spectroscopy: Applications: …of a low level of isotropic microwave radiation by the American scientists Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson. The measured spectrum is identical to the radiation distribution expected from a blackbody, a surface that can absorb all the radiation incident on it. This

cosmic microwave background: Isotropy in the cosmic background: Apart from the small fluctuations discussed above (one part in 100,000), the observed cosmic microwave background radiation exhibits a high degree of isotropy, a zeroth order fact that presents both satisfaction and difficulty for a comprehensive theory. On the one…

automobile: Other European developments: …the industry in Italy, and Isotta-Fraschini was founded about 1898. Giovanni Agnelli founded Fiat SpA in 1899, saw it grow into one of the weightiest industrial complexes in the world, and maintained personal control until his death in 1945. Fabricators of lesser puissance but great repute were Lancia, Alfa Romeo…

maple syrup urine disease: …branch chain amino acids are isovaleric acidemia and hypervalinemia. In the former, the metabolism of leucine alone is blocked at one specific step by a defect in an enzyme called isovaleryl coenzyme A dehydrogenase. As a result, the level of isovaleric acid rises markedly in body fluids, and the affected…

Arata Isozaki was a Japanese architect who, during a six-decade career, designed more than 100 buildings, each defying a particular category or style. For his work, he was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2019. Isozaki was born to an upper-class family, and he witnessed firsthand as a

zoanthid: >Isozoanthus giganteus, grows to about 19 cm (about 7.5 inches) in length and 2 cm in width. Many species live on or in close association with sponges or other animals. Epizoanthus americanus, occurring in Atlantic coastal temperate waters off North America, attaches to the seashell…

Internet service provider (ISP), company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. ISPs may also provide software packages (such as browsers), e-mail accounts, and a personal website or home page. ISPs can host websites for businesses and can also build the

Hungary: The Christian kingdom: …a royal official called an ispán (comes)—later főispán (supremus comes). This official represented the king’s authority, administered its unfree population, and collected the taxes that formed the national revenue. Each ispán maintained at his fortified headquarters (castrum or vár) an armed force of freemen. In Stephen’s day there were between…

Isparta, city, western Turkey. It is located at the western end of the Taurus Mountains. Known as Baris under the Byzantine Empire, it was taken by the Seljuq Turks in 1203–04. Later it belonged to the Turkmen Hamid principality, the last ruler of which sold it to the Ottoman sultan about 1381. The

Isparta, city, western Turkey. It is located at the western end of the Taurus Mountains. Known as Baris under the Byzantine Empire, it was taken by the Seljuq Turks in 1203–04. Later it belonged to the Turkmen Hamid principality, the last ruler of which sold it to the Ottoman sultan about 1381. The

Bulgar: …the horde that Kurt’s son Asparukh led westward across the Dniester River and then southward across the Danube. There, on the plain between the Danube and the Balkan Mountains, they established the kernel of the so-called first Bulgarian empire—the state from which the modern nation of Bulgaria derives its name.…

Modica: Nearby is the famous Cava d’Ispica, with thousands of natural grottoes, which were used for habitation and as tombs from before the 14th century bc. Agriculture is presently important in Modica, and there is manufacturing of foodstuffs and traditional crafts. Pop. (2006 est.) mun., 53,587.

Leo Tolstoy: Conversion and religious beliefs: …describes in his Ispoved (1884; My Confession). All activity seemed utterly pointless in the face of death, and Tolstoy, impressed by the faith of the common people, turned to religion. Drawn at first to the Russian Orthodox Church into which he had been born, he rapidly decided that it, and…

Russia: Social classes: …more tenuously, down to the ispravnik, or chief official of the district, of which each province had several. The ispravnik was elected by the local nobility. Below the level of the district, the administration virtually ceased to operate: the sole authority was the serf owner. If serfdom were to be…

colliding-beam storage ring: …early collider projects—for example, the Intersecting Storage Rings (ISR) proton-proton collider, which operated at CERN in the 1970s—were built to collide beams of identical particles and so required two synchrotron rings that were interlaced to bring the beams into collision at two or more points. Two synchrotron rings are also…

Israel, country in the Middle East, located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bounded to the north by Lebanon, to the northeast by Syria, to the east and southeast by Jordan, to the southwest by Egypt, and to the west by the Mediterranean Sea. Jerusalem is the seat of government

Jacob, Hebrew patriarch who is considered the traditional ancestor of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. He is renamed Israel after the pivotal scene in which he wrestles with a divine being. In the genealogy recounted in the Hebrew Bible, Jacob is the grandson of Abraham and Sarah and the son of Isaac

gnosticism: Diversity of gnostic myths: …and an earth-mother figure named Eden or Israel. The world was created from the love of Elohim and Eden, and the first human couple were also created as a symbol of that love. Ironically, evil was introduced after Elohim learned of the existence of the Good above him and abandoned…

Israel, either of two political units in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament): the united kingdom of Israel under the kings Saul, David, and Solomon, which lasted from about 1020 to 922 bce; or the northern kingdom of Israel, including the territories of the 10 northern tribes (i.e., all except Judah

Ezer Weizman: …the founding officers of the Israel Air Force (IAF), a branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In 1958 Weizman was appointed commander in chief of the IAF and set out to transform and modernize it, particularly its strategy and tactics. His meticulous training and detailed preparation laid the foundation…

Dead Sea Scrolls: Discovery and description: …by what is now the Israel Antiquities Authority), who, some claim, monopolized access to the scrolls. Most of the longer, more complete scrolls were published soon after their discovery. The majority of the scrolls, however, consists of tiny, brittle fragments, which were published at a pace considered by many to…

Yisrael Beiteinu, Israeli political party established in 1999 by Avigdor Lieberman. Like the Likud Party, Yisrael Beiteinu was founded as a national movement meant to follow the path of Zionist leader Vladimir Jabotinsky (1880–1940) and focus on immigration, Israeli settlements in the West Bank,

Baʿal Shem Ṭov was the charismatic founder (c. 1750) of Hasidism, a Jewish spiritual movement characterized by mysticism and opposition to secular studies and Jewish rationalism. He aroused controversy by mixing with ordinary people, renouncing mortification of the flesh, and insisting on the

Israel Defense Forces (IDF), armed forces of Israel, comprising the Israeli army, navy, and air force. The order to create the IDF was issued on May 26, 1948, and went into effect on May 31, 1948, just two weeks after Israel’s declaration of independence. Since its creation, its guiding principles

George Frideric Handel: Music of George Frideric Handel: With Israel in Egypt and Messiah, however, the emphasis is quite different, Israel because of its uninterrupted chain of massive choruses, which do not lend themselves to stage presentation, and Messiah because it is a meditation on the life of Christ the Saviour rather than a…

Israel Labour Party, Israeli social-democratic political party founded in January 1968 in the union of three socialist-labour parties. It and its major component, Mapai, dominated Israel’s government from the country’s independence in 1948 until 1977, when the rival Likud coalition first came to

John J. Mearsheimer: …best-selling but highly controversial book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (2007). It contended that a powerful lobby skews U.S. foreign policy against the country’s national interests by securing unconditional support for Israel. Some decried the work as conspiratorial or factually weak, whereas others applauded its authors for having…

Israel Museum, museum in Jerusalem opened in 1965 and consisting of the Bezalel National Art Museum, the Samuel Bronfman Biblical and Archaeological Museum, a Youth Wing, the Shrine of the Book, and The Billy Rose Art Garden. The Shrine of the Book houses the Dead Sea Scrolls in a building whose

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Israeli symphony orchestra based in Tel Aviv–Yafo, founded in 1936 by Bronislaw Huberman as the Palestine Orchestra. Huberman assembled a professional symphony orchestra of high calibre, consisting of Europe’s most talented Jewish symphonic players. Arturo Toscanini

Israel Potter, fictionalized story by Herman Melville of an American who fought in the War of Independence and of his subsequent struggles for survival. It was published serially in 1854–55 in Putnam’s Monthly Magazine and in 1855 in book form. This short picaresque novel was based on a historical

Israel Potter, fictionalized story by Herman Melville of an American who fought in the War of Independence and of his subsequent struggles for survival. It was published serially in 1854–55 in Putnam’s Monthly Magazine and in 1855 in book form. This short picaresque novel was based on a historical

Merneptah: …of these, the famous “Israel Stela,” refers to the suppression of the revolt in Palestine. It contains the earliest-known reference to Israel, which Merneptah counted among the peoples that he defeated. Hebrew scholars suggest that the circumstances agree approximately with the period noted in biblical books from late Exodus…

Israel Labour Party: Predecessors and ideological orientation: The third partner was Rafi (an acronym for Reshimat Poʿale Yisraʾel [“Israel Workers List”]), formed in 1965 when Ben-Gurion, after a political and personal feud with Eshkol, withdrew with his supporters to form a new party. Although most Rafi members joined the new Israel Labour Party in 1968, Ben-Gurion…

Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005, unilateral withdrawal of all Israeli security forces and settlements from the Gaza Strip in August–September 2005. The withdrawal also included the evacuation of four Israeli settlements in the West Bank, but the vast majority of settlements in the West

1948 Arab-Israeli War, an existential war fought between Israel and Arab forces from Egypt, Transjordan (Jordan), Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. The war formally began on May 15, 1948, and ended on July 20, 1949, although it followed a civil war that began after the passage of United Nations partition

The early development of the flag of Israel was part of the emergence of Zionism in the late 19th century. Jacob Askowith and his son Charles designed the “flag of Judah,” which was displayed on July 20, 1891, at the hall of the B’nai Zion Educational Society in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. Based on

Israel: History of Israel: The nation of Israel is the world’s first Jewish state in two millennia. It represents for Jews the restoration of their homeland after the centuries-long Diaspora that followed the demise of the Herodian kingdom in the 1st century ce. As such, it remains…

Beta Israel, Jews of Ethiopian origin. Their beginnings are obscure and possibly polygenetic. The Beta Israel (meaning House of Israel) themselves claim descent from Menilek I, traditionally the son of the Queen of Sheba (Makeda) and King Solomon. At least some of their ancestors, however, were

forgery: Instances of literary forgery: …that of the celebrity biographer Lee Israel, who confessed in her memoir, Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2008), that while down on her luck in the 1990s she had forged and sold to collectors hundreds of letters by various notable figures—Louise Brooks, Noël Coward, Dorothy Parker, Humphrey Bogart, and Lillian…

Mel Allen was an announcer and sportscaster who was a pioneer in both radio and television broadcasts of baseball games. Although Allen announced other sporting events, he is best known for his work in baseball. The owner of one of the most recognizable voices in radio, he was the play-by-play

Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, 10 of the original 12 Hebrew tribes, which, under the leadership of Joshua, took possession of Canaan, the Promised Land, after the death of Moses. They were named Asher, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Issachar, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, and Zebulun—all sons or grandsons of

Twelve Tribes of Israel, in the Bible, the Hebrew people who, after the death of Moses, took possession of the Promised Land of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua. Because the tribes were named after sons or grandsons of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel after he wrestled an angel of the

Claude Lanzmann: Lanzmann’s first film, Israel, Why—a collection of in-depth interviews that offer a glimpse of the state 25 years after its establishment—was released in 1973. That film was the stepping-stone to Shoah, his most-acclaimed work. After Israel, Why was released, the Foreign Ministry in Israel asked him to create…

After decades of confrontations between Arabs and Jews under the British mandate of Palestine, where both communities sought self-determination after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, the United Kingdom announced its intention in 1947 to withdraw its forces from Palestine and endorsed United

The Israel-Hamas War is a war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian militants, especially Hamas, that began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a land, sea, and air assault on Israel from the territory. The next day, Israel declared war for the first time since the Yom Kippur War

The Israel-Hamas War is a war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian militants, especially Hamas, that began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a land, sea, and air assault on Israel from the territory. The next day, Israel declared war for the first time since the Yom Kippur War

Israel-Hezbollah war, conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, a Shiʿi Muslim militant group in Lebanon, that began in the aftermath of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, and consisted of two major confrontations. The first major confrontation, in September–November 2024,

On June 13, 2025, Israel conducted a major operation against Iran. The anticipated attack, which targeted nuclear facilities, military sites, and regime infrastructure, followed nearly two years of war between Israel and Iran-backed militant groups that also saw two direct confrontations between

Oslo Accords, set of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that established a peace process for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a mutually negotiated two-state solution. The agreements resulted in limited self-governance for Palestinians in the West Bank

colony collapse disorder: Suspected causes: wing virus, invertebrate iridescent virus, Israeli acute paralysis virus, Kashmir bee virus, Nosema species, Paenibacillus larvae (American foulbrood), and sacbrood virus. Many of those pathogens are present in increased abundance in hives affected by CCD, though no pathogens have been found definitively to cause the disorder.

military aircraft: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs): …but similar Scout, produced by Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI), proved effective in identifying and locating surface-to-air missiles and marking them for destruction during hostilities in Lebanon in 1982. The U.S. Marine Corps procured the Mastiff, and it followed up this vehicle with the IAI-designed and U.S.-built RQ-2 Pioneer, a slightly…

Israel Defense Forces (IDF), armed forces of Israel, comprising the Israeli army, navy, and air force. The order to create the IDF was issued on May 26, 1948, and went into effect on May 31, 1948, just two weeks after Israel’s declaration of independence. Since its creation, its guiding principles

Israeli law, the legal practices and institutions of modern Israel. In ancient times, when the people of Israel lived in their homeland, they created their own law: the law of the Torah and the law of the Mishna and the Talmud (see Torah; Mishna). Then came the separation of land and people for

Shin Bet, one of the three major intelligence organizations of Israel, along with Aman (military intelligence) and Mossad (foreign intelligence). The Shin Bet is concerned with internal security and counterintelligence and focuses on potential sabotage, terrorist activities, and security matters of

Israeli settlement, any of the communities of Israeli Jews built after 1967 in the territories occupied by Israel after the Six-Day War—the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula. Most, but not all, were authorized and supported by the Israeli government. Since 2005

After decades of confrontations between Arabs and Jews under the British mandate of Palestine, where both communities sought self-determination after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, the United Kingdom announced its intention in 1947 to withdraw its forces from Palestine and endorsed United

Isaac ben Solomon Israeli was a Jewish physician and philosopher, widely reputed in the European Middle Ages for his scientific writings and regarded as the father of medieval Jewish Neoplatonism. Although there is considerable disagreement about his birth and death dates, he is known to have lived

Isaac ben Solomon Israeli was a Jewish physician and philosopher, widely reputed in the European Middle Ages for his scientific writings and regarded as the father of medieval Jewish Neoplatonism. Although there is considerable disagreement about his birth and death dates, he is known to have lived

After decades of confrontations between Arabs and Jews under the British mandate of Palestine, where both communities sought self-determination after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, the United Kingdom announced its intention in 1947 to withdraw its forces from Palestine and endorsed United

ARCHIVED TOPIC: This topic was archived on Aug. 3, 2021 and will no longer be updated. This list of related (and updated) Britannica articles should help put the current Middle East conflict in

Since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in late 2023, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East continues to dominate the world’s attention. But it’s impossible to understand the headlines without knowing the history. The “Holy Land”—a moniker that Israelis and Palestinians share

Israeli-Saudi peace deal, anticipated agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalize ties. Serious discussions toward normalized ties between the countries began after the Abraham Accords were announced in 2020. A deal appeared imminent in 2023 but the negotiations’ momentum was derailed by

Israelite, descendant of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel after an all-night fight at Penuel near the stream of Jabbok (Genesis 32:28). In early history, Israelites were simply members of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. After 930 bce and the establishment of two independent

South African Party: …religious sect known as the Israelites, who were squatting on a farm at Bulhoek near Queenstown (now Komani) in 1921, and to crush a rising among the Bondelswarts (a Nama group) in southern South West Africa (now Namibia) in 1922. In the former, a large force of several hundred officers…

Nicolas Poussin: Conversion to Classicism: In 1638 he painted The Israelites Gathering the Manna for Paul Fréart de Chantelou, who subsequently became his closest friend and greatest patron. This work is the most ambitious history painting of Poussin’s entire career and, by the artist’s own admission, was designed to be “read” by the viewer,…

Jozef Israëls: …later works, and, like Rembrandt, Israëls often painted the poor Jews of the Dutch ghettos (e.g., A Son of the Chosen People, 1889). His son Isaac (1865–1934), also a painter, adopted an Impressionist technique and subject matter and had some influence on his father’s later work.

Jozef Israëls was a painter and etcher, often called the “Dutch Millet” (a reference to Jean-Franƈois Millet). Israëls was the leader of the Hague school of peasant genre painting, which flourished in the Netherlands between 1860 and 1900. He began his studies in Amsterdam and from 1845 to 1847

Isrāfīl, in Islam, the archangel who will blow the trumpet from the holy rock in Jerusalem (see Dome of the Rock) to announce the Day of Resurrection. The trumpet is constantly poised at his lips, ready to be blown when God so orders. Though not mentioned in the Qurʾān, Isrāfīl is known from Hadith

Isrāʾ, in Islam, the Prophet Muhammad’s night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem. As alluded to in the Qurʾān (17:1), a journey was made by a servant of God, in a single night, from the “sacred place of worship” (al-masjid al-ḥarām) to the “further place of worship” (al-masjid al-aqṣā). Traditionally,

Jacob, Hebrew patriarch who is considered the traditional ancestor of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. He is renamed Israel after the pivotal scene in which he wrestles with a divine being. In the genealogy recounted in the Hebrew Bible, Jacob is the grandson of Abraham and Sarah and the son of Isaac

Israel, country in the Middle East, located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. It is bounded to the north by Lebanon, to the northeast by Syria, to the east and southeast by Jordan, to the southwest by Egypt, and to the west by the Mediterranean Sea. Jerusalem is the seat of government

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Indian space agency, founded in 1969 to develop an independent Indian space program. Its headquarters are in Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), Karnataka. ISRO’s chief executive is also chair of the Indian government’s Space Commission and the secretary of

surface analysis: Secondary ion mass spectroscopy and ion scattering spectroscopy: For both SIMS and ISS, a primary ion beam with kinetic energy of 0.3–10 keV, usually composed of ions of an inert gas, is directed onto a surface. When an ion strikes the surface, two events can occur. In one scenario the…

International Space Station (ISS), space station assembled in low Earth orbit largely by the United States and Russia, with assistance and components from a multinational consortium. It has been continously occupied by astronauts and cosmonauts since November 2, 2000. The project, which began as an

Issa was a Japanese haiku poet whose works in simple, unadorned language captured the spiritual loneliness of the common man. As a boy, Issa found relations with his stepmother so difficult that in 1777 he was sent by his father to Edo (present-day Tokyo), where he studied haikai under the poet

Issa, a branch of the Somali (q.v.) people living in the Republic of Djibouti (formerly the French Territory of the Afars and Issas) on the east coast of

Czesław Miłosz: Literary works: …the novel Dolina Issy (1955; The Issa Valley), and The History of Polish Literature (1969).

Issachar, one of the 12 tribes of Israel that in biblical times constituted the people of Israel who later became the Jewish people. The tribe was named after the fifth son born to Jacob and his first wife, Leah. After the death of Moses, Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land and

Executive Order 9066: -born sons and daughters of Japanese immigrants) of southern California’s Terminal Island had been ordered to vacate their homes, leaving behind all but what they could carry. On March 2, 1942, Gen. John DeWitt, the army’s administrator for the western United States, issued Proclamation No. 1, which established Military Area…

Denver Nuggets: …future Hall of Fame members Dan Issel and David Thompson, Denver won its division for a second straight year in 1977–78, and in the postseason the Nuggets advanced to the Western Conference finals before being eliminated by the Seattle SuperSonics.

Moses ben Israel Isserles was a Polish-Jewish rabbi and codifier who, by adding notes on Ashkenazic customs to the great legal digest Shulḥan ʿarukh of the Sephardic codifier Joseph Karo, made it an authoritative guide for Orthodox Jews down to the present day. A precocious scholar, Isserles became

shooting: International competition and organization: …changed its name to the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) in 1998.

Sir Alec Issigonis was a British automobile designer who created the best-selling, economical Mini and the perennially popular Morris Minor. The son of a Greek merchant, Issigonis immigrated to London in 1922 during the war between Greece and Turkey. After studying engineering, he joined Morris

Sir Alec Issigonis was a British automobile designer who created the best-selling, economical Mini and the perennially popular Morris Minor. The son of a Greek merchant, Issigonis immigrated to London in 1922 during the war between Greece and Turkey. After studying engineering, he joined Morris

Songhai empire: …culminated disastrously for Songhai under Issihak II (1588–91) when Moroccan forces, using firearms, advanced into the Songhai empire to rout his forces, first at Tondibi and then at Timbuktu and Gao. Retaliatory guerrilla action of the pastoral Songhai failed to restore the empire, the economic and administrative centres of which…

Leo Tolstoy: Conversion and religious beliefs: …Issledovaniye dogmaticheskogo bogosloviya (written 1880; An Examination of Dogmatic Theology), Soyedineniye i perevod chetyrokh yevangeliy (written 1881; Union and Translation of the Four Gospels), and V chyom moya vera? (written 1884; What I Believe); he later added Tsarstvo bozhiye vnutri vas (1893; The Kingdom of God Is Within You) and…

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), in bibliography, eight-digit number that provides a concise and unambiguous identification code for serial publications. Unlike the International Standard Book Number (ISBN), this number’s only significance is its unique identification of a particular

Mahamadou Issoufou was a Nigerien politician who served as president of Niger from 2011 to 2021. During the late 1970s Issoufou studied in France and became a mining engineer; he returned to Niger in 1979 to work for the Société des Mines de l’Aïr (SOMAÏR), a French-controlled mining company. In

public opinion: Regional and global surveys: …Program, better known as the ISSP Survey, is a collaborative effort involving research organizations in many parts of the world. Its survey topics include work, gender roles, religion, and national identity. The World Values Survey takes a slightly more political tack by examining the ways in which religious views, identity,…

procedural law: Effects of the judgment: The related doctrine of collateral estoppel (also called issue preclusion) precludes the parties from relitigating, in a second suit based on a different claim, any issue of fact common to both suits that was actually litigated and necessarily determined in the first suit. At the start of the 20th…

Ian Barbour: His Issues in Science and Religion (1966) was one of the first books to treat the fields as two disciplines that shared a common ground rather than as two completely separate or conflicting spheres of study. The publication, which many credited with having created the interdisciplinary…

Battle of Issus, (333 bce), conflict early in Alexander the Great’s invasion of Asia in which he defeated a Persian army under King Darius III. This was one of the decisive victories by which Alexander conquered the Achaemenian Empire. Issus is a plain on the coast of the Gulf of İskenderun, in

Issy-les-Moulineaux, town, suburb of Paris, in Hauts-de-Seine département, Île-de-France région, north-central France. It is bounded to the northeast by the city limits of Paris. The town’s manufacturing industries include electrical equipment, chemicals, and printing and publishing, but in general

Ysyk-Köl, oblasty (province), northeastern Kyrgyzstan. In the northeast is Lake Ysyk (Issyk-Kul) at an elevation of 5,276 feet (1,608 metres) and surrounded by ranges rising to some 17,100 feet (5,200 metres), while in the southeast, on the frontier with China, are the highest peaks of the Tien

Balykchy, town, capital of Ysyk-Köl oblasty (province), northeastern Kyrgyzstan. It is a port located on the western shore of Lake Ysyk (Issyk-Kul) and is linked to Frunze, about 87 miles (140 km) north-northwest. Balykchy’s economy centres on a food industry, including meat-packing and cereal

Lake Ysyk, a drainless lake in northeastern Kyrgyzstan. Situated in the northern Tien Shan (“Celestial Mountains”), it is one of the largest high-mountain lakes in the world and is famous for its magnificent scenery and unique scientific interest. It is situated within the bottom edges of the Lake

Afghanistan: Drainage of Afghanistan: …southwest and the saline Lake Īstādeh-ye Moqor, situated 60 miles (100 km) south of Ghaznī in the southeast. There are five small lakes in the Bābā Mountains known as the Amīr lakes; they are noted for their unusual shades of colour, from milky white to dark green, a condition caused…

Germanic peoples: Ingaevones, the Herminones, and the Istaevones—but the basis for this grouping is unknown. Tacitus records a variant form of the genealogy according to which Mannus had a larger number of sons, who were regarded as the ancestors of the Suebi, the Vandals, and others. At any rate, the currency of…

Persepolis: History of Persepolis: …ce the nearby city of Istakhr (Estakhr, Stakhr) was the seat of local government, and Istakhr acquired importance as a centre of priestly wisdom and orthodoxy. Thereafter the city became the centre of the Persian Sasanian dynasty, though the stone ruins that still stand just west of Persepolis suggest that…

Bükk Mountains: Maximum elevation is reached at Mount Istállóskő (3,146 feet [959 m]). The central core of the Bükk is a 12.5-by-4.5-mile (20-by-7-kilometre) limestone plateau (called Giants’ Table) with a rim of white cliffs dominating the surrounding lower mountains. The Bükk is an intensely folded and faulted block range. Along fault lines…