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Qatar
Independent emirate on the W coast of the Persian Gulf. Area: 4,412 sq mi (11,427 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 561,000. Capital: Doha. Most of the population is Arab, with S. Asian and Iranian minorities who are often migrant workers. Languages: Arabic (official), English. Religion: Islam (official). Currency: Qatar riyal. Qatar is mostly stony, sandy, and barren, and consists of salt flats, dune desert, and arid plains. Largely because of oil and natural gas exports, Qatar's gross national product per capita is one of the highest in the world. The government owns all of the agricultural land and generates most of the economic activity. The private sector participates in trade and contracting on a limited scale. It is a monarchy, and its basis of legislation is Islamic law. The head of state and government is the emir assisted by the prime minister. It was partly controlled by Bahrain in the 18th-19th cent. and was nominally part of the Ottoman empire until World War I. In 1916 it became a British protectorate. Oil was discovered in 1940, and the country rapidly modernized. Qatar declared independence in 1971, when the British protectorate ended. In 1991 it served as a base for air strikes against Iraq in the Persian Gulf War.


Tatars
Turkic-speaking peoples who today live mainly in W central Russia east to the Ural Mtns., in Kazakstan, and in W Siberia. They first appeared as nomadic tribes in NE Mongolia in the 5th cent. Some joined the armies of Genghis Khan. Especially identified with the Golden Horde, they were converted to Islam in the 14th cent. The Golden Horde soon became independent Tatar khanates (see khan). Their economy was based on mixed farming and herding, which remain central to their economy. They developed craftsmanship in wood, ceramics, leather, cloth, and metal and have been well known as traders. Today there are about 6 million Tatars in all regions; they constitute about half the population of the Russian republic of Tatarstan. See also Tatar language.


Astarte
Goddess of the ancient Near East and chief deity of the Mediterranean seaports of Tyre, Sidon, and Elath. Astarte shared many qualities, and perhaps a common origin, with her sister Anath. The goddess of love and war, she was worshiped in Egypt and among the Hittites as well as in Canaan. Her Akkadian counterpart was Ishtar. She is often mentioned in the Bible under the name Ashtoreth, and Josiah destroyed the shrines dedicated to her. In Egypt she was assimilated with Isis and Hathor; in the Greco-Roman world she was assimilated with Aphrodite, Artemis, and Juno.


Batak
Several closely related ethnic groups of central Sumatra, Indonesia. The Batak are descendants of a powerful Proto-Malayan people who until 1825 lived in relative isolation in the highlands surrounding Lake Toba in Sumatra. They have their own written language. In their traditional religion, ancestors, plants, animals, ...

Top words beginning with K: kocsard, kindlers, kcne, kurmburra, kashmirian, knightlike, koulan, khs, kyphoses, klippe, knarry, kerning, keaton, ketupa, kneading, korait, kunming, karbunkel, keyster, kohler

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