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Arab Legion
Originally founded in 1921 as a police force for the British League of Nations Mandate of Transjordan, it contained a force of 1,000 volunteers under the command of Colonel Frederick Peake. In the ...
Arab revolt
(1916)A revolt against Turkish rule in the Middle East. In July 1915 Hussein ibn Ali, Sherif of Mecca, negotiated with Britain about rising up against the Ottoman Empire, a German ally during World ...
Balfour Declaration
(2 November 1917)A declaration by Britain in favour of a Jewish national home in Palestine. It took the form of a letter from Lord Balfour (British Foreign Secretary) to Lord Rothschild, a prominent ...
British Empire
At its apogee, around 1920, the British empire was the largest ever known, reputed to cover a quarter of the world's land area, and a fifth of its population. Like all mighty oaks, this one had a ...
Burundi
After decades of ethnic violence Burundi faces many years of rebuildingThe west of Burundi lies along the Great Rift Valley, with Lake Tanganyika forming the southern two-thirds of the border. To the ...
Cairo Conference
(22–26 November 1943)A World War II meeting, attended by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Chiang Kai-shek, to decide on post-war policy for the Far East. Unconditional surrender by Japan was its ...
Cameroon
Most people have seen little benefit from the exploitation of natural resourcesCameroon can be divided into four main regions. First, there is a coastal belt with mangrove forests and swamps that ...
divided States
‘It might seem that on one and the same territory there could exist only one full sovereign state; and that for there to be two or more full sovereign states ...
Druze
A member of a political and religious sect of Islamic origin, living chiefly in Lebanon and Syria. The Druze broke away from the Ismaili Muslims in the 11th century; they are regarded as heretical by ...
Faisal I
(1885–1933)King of Iraq (1921–33). The son of Hussein Ibn Ali, he commanded the northern Arab army in Jordan, Palestine, and Syria in association with T. E. Lawrence in the Arab Revolt of 1916–18. In ...
Frederick John Dealtry Lugard
1858–1945 British administrator and soldier who pioneered the system of “indirect rule” in colonial Africa.A son of missionary parents, Frederick John Dealtry Lugard was born in Fort St. George ...
French empire
The colonial empire of France. France under the Valois family had come to approximate its modern boundaries by the end of the 15th century. Most of its colonial possessions were acquired during the ...
Gaza Strip
A strip of territory in Palestine, on the SE Mediterranean coast, including the town of Gaza. Administered by Egypt from 1949, and occupied by Israel from 1967, it became a self-governing enclave ...
Iran
Conservative forces have retained their grip but the regime has been threatened by widespread protests.Much of Iran consists of a high central plateau ringed by mountains, the highest of which are in ...
Iraq
Post-war Iraq descended into chaos but has now achieved a degree of political stabilityThe heart of Iraq, forming around one-third of the territory, is the alluvial and often marshy basin of the ...
Irgun
An underground Zionist organization founded in 1931, supported largely by the non‐socialist elements among the Jewish settlers in Palestine. Originally aimed at Palestinian Arabs, from 1939 onwards ...
Israel
After half a century of war and hostility, peace with the Palestinians seems as remote as everIsrael can be considered to have four main geographical regions. To the north is a hilly region that ...
Jewish Agency
An organization established by Britain to comply with its League of Nations Mandate, to represent the Jewish community in Palestine. It was formally constituted in 1929, although it had in fact been ...
Jordan
Jordan's King Abdullah has started to establish a more stable democracyJordan has three main zones. First, there is the Jordan Valley region, which lies to the east of the Jordan river and finishes ...
Kurdistan
OverviewA state for the Kurdish nation which has not yet been established. The Kurds inhabit the border region of Turkey (around eleven million people, or 20 per cent of the population), Iran (around ...
