Burdwan

Also called  Bardhaman, or Barddhaman,   city, central West Bengal state, northeastern India. The city is a major communications centre lying astride the Banka River just north of the Damodar River. Rice and oilseed milling and hosiery, cutlery, and tool manufacturing are the chief industries. Of historic interest are the Rajbari (the maharaja's palace and gardens), several ancient Muslim tombs, and 108 Siva linga,

Penedo

Port city, Alagoas state, northeastern Brazil, on the north bank of the lower São Francisco River, bordering Sergipe state, 25 mi (40 km) above its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean. Founded in the 16th century during the Portuguese conquest, it has developed a thriving trade in hides, rice, and cotton. There is light industrial development, including cotton spinning, weaving, vegetable-oil

Paracel Islands

Wade-Giles romanization  Hsi-sha Ch'ün-tao , Pinyin  Xisha Qundao , Vietnamese  Quan Dao Hoang Sa  group of about 130 small coral islands and reefs in the South China Sea. They lie about 250 miles (400 km) east of central Vietnam and about 220 miles (350 km) southeast of Hainan Island, China. Apart from a few isolated, outlying islands (Triton in the south, Lincoln in the east), they are divided into the Amphitrite group in the northeast and the Crescent group in the west. The low, barren islands,

Tiwanaku

Some scholars date the earliest remains found at the site to the early part of the Early Intermediate Period (c. 200 BC–AD 200); others suggest that the culture is evident in artifacts

Harald Ii Eiriksson,

The son of Erik Bloodax, who was the half brother of Haakon I, Harald took refuge in Denmark following his father's death. Aided by his uncle, the Danish king Harald Bluetooth (Blåtand), Harald

India, Recreation

Virtually all regions of India have their distinctive places of pilgrimage, local saints and folk heroes, religious festivals, and associated fairs. There are also innumerable festivals associated with individual villages or temples or with specific castes and cults. The most popular of the religious festivals celebrated over the greater part of India are

Middle East

The lands around the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula and Iran and sometimes beyond. The central part of this general area was formerly called the Near East, a name given to it by some of the first modern Western geographers and historians, who tended to divide the Orient into three regions. Near