand ruler)
    ...and Zeyārid dynasties. Rostam III (ruled 1006–57) became a vassal of the Zeyārid king Qābūs, but with weakening of Zeyārid power, Rostam and his successor Qāren II (ruled 1057–74) reigned as petty rulers in the mountainous area near Sārī....
  • Qarhan Salt Marsh (marsh, China)
    ...the basin’s central area. The northwest portion of the basin is an area of true desert. Another desert area is found in the subsidiary basin in the north, around the saline Lake Suhai (Sugan). The Qarhan Salt Marsh in the centre of the basin is China’s largest surface-level rock salt bed, with an area of some 620 square miles (1,600 square km) and solid salt deposits up to 50 feet...
  • qāriʾ (Qurʾānic reciter)
    ʾ, professional class of reciters of the text of the Muslim sacred scripture, the Qurʾān. In the early Islāmic community, Muḥammad’s divine revelations had often been memorized by his Companions (disciples), a practice derived from the pre-Islāmic tradition of preserving poetry orally. It became common for pious Muslims to memorize the Qurʾ...
  • qarīḍ (Arabic poetry category)
    ...compilers of the earliest poetry soon developed further modes of categorization based on length and, from that, on segmentation. Poetry in general was referred to as qarīḍ, but within that framework poetry was subdivided into two types. The first was the qiṭʿah (“segment”),......
  • Qarluq confederation (tribal confederation, Central Asia)
    Turkic tribal confederation of Central Asia, from whose ranks came the Qarakhanid dynasty....
  • Qarmathians (Shīʿite sect)
    a member of the Shīʿite Muslim sect known as the Ismāʿīlites. The Qarmatians flourished in Iraq, Yemen, and especially Bahrain during the 9th to 11th centuries, taking their name from Ḥamdān Qarmaṭ, who led the sect in southern Iraq in the second half of the 9th century. The Qarmatians became notorious for an insurrection i...
  • Qarmatians (Shīʿite sect)
    a member of the Shīʿite Muslim sect known as the Ismāʿīlites. The Qarmatians flourished in Iraq, Yemen, and especially Bahrain during the 9th to 11th centuries, taking their name from Ḥamdān Qarmaṭ, who led the sect in southern Iraq in the second half of the 9th century. The Qarmatians became notorious for an insurrection i...
  • Qarmatīs (Shīʿite sect)
    a member of the Shīʿite Muslim sect known as the Ismāʿīlites. The Qarmatians flourished in Iraq, Yemen, and especially Bahrain during the 9th to 11th centuries, taking their name from Ḥamdān Qarmaṭ, who led the sect in southern Iraq in the second half of the 9th century. The Qarmatians became notorious for an insurrection i...
  • Qarnaw (Yemen)
    The Minaean kingdom (Maʿīn) lasted from the 4th to the 2nd century bc and was predominantly a trading organization that, for the period, monopolized the trade routes. References to Maʿīn occur earlier in Sabaean texts, where they seem to be loosely associated with the ʿĀmir people to the north of the Minaean capital of Qarnaw (now Maʿ...
  • Qaro, Joseph ben Ephraim (Jewish scholar)
    Spanish-born Jewish author of the last great codification of Jewish law, the Bet Yosef (“House of Joseph”). Its condensation, the Shulḥan ʿarukh (“The Prepared Table,” or “The Well-Laid Table”), is still authoritative for Orthodox Jewry....
  • Qarqār (ancient fortress, Syria)
    ancient fortress on the Orontes River, northwest of Ḥamāh, in western Syria. It was the site of two ancient battles....
  • Qarshi (Uzbekistan)
    city, southern Uzbekistan, in the Karshi oasis, on the Kashka River. At least 1,000 years old, it lay on the caravan route from Samarkand and Bukhara to Afghanistan and India; it was known as Nakhsheb, or Nesef, until the 14th century, when a fort (Turkic karshi, “against”) was built there. Later, as part of the khanate of Bukhara, it served as the residenc...
  • Qarṭājannī, al- (Tunisian scholar)
    ...book in fact became more famous than that of his predecessor. Writers on music and philology also flourished in Spain; literary criticism was practiced by Ibn Rashīq (died 1064) and, later, by al-Qarṭājannī (died 1285) in Tunis. Ibn Ḥazm (died 1064), theologian and accomplished writer on pure love, has already been mentioned....
  • Qārūn, Birkat (lake, Egypt)
    ancient lake that once occupied a large area of the al-Fayyūm depression in Egypt and is now represented by the much smaller Lake Qārūn. Researches on the desert margin of the depression indicate that in early Paleolithic times the lake’s waters stood about 120 feet (37 m) above sea level and probably filled the depression; the lake’s level gra...
  • Qārūn, Lake (lake, Egypt)
    ancient lake that once occupied a large area of the al-Fayyūm depression in Egypt and is now represented by the much smaller Lake Qārūn. Researches on the desert margin of the depression indicate that in early Paleolithic times the lake’s waters stood about 120 feet (37 m) above sea level and probably filled the depression; the lake’s level gradually fell until a...
  • Qaryat al-Fāw (Saudi Arabia)
    ...and Taymāʾ to the northeast of the other two, have long been known but not fully explored. In south central Arabia, near Al-Sulayyil, a town site at Qaryat Dhāt Kāhil (now Qaryat al-Fāw) has yielded rich results from excavation. In northeastern Arabia, inland from modern Al-Qaṭīf, a Danish expedition has revealed a hitherto unsuspected pre-Islami...
  • Qaryat Dhāt Kāhil (Saudi Arabia)
    ...and Taymāʾ to the northeast of the other two, have long been known but not fully explored. In south central Arabia, near Al-Sulayyil, a town site at Qaryat Dhāt Kāhil (now Qaryat al-Fāw) has yielded rich results from excavation. In northeastern Arabia, inland from modern Al-Qaṭīf, a Danish expedition has revealed a hitherto unsuspected pre-Islami...
  • qasaba (towers)
    ...the economy is supported by the raising of cattle, sheep, goats, and camels throughout the region. The Asir mountains contain deposits, as yet unexploited, of nickel, copper, and zinc. Ancient qasaba (“towers”) found in the province were used as lookouts or granaries. The region’s main towns include Abhā and Khamīs Mushayṭ....
  • qasam (Islam)
    ...thus committing a sacrilege. At the time of Jesus in the 1st century, oaths were often misused and, for that reason, were often rebuked in early Christianity. In Islām, a Muslim may make a qasam (“oath”), in which he swears, for example, upon his life, soul, honour, or faith. Because the qasam is primarily a pledge to God, a false oath is considered a danger t...
  • Qaṣbah (fort, Algiers, Algeria)
    ...the upper slopes of the hills and has preserved much of its architectural character of high, blank-walled houses and narrow, winding streets. The Muslim section is dominated by the fortress of the Kasbah (Qaṣbah), designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992; it was the residence of the last two Turkish deys, or governors, of Algiers. A prominent building in the Muslim section is......
  • Qāsh, Nahr al- (river, Africa)
    river rising in southern Eritrea, near Asmara. After flowing southward, it turns west and forms the border between Eritrea (north) and Ethiopia (south) along its middle course. It then continues into northeastern Sudan to lose itself in the desert. In time of flood it reaches the Atbara River. It is known as the Mareb on its upper course and is used for irrigation around Teseney, in Eritrea, and ...
  • Qashqāʾī (people)
    The largest Turkic group is the Azerbaijanians, a farming and herding people who inhabit two border provinces in the northwestern corner of Iran. Two other Turkic ethnic groups are the Qashqāʾī, in the Shīrāz area to the north of the Persian Gulf, and the Turkmen, of Khorāsān in the northeast....
  • Qashqāʾī rug (Persian carpet)
    floor covering handwoven by the Qashqāʾī people, who have the reputation of making the best rugs from the Shīrāz district of Iran. They are the brightest in colouring, with rich blues and reds and some use of golden yellow. Usually their designs are geometric, perhaps with a row of three diamond medallions against a background replete with tiny forms of all kinds...
  • Qāshqār (Pakistan)
    town, northern North-West Frontier province, Pakistan. The town lies along the Kunar River (also known as Chitrāl River) in a valley 2 miles (3 km) wide, at an elevation of about 4,900 feet (1,490 metres) above sea level. Chitrāl has a government woolen and sericulture centre, the Maghor (the fort of the former chieftain), a polo ground, and fruit gardens in the neighbourhood. It is ...
  • Qāsī, Banū (Arab clan)
    ...or, more precisely, an “Iraqization.” ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s most severe problems sprang from his restless vassals in the Ebro valley, especially the convert Banū Qāsī family and the Mozarabs. Incited by the extremist chiefs Alvarus and Eulogius (the latter being canonized after his death), the Mozarabs sought to strengthen their......
  • qasida (poetic form)
    poetic form developed in pre-Islamic Arabia and perpetuated throughout Islamic literary history into the present. It is a laudatory, elegiac, or satiric poem that is found in Arabic, Persian, and many related Asian literatures. The classic qasida is an elaborately structured ode of 60 to 100 lines, maintaining a single end rhyme that runs through the entire piece; the sam...
  • qaṣīdah (poetic form)
    poetic form developed in pre-Islamic Arabia and perpetuated throughout Islamic literary history into the present. It is a laudatory, elegiac, or satiric poem that is found in Arabic, Persian, and many related Asian literatures. The classic qasida is an elaborately structured ode of 60 to 100 lines, maintaining a single end rhyme that runs through the entire piece; the sam...
  • qaṣīdeh (poetic form)
    poetic form developed in pre-Islamic Arabia and perpetuated throughout Islamic literary history into the present. It is a laudatory, elegiac, or satiric poem that is found in Arabic, Persian, and many related Asian literatures. The classic qasida is an elaborately structured ode of 60 to 100 lines, maintaining a single end rhyme that runs through the entire piece; the sam...
  • Qāsim, ʿAbd al-Karīm (prime minister of Iraq)
    army officer who overthrew the Iraqi monarchy in 1958 and became head of the newly formed Republic of Iraq....
  • Qāsim, al- (Ḥammūdid ruler)
    In 1013 the Umayyad caliph Sulaymān al-Mustaʿīn awarded Sabtah to ʿAlī ibn Ḥammūd and Algeciras, Tangier, and Asilah to ʿAlī’s brother al-Qāsim in payment for their help in returning him to the throne. ʿAlī, however, claiming to be the rightful heir to Hishām II, al-Mustaʿīn’s pre...
  • Qāsim ʿAlī (Persian painter)
    Both as a teacher and painter Behzād was a leading force in the development of Tabrīz as a centre of art. His students included the painters Qāsim ʿAlī, Mīr Sayyid ʿAlī, Āqā Mīrak, and Muẓaffar ʿAlī....
  • Qāsim Barīd (Bahmanī minister)
    One of the first revolts was that of the kotwal (superintendent of police) of Bidar, Qāsim Barīd, a Turkish noble who defeated the army sent against him by the sultan and then forced Maḥmūd to make him chief minister of the state. Qāsim Barīd’s attempt to reimpose central authority was opposed by most of the c...
  • Qāsimī (Arabian dynasty)
    ...In 1761 they found wells of potable water at the site of Abu Dhabi town on the coast, and they made their headquarters there from 1795. Because Abū Ẓaby’s traditional rivals were the Qawāsim pirates of Raʾs al-Khaymah and Al-Shāriqah sheikhdoms and because the pirates were hostile to the sultanate of Muscat and Oman, Abū Ẓaby’s rule...
  • Qasimi, Ahmad Nadeem (Pakistani writer and journalist)
    Pakistani writer and journalist (b. Nov. 20, 1916, Angah, British India [now in Pakistan]—d. July 10, 2006, Lahore, Pak.), was a significant figure in Urdu-language literature for more than 60 years, producing scores of short stories and a dozen poetry collections, beginning with Chaupaa! (1939). He also wrote criticism and edited several literary magazines. As a longtime member of t...
  • Qasimi, Peerzada Ahmad Shah Nadeem (Pakistani writer and journalist)
    Pakistani writer and journalist (b. Nov. 20, 1916, Angah, British India [now in Pakistan]—d. July 10, 2006, Lahore, Pak.), was a significant figure in Urdu-language literature for more than 60 years, producing scores of short stories and a dozen poetry collections, beginning with Chaupaa! (1939). He also wrote criticism and edited several literary magazines. As a longtime member of t...
  • Qāsimīyah (river, Lebanon)
    ...it bends sharply west and cuts a spectacular gorge up to 900 feet (275 metres) deep through the Lebanon Mountains to the Mediterranean south of Sidon. The river’s lower course is known as Qāsimiyyah. Although the river’s total length is only about 90 miles (145 km), its waters irrigate one of Lebanon’s most extensive farming regions, Al-Biqāʿ. The Litan...
  • Qāsimiyyah (Mamlūk dynasty)
    ...much the Ottoman ruling hierarchy as it was their own factionalism. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Mamlūks were divided into two great rival houses—the Faqāriyyah and the Qāsimiyyah—whose mutual hostility often broke out into fighting and impaired the strength of the Mamlūks as a bloc....
  • Qasr (archaeological site, Iraq)
    ...present site, an extensive field of ruins, contains several prominent mounds. The main mounds are (1) Babil, the remains of Nebuchadrezzar’s palace in the northern corner of the outer rampart, (2) Qasr, comprising the palace complex (with a building added in Persian times), the Ishtar Gate, and the Emakh temple, (3) Amran ibn Ali, the ruins of Esagila, (4) Merkez, marking the ancient......
  • Qaṣr, al- (Spain)
    town, Ciudad Real provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Castile-La Mancha, central Spain. It lies on the high southern Meseta Central at 2,135 feet (650 metres) above sea level. Known to the Romans as Alces, the town was...
  • Qaṣr al-ʿAmrah (palace, Jordan)
    palace in Jordan, about 50 miles (80 km) east of Amman. Built about ad 712–715, it served as both a hunting lodge and a fortress, and it is one of the best-preserved monuments of Islāmic architecture from the Umayyad period. Its main chamber is roofed with three parallel vaults that rest on broad arches. The vaults are covered with frescoes of people ...
  • Qaṣr al-Ḥayr East (palace, Syria)
    ...kinds of these princely structures. The first type consists of 10 large rural princely complexes found in Syria, Palestine, and Transjordan dating from around 710 to 750: al-Ruṣāfah, Qaṣr al-Ḥayr East, Qaṣr al-Ḥayr West, Jabal Says, Khirbat Minyah, Khirbat al-Mafjar, Mshattā, Qaṣr ʿAmrah, Qaṣr al-Kharānah, and......
  • Qaṣr al-Ḥayr West (palace, Syria)
    ...The first type consists of 10 large rural princely complexes found in Syria, Palestine, and Transjordan dating from around 710 to 750: al-Ruṣāfah, Qaṣr al-Ḥayr East, Qaṣr al-Ḥayr West, Jabal Says, Khirbat Minyah, Khirbat al-Mafjar, Mshattā, Qaṣr ʿAmrah, Qaṣr al-Kharānah, and Qaṣr al-Ṭūbah.......
  • Qaṣr al-Kabīr, Al- (Morocco)
    city, northern Morocco. It lies along the Loukkos River....
  • Qaṣr al-Kharānah (palace, Jordan)
    ...710 to 750: al-Ruṣāfah, Qaṣr al-Ḥayr East, Qaṣr al-Ḥayr West, Jabal Says, Khirbat Minyah, Khirbat al-Mafjar, Mshattā, Qaṣr ʿAmrah, Qaṣr al-Kharānah, and Qaṣr al-Ṭūbah. Apparently these examples of princely architecture belong to a group of more than 60 ruined or only textually identifiable......
  • Qaṣr ʿAmrah (palace, Jordan)
    palace in Jordan, about 50 miles (80 km) east of Amman. Built about ad 712–715, it served as both a hunting lodge and a fortress, and it is one of the best-preserved monuments of Islāmic architecture from the Umayyad period. Its main chamber is roofed with three parallel vaults that rest on broad arches. The vaults are covered with frescoes of people ...
  • Qasr Anas al-Wujūd (island, Egypt)
    island in the Nile River between the old Aswan Dam and the Aswan High Dam, in Aswān muḥāfaẓah (governorate), southern Egypt. Its ancient Egyptian name was P-aaleq; the Coptic-derived name Pilak (“End,” or “Remote Place”) probably refers to it...
  • Qaṣr as-Saʿīd, Treaty of Al- (France-Tunisia [1881])
    (1881), agreement that established France’s protectorate over Tunisia. A French expeditionary force of 36,000 men was sent to Tunisia in 1881 at the urging of the French foreign minister, Jules Ferry, ostensibly to subdue attacks of the Tunisian Kroumer tribe on the Algerian frontier. The French met little resistance from the bey, Muḥammad as-Sadiq, and on May 12, 1881, a treaty was ...
  • Qaṣr aṭ-Ṭūbah (palace, Jordan)
    ...Qaṣr al-Ḥayr East, Qaṣr al-Ḥayr West, Jabal Says, Khirbat Minyah, Khirbat al-Mafjar, Mshattā, Qaṣr ʿAmrah, Qaṣr al-Kharānah, and Qaṣr al-Ṭūbah. Apparently these examples of princely architecture belong to a group of more than 60 ruined or only textually identifiable rural complexes erected by Umayyad......
  • Qasr El Sagha Formation (archaeological site, Egypt)
    ...Oligopithecus, Parapithecus, and Aegyptopithecus. The first two of these, together with some other primates of uncertain affinities, are from the Sagha Formation, which, technically, is latest Eocene in age, but the deposits are continuous. Aegyptopithecus went on to give rise to living catarrhines (Old World monkeys and apes,......
  • Qaṣr-e Shīrīn, Treaty of (Iraq, 1639)
    The Treaty of Qaṣr-e Shīrīn (also called the Treaty of Zuhāb) of 1639 brought an end to 150 years of intermittent warfare between the Ottomans and Ṣafavids and established a boundary between the two empires that remained virtually unchanged into modern times. Ottoman sovereignty had been restored in Baghdad, but the stability of central Iraq continued to be......
  • Qaṣrayn, Al- (Tunisia)
    town in west-central Tunisia. The town is an important market, road, and rail junction and is the centre of an irrigated agricultural area. Kasserine Pass, to the northwest, was the scene of a decisive battle of the Tunisian campaign in World War II, which contributed to the collapse of German resistance in northern Africa....
  • qāt (plant)
    Khat (Catha edulis) is a slender, straight, East African tree reaching a height of 25 m (80 feet), with large oval, usually opposite, finely toothed leaves. The slightly bitter leaves are chewed for a stimulant they contain....
  • Qatabān kingdom (ancient kingdom, Arabia)
    The heartland of the Qatabān people was Wadi Bayḥān, with the capital, Timnaʿ, at its northern end, and Wadi Ḥarīb, immediately west of Bayḥān. As in the case of Maʿīn, the earliest references are in Sabaean inscriptions; native Qatabānian inscriptions do not seem to antedate the 4th century bc. Timna...
  • Qatabanian (language)
    Minaean, Sabaean, Qatabanian, and Ḥaḍramawtian are the four known South Arabic dialects of ancient times. The earliest South Arabic inscriptions, dating from the 8th century bce, are in the Minaean dialect. Sabaean is the dialect of the majority of South Arabic inscriptions; the latest inscriptions are from the 6th century ce. The type of Semitic alphabet ...
  • Qatar
    independent emirate on the west coast of the Persian Gulf....
  • Qatar Central Bank (bank, Qatar)
    Qatar has a relatively small banking system, which is one of the least developed of the Arab gulf states. The Qatar Central Bank (Maṣraf Qaṭar al-Markazī), founded in 1993, provides banking functions for the state and issues the Qatari rial, the national currency. In addition to domestic banks, including commercial, development, and Islamic banks (institutions bound by......
  • Qatar, flag of
    ...
  • Qatar General Petroleum Corporation (Qatari company)
    ...original oil concession was granted to the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), a consortium of European and American firms. This and later concessions were nationalized in the 1970s. While state-owned Qatar Petroleum (formerly Qatar General Petroleum Corporation) oversees oil operations, private corporations continue to play an important role as service companies....
  • Qatar, history of
    Little is known of Qatar’s history before the 18th century, when the region’s population consisted largely of Bedouin nomads and there were only a few small fishing villages. Qatar’s modern history begins conventionally in 1766 with the migration to the peninsula of families from Kuwait, notably the Āl Khalīfah. Their settlement at the new town of Al-Zubār...
  • Qatar National Museum (museum, Doha, Qatar)
    Located in a former palace, the Qatar National Museum (founded 1975), in Doha, includes displays on the country’s history and archaeology as well as a model lagoon in which Qatari sailing and pearling vessels are featured; the museum’s large aquarium is a popular attraction. A fort at Doha has been converted into a museum for traditional crafts. Qatar’s National Theatre perfor...
  • Qatar Steel Company (Qatari company)
    Qatar has sought to diversify its economy through industrialization. Most of the manufacturing sector comprises large firms of mixed state and foreign private ownership. For example, the Qatar Petrochemical Company is largely owned by a government holding company, and a French firm has a minor stake. Flour milling and cement production have also been undertaken. Diversification by expanding......
  • Qaṭīf, Al- (Saudi Arabia)
    town and oasis, Al-Sharqīyah (Eastern) region, northeastern Saudi Arabia. It lies along the Persian Gulf, over Al-Qaṭīf petroleum field. Since the development of the oil fields in the late 1940s, Al-Qaṭif has lost its status as an important port to nearby Al-Dammām. In addition to several oil wells, Al-Qaṭīf has oil-gas separator plants, pipelines, ...
  • Qatna (ancient city, Syria)
    ancient Syrian city, Syria. It prospered especially during the 2nd millennium bc and was frequently named as Qatanum in the royal archives of Mari on the Euphrates. Excavations there in 1924–29 revealed a temple dedicated to the Sumerian goddess Nin-E-Gal. Foreign trade and influence were illustrated by the presence of a stone sphinx dedicated by Ita, daughter of Amenemhet II ...
  • Qatorkŭhi Pasi Oloy (mountain range, Central Asia)
    mountain range on the frontier between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It is the most northerly range of the Pamirs and extends for about 150 miles (240 km) east-west in an unbroken chain of snow-covered peaks between the lush summer pastures of the broad Alai Valley between the Trans Alai and Alai Range to the north and the Muksu and Markansu va...
  • Qaṭrān (Azerbaijani poet)
    The most complicated forms were mastered by poets of the very early period, the limits of artificiality being reached in Azerbaijani qaṣīdahs by the poet Qaṭrān (died 1072), whose work displays virtuosity for virtuosity’s sake. The court poets tried to top one another in the accumulation of complex metaphors and paradoxes, each hoping to win the coveted ti...
  • Qattara Depression (basin, Egypt)
    arid Libyan Desert (Eastern Saharan) basin in northwestern Egypt. Covering about 7,000 square miles (18,100 square km) and containing salt lakes and marshes, it descends to 435 feet (133 m) below sea level. During World War II, because it was impassable to military traffic, the depression formed a natural anchor at the southern end of the British defense lines at El-Alamein (Al-ʿAlamayn; i...
  • Qausuittuq (Nunavut, Canada)
    ...km). It is comparatively flat, particularly on the northwest coast, and reaches a maximum elevation of 1,350 feet (411 metres) on the east coast. A weather station is located at the settlement of Resolute (Qausuittuq), which is a High Arctic air transportation hub and terminus on the south coast along Resolute Bay. The island was discovered in 1819 by Sir William Parry and was named after Sir.....
  • Qavām al-Salṭaneh, Aḥmad (prime minister of Iran)
    Iranian politician who was a five-time prime minister of Iran (1921–22, 1922–23, 1942–43, 1946–47, 1952)....
  • Qavam ud-Din (Persian architect)
    ...Afghanistan). Particularly important were the library and the school of miniature painting that developed and flourished there. One of his wives, Gawhar Shād, worked with the Persian architect Qavam ud-Din in the planning and construction of a series of magnificent public buildings there....
  • Qavānlū (Qājār clan)
    ...rival, but this disability did not hinder his career. In 1757 he became the de facto governor of the Azerbaijan province of northern Iran; the next year he succeeded his father as chief of the Qavānlū clan of the Qājārs. In 1762 he was captured by a rival chieftain and sent as a prisoner to Shīrāz, where he spent the next 16 years as a political hostage...
  • Qawāʿid al-shiʿr (work by Thaʿlab of al-Kūfah)
    ...in which he suggested that ancient poetry could not be deemed superior merely because it was old. The 9th-century grammarian Thaʿlab of al-Kūfah organized his Qawāʿid al-shiʿr (“The Rules of Poetry”) along syntactic principles, thus illustrating the continuing linkage between the philological demands of textual research a...
  • Qawāsim, Al- (Arabian dynasty)
    ...In 1761 they found wells of potable water at the site of Abu Dhabi town on the coast, and they made their headquarters there from 1795. Because Abū Ẓaby’s traditional rivals were the Qawāsim pirates of Raʾs al-Khaymah and Al-Shāriqah sheikhdoms and because the pirates were hostile to the sultanate of Muscat and Oman, Abū Ẓaby’s rule...
  • Qawi, Dwight (American boxer)
    ...Mustafa Muhammad for the World Boxing Association light heavyweight crown. He successfully defended his title five times before earning the vacant world title by winning a 15-round decision over Dwight Qawi in 1983. Spinks won four more title-defense bouts. He then gained 25 pounds and in September 1985 became the first reigning light heavyweight champion to topple a heavyweight champion......
  • qawm (sociology)
    Afghans are also identified by their qawm, a term that can refer to affinity with almost any kind of social group. It essentially divides “us” from “them” and helps to distinguish members of one large ethnic or tribal group, or one clan or village, from another. Particular responsibilities and advantages go with membership, and the...
  • qaws (wind current)
    ...though the prevailing direction is actually from the north-northwest. In contrast to the shamāl is the less frequent qaws from the southeast. The wind regimes of Najd and the Rubʿ al-Khali are complex, particularly during spring. The winds may come from any point of the compass and vary in intensity......
  • qawwali (Islamic art)
    Pakistani singer who is considered one of the greatest performers of qawwali, a Ṣūfī Muslim devotional music characterized by simple melodies, forceful rhythms, and wild improvisations that encourage a state of euphoria in the listener....
  • qawwās (Islamic official)
    ...ceased to exist, especially since the passing of the Ottoman Empire, although in the latter part of the 20th century many embassies in the Arab world still employed an interpreter-courier known as a kavass (Turkish kavas; Arabic qawwās), used largely for ceremonial purposes....
  • Qawz (region, The Sudan)
    ...of Darfur and on the east by the Ethiopian Plateau and the Red Sea Hills (ʿAtbāy). This plain can be divided into a northern area of rock desert that is part of the Sahara; the western Qawz, an area of undulating sand dunes that merges northward into the rock desert; and a central and southern clay plain, the centre of which is occupied by an enormous swampy region known as As-Sud...
  • Qāyen (Iran)
    town, northeastern Iran. Qāyen is a place of great antiquity and complex history. The present town, which lies in a broad valley, was founded in the 15th century to replace an older town. Later, the Uzbeks (a Turkic people) took possession of Qāyen and held it until Shāh ʿAbbās I (1588–1629) expelled them. In the 18th ...
  • Qayi (people)
    ...living primarily in Eastern Cape province, South Africa, and forming part of the southern Nguni group of Bantu-speaking peoples. The main Xhosa groups are the Gcaleka, Ngika, Ndlamba, Dushane, Qayi, Ntinde, and the Gqunkhwebe (the latter being partly of Khoekhoe origin)....
  • qaynāt (singer)
    ...performances were held periodically, attracting the most distinguished poet-musicians. Their music, more sophisticated than that practiced in the nomadic encampments, was related to that of the qaynāt (“singing girls”), who performed at court, in noble households, and in scattered taverns. Cultural contact with Byzantium was strong in the kingdom of Ghassān,.....
  • Qayrawān, Al- (Tunisia)
    town located in north-central Tunisia. The town, one of the holy cities of Islam, lies on the Basse Steppe (Low Steppes), a semiarid alluvial plain southeast of the Central Tell. Tradition holds that the town was founded in 670 by ʿUqbah ibn Nāfiʿ (Sīdī ʿUqbah), a companion of the Prophet Muhammad, on the site of the B...
  • Qayrawān, Great Mosque of (mosque, Kairouan, Tunisia)
    ...was made from the highest roof in the vicinity of the mosque. The earliest minarets were former Greek watchtowers and the towers of Christian churches. The oldest minaret in North Africa is at al-Qayrawān, Tunisia. It was built between 724 and 727 and has a massive square form....
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