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  • Kang Zuyi (Chinese scholar)
    Chinese scholar, a leader of the Reform Movement of 1898 and a key figure in the intellectual development of modern China. During the last years of the empire and the early years of the republic he sought to promote Confucianism as an antidote against “moral degeneration” and indiscriminate Westernization....
  • K’ang-hsi (emperor of Qing dynasty)
    reign name (nianhao) of the second emperor (reigned 1661–1722) of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty (1644–1911/12). To the Chinese empire he added areas north of the Amur River (Heilong Jiang) and portions of Outer Mongolia, and he extended control over Tibet. He opened four ports to foreign trade and encouraged the introduction of W...
  • Kang-ti-ssu Shan (mountain range, China)
    one of the highest and most rugged parts of the Himalayas, located in the southwestern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, southwestern China. The range has a roughly northwest-southeast axis and lies to the north of a trough drained in the west by the Langqên (Xiangquan) River—which is known as the Sutlej River...
  • K’ang-ting (China)
    town, western Sichuan sheng (province) and capital of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China. Kangding is on the Tuo River, a tributary of the Dadu River, 62 miles (100 km) west of Ya’an on the main route from Sichuan into the Tibet Autonomous Region. It lies at an elevation of 8,400 feet (2...
  • Kangaba (people)
    The Malinke are divided into numerous independent groups dominated by a hereditary nobility, a feature that distinguishes them from most of their more egalitarian neighbours. One group, the Kangaba, has one of the world’s most ancient dynasties; its rule has been virtually uninterrupted for 13 centuries. Beginning in the 7th century ad as the centre of a small state, Kangaba b...
  • Kangaba (West African kingdom)
    Sundiata was a Mandingo from the small kingdom of Kangaba, near the present Mali–Guinea border. Little is known about his early life. Mandingo oral traditions indicate that he was one of 12 royal brothers who were heirs to the throne of Kangaba. When Sumanguru, ruler of the neighbouring state of Kaniaga, overran Kangaba at the beginning of the 13th century, he murdered all of Sundiata...
  • Kangāli Bihu (Indian culture)
    ...festival. Known also as Bhogali Bihu (from bhog, meaning enjoyment and feasting), it is a time of community feasts and bonfires. The third Bihu festival, the Kati Bihu (in mid-October or November), is also called the Kangali Bihu (from kangali, meaning poor), because by this time of year the house of an ordinary......
  • Kangamiut dike swarm (geological feature, Greenland)
    ...is more than 500 km (311 miles) wide and 3,000 km (1,864 miles) long and extends in a northwesterly direction across the whole of Canada from the Arctic to the Great Lakes. The 1.95-billion-year-old Kangamiut swarm in western Greenland is only about 250 km (155 miles) long but is one of the world’s densest continental dike swarms. Many of the major dike swarms were intruded on the contin...
  • Kangar (Malaysia)
    town, extreme northwest Peninsular (West) Malaysia. It lies 5 miles (8 km) east of the Thailand border, on the Perlis River. Kangar is the largest town in the Perlis region and is the head of navigation for small craft on the Perlis River. Its industries include cement, saw milling, rubber, paper, and processing of sugar and prawns. The town is also a gathering centre for the paddy rice production...
  • Kangarid dynasty (Iranian dynasty)
    (ad c. 916–1090), Iranian dynasty that ruled in northwestern Iran....
  • Kangaroo (work by Lawrence)
    Lawrence wrote Kangaroo in six weeks while visiting Australia in 1922. This novel is a serious summary of his own position at the time. The main character and his wife move to Australia after World War I and face in the new country a range of political action: his literary talents are courted alike by socialists and by a nationalist quasi-fascist party. He cannot embrace either......
  • Kangaroo (missile)
    ...the Soviet Union deployed its AS series, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 14 air-to-surface missiles. Long-range antiship missiles designed for use from bomber and patrol aircraft included the 50-foot, swept-wing AS-3 Kangaroo, introduced in 1961 with a range exceeding 400 miles. The AS-4 Kitchen, a Mach-2 (twice the speed of sound) rocket-powered missile with a range of about 250 miles, also was introduced......
  • kangaroo (marsupial)
    any of six large species of Australian marsupials noted for hopping and bouncing on their hind legs. The term kangaroo, most specifically used, refers to the eastern gray kangaroo, the western gray kangaroo, and the red kangaroo, as well as to the antilopine kangaroo and two species of wallaroo (see below). Less specifically, kangaroo refers to all 13 specie...
  • Kangaroo Island (island, South Australia, Australia)
    third largest Australian offshore island, located at the entrance to the Gulf St. Vincent, South Australia, 80 miles (130 km) southwest of Adelaide. Its formation is that of a low, cliffed plateau (structurally a continuation of the Mount Lofty–Flinders ranges on the mainland) measuring 90 by 34 miles (145 by 55 km) and rising to nearly 920 feet (280 metres). Visited in ...
  • kangaroo mouse (rodent)
    either of two species of leaping bipedal rodents found only in certain deserts of the western United States. They have large ears and a large head with fur-lined external cheek pouches. The forelimbs are short, but the hind limbs and feet are long. Stiff hairs fringe the hind feet, and the soles are densely furred. The soft, silky coat is long and lax....
  • kangaroo rat (rodent)
    any of 22 species of bipedal North American desert rodents with a tufted tail. Kangaroo rats have large heads and eyes, short forelimbs, and very long hind legs and feet. Fur-lined external cheek pouches open alongside the mouth and can be everted for cleaning. Kangaroo rats are considered medium-sized, weighing 35 to 180 grams (1.2 to 6.3 ounces), with a body 10 to 20 cm (4 to ...
  • Kangāvar (ancient city, Iran)
    ...style, it had little to distinguish it from Greco-Mesopotamian or, for that matter, Greco-Indian art. Architecture of about 200 bc is represented by two “Greek” temples, at Kangāvar and Khurha, in Iran, in which classical orders (Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian) are handled with so little understanding that they can hardly be called Hellenistic. There are, howeve...
  • Kangavarman (Indian ruler)
    ...who, after being insulted by a Pallava official, took up a military career and acquired sufficient territory to bargain with the Pallavas for a feudal principality on the western coast. His son Kangavarman, who assumed the title Dharmamahārājadhirāja (“Lawful King of Kings”), was probably the king of Kuntala defeated by the Vākāṭeka king.....
  • Kāngchenjunga (mountain, Asia)
    world’s third highest mountain (28,169 feet [8,586 m]), in the Himalayas on the Nepalese border with Sikkim, India, 46 miles (74 km) north-northwest of Darjeeling. The Kānchenjunga massif is in the form of a gigantic cross, the arms of which lie north, south, east, and west. The individual summits connect to neighbouring peaks by four main ridges, from which four glaciers flow...
  • Kangde (emperor of Qing dynasty)
    last emperor (1908–1911/12) of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty (1644–1911/12) in China and puppet emperor of the Japanese-controlled state of Manchukuo (Chinese: Manzhouguo) from 1934 to 1945....
  • Kangding (China)
    town, western Sichuan sheng (province) and capital of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China. Kangding is on the Tuo River, a tributary of the Dadu River, 62 miles (100 km) west of Ya’an on the main route from Sichuan into the Tibet Autonomous Region. It lies at an elevation of 8,400 feet (2...
  • Kangean Islands (islands, Indonesia)
    island group in the Java Sea, Jawa Timur provinsi (“province”), Indonesia. The Kangeans lie northwest of the Lesser Sunda Islands (Nusa Tenggara), some 75 miles (121 km) north of Bali, and consist of three main islands surrounded by about 60 islets and covering a land area of 258 square miles (668 square km). The largest of the three main islands is Kangean, with an area of 18...
  • Kangean, Kepulauan (islands, Indonesia)
    island group in the Java Sea, Jawa Timur provinsi (“province”), Indonesia. The Kangeans lie northwest of the Lesser Sunda Islands (Nusa Tenggara), some 75 miles (121 km) north of Bali, and consist of three main islands surrounded by about 60 islets and covering a land area of 258 square miles (668 square km). The largest of the three main islands is Kangean, with an area of 18...
  • kangen (Japanese music)
    ...music of the right, contained the rest. The flute and main drum of the two ensembles differ, and komagaku does not use strings. Purely instrumental performances of gagaku are called kangen (flutes and strings), while dances and their accompaniment are called bugaku. Various forms of Shintō ritual or ancient vocal music also survive....
  • Kanger, Stig (Swedish scholar)
    ...necessity and logical possibility, and in the wider sense, in which all concepts that exhibit similar logical behaviour are included. This development, initiated between 1957 and 1959 largely by Stig Kanger of Sweden and Saul Kripke of the U.S., has opened the door to applications in the logical analysis of many philosophically central concepts, such as knowledge, belief, perception, and......
  • Kangerlussuaq (fjord, Greenland)
    fjord in southwestern Greenland, located just north of the Arctic Circle and 60 miles (95 km) southeast of Sisimiut (Holsteinsborg). About 120 miles (190 km) long and 1–5 miles (1.5–8 km) wide, the fjord extends northeastward from Davis Strait to the edge of the inland ice cap, where its arms are fed by several glaciers. Near the head of the fjord is the town of Ka...
  • Kangerlussuaq (town, Greenland)
    ...(1.5–8 km) wide, the fjord extends northeastward from Davis Strait to the edge of the inland ice cap, where its arms are fed by several glaciers. Near the head of the fjord is the town of Kangerlussuaq, the site of Greenland’s main international airport. Established as Bluie West 8 (BW 8), a U.S. World War II air base, the airport served for many years as a transpolar intermediate...
  • Kanggye (North Korea)
    city, northern North Korea. As a transportation junction of the inland plateau near the frontier with China, it has been a fortress and military base since the Chosǒn (Yi) dynasty (1392–1910). It is connected with P’yŏngyang by rail line and road. Kanggye’s industries include timber processing and ceramics. Manufacturing has been carried on since 1945, when a hy...
  • kangha (Sikh religious dress)
    ...as Khalsa Sikhs), the wearing of the “Five Ks”—kes or kesh (uncut hair), kangha (comb), kacch (short trousers), kara (steel bracelet), and kirpan......
  • Kanghwa Island (island, South Korea)
    island, Kyŏnggi do (province), northwestern South Korea. Kanghwa Island lies in the Yellow Sea just off the northwestern coast, northwest of Inch’ŏn. Roughly rectangular in shape, it lies at the mouth of the Han River and has an area of 163 square miles (422 square km). The land is hilly but fertile and produces rice and other crops; the island is one of the country...
  • Kanghwa, Treaty of (Japan-Korea [1876])
    ...the parley was protracted, and Japan impatiently sent warships to Korea; these sailed northward to Kanghwa Bay, where gunfire was exchanged between the Japanese vessels and a Korean island fort. The Treaty of Kanghwa, signed in 1876, defined Korea as an independent state on an equal footing with Japan. Japan sent an envoy, Mori Arinori, to China to report on recent Korean affairs. China insiste...
  • Kanghwa-do (island, South Korea)
    island, Kyŏnggi do (province), northwestern South Korea. Kanghwa Island lies in the Yellow Sea just off the northwestern coast, northwest of Inch’ŏn. Roughly rectangular in shape, it lies at the mouth of the Han River and has an area of 163 square miles (422 square km). The land is hilly but fertile and produces rice and other crops; the island is one of the country...
  • Kangiwa (palace, Katsina, Nigeria)
    Katsina’s Fulani emirs retain traditional and advisory roles and reside in the palace of the Kangiwa (“Elephant’s Head”); among the royal treasures of the palace is Gajere, a sword with a 13th-century Arabic inscription that was used in the overthrow of the Kumayo-Durbawa dynasty in the early 14th century. Associated with the town’s large central mosque is the Go...
  • Kangjin (South Korea)
    ...of imitation, Koryŏ potters, from about the mid-11th century or slightly earlier, started to produce their own distinctive kind of porcelain with a celadon glaze. Two main ceramic centres, at Kangjin and Puan, operated in southwestern Korea from the very beginning to the end of the Koryŏ period....
  • Kangnŭng (South Korea)
    city, Kangwŏn do (province), northeastern South Korea. A coastal city on the Sea of Japan (East Sea), it has been the administrative and economic centre for the eastern areas of the T’aebaek Mountains from ancient times. The city’s many historical remains include Ojukhyŏn, an ancient shrine. It has a good bathing beach, and Kyŏngpodae (see ), a sce...
  • Kango (Gabon)
    town, northwestern Gabon. The town is situated about 50 miles (80 km) east of Libreville and lies on the Como River at the head of the Gabon Estuary. Kango is the site of one of Africa’s largest cellulose and paper-pulp factories, which was built in the 1970s to process products of the surrounding forest. The factory draws its electric power from the Kinguél...
  • kangō trade (Japanese history)
    ...to the emperor of China. In order to distinguish between pirate ships and trading ships, seals received from the Ming called kangōfu were used, hence the use of the term kangō, or tally, trade....
  • kangōfu (Japanese history)
    ...the form of tribute from Yoshimitsu, “King of Japan,” to the emperor of China. In order to distinguish between pirate ships and trading ships, seals received from the Ming called kangōfu were used, hence the use of the term kangō, or tally, trade....
  • Kangra (India)
    city, western Himāchal Pradesh state, northwestern India. The city lies on a rail line just south-southwest of Dharmsāla, at an elevation of 2,409 feet (734 m). Kāngra was known as Nagarkot in ancient and medieval times, when it was a fortress stronghold of the Rājput rajas. Maḥmūd of Ghazna, the Turkish conqueror, sacked the town in 1009, as did Emperor F...
  • Kāngra painting
    ...designed shawls of Kinnaur, the distinctive woolen caps of Kullu, and the embroidered handkerchiefs of Chamba accent their colourful, festive clothing. Himāchal Pradesh is also known for its Kāngṛa Valley school of paintings....
  • Kangri (Turkey)
    city, north-central Turkey. It lies at the confluence of the Tatlı and the Acı rivers. Gangra, capital of the ancient Paphlagonian kings, was incorporated into the Roman province of Galatia (c. 6 bc) and renamed Germanicopolis. It was captured by the Seljuq Turks after their victory over Byzantine forces at Malazgirt (ad 1071) and...
  • Kangshung Glacier (glacier, Asia)
    Glaciers cover the slopes of Everest to its base. Individual glaciers flanking the mountain are the Kangshung Glacier to the east; the East, Central, and West Rongbuk (Rongpu) glaciers to the north and northwest; the Pumori Glacier to the northwest; and the Khumbu Glacier to the west and south, which is fed by the glacier bed of the Western Cwm, an enclosed valley of ice between Everest and the......
  • KaNgwane (state, South Africa)
    former nonindependent Bantustan, eastern Transvaal, South Africa. It was created as a homeland for those Swazi people not residing in Swaziland....
  • Kangwŏn (province, South Korea)
    do (province), northeastern South Korea, bounded (east) by the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and by the provinces of North Kyŏngsang and North Ch’ung-ch’ŏng (south) and Kyŏnggi (west). In the north it was divided between North and South Korea by the 38th parallel in 1945 and, following the Korean War armistice (1953), by the truce line, with most of the origina...
  • Kangwŏn (province, North Korea)
    do (province), southeastern North Korea, facing the Sea of Japan (East Sea). The province consists of the small northern part of the former Kangwŏn Province, which was divided by the 38th parallel in 1945 and, after the armistice following the Korean War (1953), by the truce line. In 1945 Wŏnsan city and two counties from Hamgyŏng-namdo (South Hamgyŏng Province)...
  • Kangxi (emperor of Qing dynasty)
    reign name (nianhao) of the second emperor (reigned 1661–1722) of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty (1644–1911/12). To the Chinese empire he added areas north of the Amur River (Heilong Jiang) and portions of Outer Mongolia, and he extended control over Tibet. He opened four ports to foreign trade and encouraged the introduction of W...
  • Kangxi zidian (Chinese dictionary)
    ...of the Mingshi, an official history of the Ming dynasty. Other great books commissioned by Kangxi included the dictionary of Chinese characters, Kangxi zidian, listing about 42,000 characters (1716); the rhyming dictionary of Chinese compounds, Peiwenyunfu (1711); and the encyclopaedia of subject matter, ......
  • Kānha National Park (national park, India)
    national park in Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh state, central India, extending over 122 sq mi (316 sq km) of the central highlands, at an elevation of from 2,000 ft (600 m) to 3,000 ft. Originally established as the Banjār Valley Sanctuary in 1935, it became a national park in 1955 and was enlarged in 1964. Rolling, sometimes rugged hills that tend to be flat-topped enclose on three side...
  • Kānheri Caves (caves, India)
    Krishnagīri Forest, a national park in the north of Greater Bombay, is a pleasant vacation resort located near the Kānheri Caves, site of an ancient Buddhist university; the more than 100 caves contain gigantic Buddhist sculptures dating from the 2nd to 9th century ad. There are several public gardens, including the Jijāmātā Garden, which houses Bom...
  • Kania, Stanisław (Polish statesman)
    Gierek did not politically survive the birth of Solidarity, and he was replaced by Stanisław Kania, who was followed by General Wojciech Jaruzelski. By the autumn of 1981, Jaruzelski held the offices of premier, first secretary of the party, and commander in chief. His decision to attempt to break Solidarity through the introduction of martial law in December 1981 may well have stemmed......
  • Kanibadam (Tajikistan)
    city, Khodzhent oblast (province), Tajikistan, in the western Fergana Valley. The Kanibadam oasis was best known for almonds, from which its name, Place of Almonds, is derived. The city dates back at least to the 15th century. Its economy is based on the processing of local agricultural products—cotton, silk, and fruit, particularly apricots. The Bolshoy (Great) Fergana Canal flows ...
  • Kaniembo (king of Kazembe)
    During the existence of Kazembe there were nine kings with the name Kazembe. The greatest of these was Kazembe II, known as Kaniembo (reigned c. 1740–60), who conquered most of the territory that the kingdom eventually occupied, extending citizenship to those he conquered and establishing the complicated network of tribute and trade that held the vast kingdom together. His......
  • Kanık, Orhan Veli (Turkish poet)
    poet who was one of the most innovative poets in 20th-century Turkish literature....
  • Kaniksu National Forest (park, Idaho, United States)
    lake in Kaniksu National Forest, northwestern Idaho, U.S. The largest lake in Idaho, it is about 40 miles (65 km) long and 4 miles (6.5 km) wide and covers an area of some 125 square miles (325 square km). It is about 1,150 feet (350 metres) deep and is noted for the highly prized Kamloops rainbow trout. The lake (the name of which is derived from the French name [Pend d’Oreille] for the......
  • Kanimblan orogeny (geology)
    a mountain-building event in eastern Australia toward the end of Early Carboniferous time (about 325,000,000 years ago). Uplift and deformation occurred in a wide belt extending from Tasmania to Cape York. The Kanimblan was the most severe orogenic episode to affect the Tasman Geosyncline....
  • Kanin, Garson (American writer and director)
    American writer and director of plays and films, best known for collaborations with his wife, the actress-writer Ruth Gordon....
  • Kanin, Michael (American writer, producer, and director)
    Screenplay: George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West, Arthur Wimperis for Mrs. MiniverOriginal Story: Emeric Pressburger for The InvadersOriginal Screenplay: Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner, Jr., for Woman of the YearCinematography, Black-and-White: Joseph Ruttenberg for Mrs. MiniverCinematography, Color: Leon Shamroy for The Black SwanArt Direction,......
  • Kanin Peninsula (peninsula, Russia)
    peninsula in Arkhangelsk oblast (province), northwestern Russia. It separates the White Sea to the west from the Cheshskaya Guba (Bay), a gulf of the Barents Sea, to the east. It has an area of about 4,000 sq mi (10,500 sq km). Except in the north, where the Kanin Kamen runs northwest–southeast, the peninsula is a flat, marshy, tundra plain of glacial and marine deposits. Numerous mo...
  • Kanis, Sint Petrus (Jesuit scholar)
    doctor of the church, Jesuit scholar, and strong opponent of Protestantism who has been called the Second Apostle of Germany....
  • Kanishka (Kushan king)
    greatest king of the Kushān dynasty that ruled over the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, Afghanistan, and possibly regions north of Kashmir in Central Asia. He is, however, chiefly remembered as a great patron of Buddhism....
  • Kaniṣka (Kushan king)
    greatest king of the Kushān dynasty that ruled over the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, Afghanistan, and possibly regions north of Kashmir in Central Asia. He is, however, chiefly remembered as a great patron of Buddhism....
  • Kaniuk, Yoram (Israeli author)
    ...Sadeh. Yitzḥak Orpaz’s novels tend toward psychological exploration, particularly in the series beginning with Bayit le-adam eḥad (1975; “One Man’s House”). Yoram Kaniuk’s work examines the alienated Israeli, but Ha-Yehudi ha-aḥaron (1981; The Last Jew) explores the Israeli experience as a response to the Holocaust. Th...
  • Kanizsa (fort, Hungary)
    ...the campaign of 1596, which saw the Ottoman conquest of Erlau (Eger) and victory at Hachova (Mező-Kersztes). In 1601, following a continuous war of sieges, the Ottomans took the fortress of Kanizsa....
  • Kanjeran Pluvial Stage (geology)
    ...Pleistocene Epoch (900,000 to 130,000 years ago) corresponds to the Mindel in Europe. A dry but not a desert climate is implied by the Kamasian-Kanjeran Interpluvial levels at Olduvai Gorge. The Kanjeran, or Third, Pluvial occurred during the Middle Pleistocene and corresponds to the Riss Pluvial in Europe....
  • Kanjeran-Gamblian Interpluvial (geology)
    An arid phase, which greatly reduced forest land, is revealed in the Kanjeran-Gamblian Interpluvial levels, lasting from about 60,000 to 55,000 years ago. This period corresponds to an important tectonic phase marked by uplift and subsidence in North Africa and activity along all the faults, in particular those in eastern Africa. It was at this time that eastern Africa assumed its present......
  • kanji (Japanese writing)
    in Japanese writing, characters adapted from Chinese characters and usually employed for writing nouns, verb roots, adjectives, and other important words. The Japanese affixes for verb tenses, prepositions, and other grammatical markers, which do not exist in Chinese, are indicated by hiragana symbols written beside the kanji. The pronunciation of kanji sym...
  • Kanjobalan (people)
    ...Picomohi, Pocomam, Uspantec, Quiché, Cakchiquel, Tzutujil, Sacapultec, and Sipacapa); the Mamean peoples of the western Guatemalan highlands (Mam, Teco, Aguacatec, and Ixil); the Kanjobalan peoples of Huehuetenango in the same region and adjacent parts of Mexico (Motozintlec, Tuzantec, Jacaltec, Acatec, Tojolabal, and Chuj); the Tzotzil and Tzeltal peoples of Chiapas in......
  • “Kanjur” (Buddhist literature)
    the collection of Tibetan Buddhist sacred literature representing the “Word of the Buddha”—as distinct from the Bstan-’gyur (“Translation of Teachings”), or collection of commentaries and miscellaneous works. This body of canonical literature contains more than 1,000 works, most of them originally written in Sanskrit and most translated (with great ...
  • Kanka, Megan (American crime victim)
    ...States, a law requiring that law-enforcement officials notify local schools, day-care centres, and residents of the presence of convicted sex offenders in their communities. The law is named after Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old New Jersey girl who was brutally raped and murdered in 1994 by a twice-convicted sexual offender who had been living across the street from her home. In various forms......
  • Kankakee (Illinois, United States)
    city, seat (1853) of Kankakee county, northeastern Illinois, U.S. It lies on the Kankakee River, about 60 miles (100 km) south of Chicago. Potawatomi Indians were early inhabitants of the area, and the city’s name comes from a variant pronunciation of their name for the river. Settlement of the area began in 1832, a...
  • Kankakee Arch (geological structure, United States)
    ...Tennessee. Separated by a structural saddle, its southward extension is known as the Nashville Dome. On the north the Cincinnati Arch has two branches; one, trending west-northwest, is known as the Kankakee Arch. The other branch, trending north-northeast, is known as the Findlay Arch....
  • Kankakee River (river, United States)
    navigable stream rising near South Bend, northern Indiana, U.S., and flowing south and west approximately 135 miles (217 km) to be joined by the Iroquois River near Kankakee, Ill. It continues in a northwesterly direction to meet the Des Plaines River and to form the Illinois River. The Kankakee was first navigated by the French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, in 1679, when he descen...
  • Kankaleshvar Temple (temple, Bhir, India)
    ...and Yādava Hindu dynasties. Conquered by the Tughluq Muslim dynasty in the 14th century, it remained part of the Muslim states until 1947. Bhir is known for its leatherwork and its beautiful Kaṅkāleśvar Temple, where a poor Brahman is said to have received 1,000 pots of gold as a reward for his intense devotion. The town has several colleges affiliated with......
  • Kaṅkālī Devī (shrine, Tigowā, India)
    ...large slabs that constitute the ceiling. The pillars of the porch have a campaniform lotus capital, one of the last times this form appears in Indian architecture. Another temple of this type is the Kaṅkālī Devī shrine at Tigowā, which has more elaborate pillars, provided with the overflowing vase, or the vase-and-foliage (ghaṭa-pallava), capital...
  • Kaṅkālī Ṭīlā (shrine, Mathurā, India)
    ...such as plucking blossoms from trees or leaning on its branches, dancing, bathing under a waterfall, and adorning themselves. Among the most beautiful of these is a group that was recovered from Kaṅkālī Ṭīlā and now in the State Museum at Lucknow. The modelling of the figures is generally heavy, the soft, plump bodies suffused with a slow, languorous......
  • Kankan (Guinea)
    town, eastern Guinea. Located at the head of navigation of the Milo River (a tributary of the Niger), it was founded as a caravan centre (salt, gold, kola nuts) by Soninke merchants in the 18th century....
  • Kankan Mūsā (emperor of Mali)
    mansa (emperor) of the West African empire of Mali from 1307 (or 1312). Mansa Mūsā left a realm notable for its extent and riches (he built the Great Mosque at Timbuktu), but he is best remembered in the Middle East and Europe for the splendour of his pilgrimage to Mecca (1324)....
  • Kankaria, Lake (lake, India)
    ...blocks of houses that shelter several thousand people each. Some pols are virtually small townships, crossed by a street with gates at either end. Another attractive feature of the city is Lake Kankaria, offering promenades, boating, a hill garden, and a museum designed by the architect Le Corbusier. Ahmedabad is the home of Gujarat University (1949) and the Lalbhai Dalpatbhai......
  • Kankrin, Egor Frantsevich, Graf (Russian finance minister)
    Russian minister of finance (1823–44) under Nicholas I. An extreme fiscal conservative, he resisted most efforts to modernize the Russian state. He was created a count in 1829....
  • Kankrin monetary reform (Russian economic history)
    ...construction, although some were built anyway. He did, however, sponsor a technical school to increase the supply of skilled mechanics for Russian industry. Although his name is associated with the Kankrin monetary reform of 1839–43, which established a monetary exchange rate between the silver ruble and the devalued paper assignat ruble, many historians believe that the reform wa...
  • Kanmon Bridge (bridge, Japan)
    The Kanmon Bridge (1975), linking the islands of Honshu and Kyushu over the Shimonoseki Strait, was the first major island bridge in Japan. At about this time the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority was formed to connect these two main islands with three lines of bridges and highways. Completed in 1999, the Honshu-Shikoku project was the largest in history, building 6 of the 20 largest spanning......
  • Kanmon Tunnel (tunnel, Japan)
    world’s first under-ocean tunnel, stretching 2.25 miles (about 3.5 km) between the islands of Honshu and Kyushu in Japan. During its construction (1936–44), nearly every known tunneling technique was employed: rock tunneling by drilling and blasting, shield tunneling in soft ground, tunneling with compressed air, and the immersed-tube method involving the sinking ...
  • Kannada language
    language of the Dravidian family, spoken in southwestern India; it is the official language of Karnataka (formerly Mysore) state....
  • Kannaḍa language
    language of the Dravidian family, spoken in southwestern India; it is the official language of Karnataka (formerly Mysore) state....
  • Kannaḍa literature (Indian literature)
    the literature written in Kannada, which, like the other languages of South India, is of the Dravidian family. The earliest records in Kannada are inscriptions dating from the 6th century ad onward. The earliest literary work is the Kavirājamārga (c. ad 850), a treatise on poetics based on a Sanskrit model. Nearly all of the extant early text...
  • Kannada literature (Indian literature)
    the literature written in Kannada, which, like the other languages of South India, is of the Dravidian family. The earliest records in Kannada are inscriptions dating from the 6th century ad onward. The earliest literary work is the Kavirājamārga (c. ad 850), a treatise on poetics based on a Sanskrit model. Nearly all of the extant early text...
  • Kannada-Telugu script (Indian writing system)
    ...about 250 bc, when the Aśokan Southern Brāhmī script was adapted for Tamil. The earliest inscriptions in Tamil script proper are the Pallava copperplates of about ad 550. The Kannada–Telugu script is based on Cālukya (6th century) inscriptions; the Grantha script, used in Tamil Nadu for Sanskrit since the 6th century, was accommodat...
  • Kannauj (India)
    city, central Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. Kannauj is situated near the Ganges River, northwest of Kānpur, with which it has road and rail connections. Its name probably has more popular spellings than any other place-name in India. Kannauj has existed since ancient times and contains numerous ruins and artifacts. It was important during the Gupta empire, and in the early 7th centur...
  • Kannazuki (Shintō)
    ...are numerous other shrines and tombs in the Izumo area. It is believed that every October all the Shintō gods meet at one of the smaller shrines. Because of this tradition, October is known as Kannazuki (“Month Without Gods”) everywhere else in Japan and Kamiarizuki (“Month with Gods”) in the Izumo area. Pop. (2005) 146,307....
  • Kanniyakumari (India)
    town, southern Tamil Nādu state, southeastern India. The town is situated on Cape Comorin, which is the southernmost point on the Indian subcontinent. Kanniyākumāri is a tourist and pilgrimage centre noted for its Śiva temple and its Gandhi memorial. Legend claims that the goddess Kanyā Kumārī (“Youthful Virgin”) killed a demon on the ...
  • Kannon (bodhisattva)
    the bodhisattva (“Buddha-to-be”) of infinite compassion and mercy, possibly the most popular of all Buddhist deities, beloved throughout the Buddhist world. He supremely exemplifies the bodhisattva’s resolve to postpone his own Buddhahood until he has helped every being on earth achieve emancipation....
  • Kannur (India)
    city, northern Kerala state, southern India. A port on the Arabian Sea, Cannanore carried on important trade with Persia and Arabia in the 12th and 13th centuries ad. Until the 18th century it was the capital of the raja of Kolattiri. Vasco da Gama visited Calicut in 1498, and a Portuguese fort was built in 1505. A fort was built there by the Dutch in 1656. The British captured Canna...
  • kannushi (Shintō priest)
    In modern Japan an alternative name for the Shintō priest is kannushi, which traditionally referred only to a head priest who, through the observance of purificatory practices, had become qualified to serve as a medium for a deity....
  • Kano (historical kingdom, Nigeria)
    historic kingdom and traditional emirate in northern Nigeria. According to the Kano Chronicle (1890s), the best-known native history of the Hausa people, the Kano kingdom was founded as one of the Hausa Bakwai (“Seven True Hausa States”) in 999 by Bagauda, a grandson of Bayajida (Abuyazidu), the legendary progenitor of the Hausa people. I...
  • Kano (Nigeria)
    city and capital of Kano state, northern Nigeria, on the Jakara River. It was traditionally founded by Kano, a blacksmith of the Gaya tribe who in ancient times came to Dalla Hill in the locality in search of iron. The discovery of stone tools indicates prehistoric settlement of the site, which was selected for the capital of the Hausa state of Kano in the reign (1095–113...
  • Kano (state, Nigeria)
    state, northern Nigeria. It was formed in 1968 from Kano province, and in 1991 its northeastern portion was split off to form Jigawa state. It consists of wooded savanna in the south and scrub vegetation in the north and is drained by the Kano-Chalawa-Hadejia river system. The state’s light sandy soils are excellent for growing peanuts (groundnuts), a major export. Other crops include cott...
  • Kano City (Nigeria)
    city and capital of Kano state, northern Nigeria, on the Jakara River. It was traditionally founded by Kano, a blacksmith of the Gaya tribe who in ancient times came to Dalla Hill in the locality in search of iron. The discovery of stone tools indicates prehistoric settlement of the site, which was selected for the capital of the Hausa state of Kano in the reign (1095–113...
  • Kanō Eitoku (Japanese painter)
    fifth-generation scion of the famous Kanō family of Japanese artists who created the style of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1574–1600) screen paintings....
  • Kanō Hōgai (Japanese painter)
    ...in Tokyo of representative Japanese art and in 1882 gave a notable lecture titled “Bijutsu shinsetsu” (“The True Theory of Art”). His views interested painters such as Kanō Hōgai and Hashimoto Gahō, who became pioneers in a movement to revive the Japanese school of painting, largely inspired by Fenollosa. In this period he took up the study of......
  • Kanō Jigorō (Japanese martial arts master)
    Kanō Jigorō (1860–1938) combined the knowledge of the old jujitsu schools of the Japanese samurai with the sporting ideology of the “muscular Christianity” movement and in 1882 founded his Kōdōkan School of judo (from the Chinese jou-tao, or roudao, meaning “gentle......
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