Nov. 17, 1944, Rotterdam, Neth.)
Dutch architect. After studying architecture in London and working in New York City, in 1975 he opened his own firm in Rotterdam and Lon¬ don. He first achieved recognition with his book Delirious New York (1978), which profiled Manhattan’s architectural development, suggest¬ ing that it was an organic process created through a variety of cultural forces. His best-known projects are large-scale structures, including the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, the Grand Palais exhibition hall in Lille, Fr., and a master plan for the MCA/Universal Studios site in Los Angeles. His book S, M, L, XL (1996) addressed the theme of size. In 1998 he won the design competition for a new campus centre at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2000.
Kooning, Willem de See Willem de Kooning
Kootenay National Park National park, southeastern British Columbia, Canada. Centred around the Kootenay River, the park occupies the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains, adjacent to Banff and Yoho national parks. Established as a national park in 1920, it covers 543 sq mi (1,406 sq km). From prehistoric times, the area was a major north- south travel route. Pictographs indicate that humans settled near the hot springs 11,000-12,000 years ago. The park’s scenery is characterized by snowcapped peaks, glaciers, cascades, canyons, and verdant valleys. Wildlife includes wapiti (elk), moose, deer, bighorn sheep, and mountain goats.
Kootenay \ l kii-t 3 n-,a\ River River, western North America. Rising in the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Can., it flows south through British Columbia. It continues into Montana and then turns north into Idaho, U.S., and back into British Columbia, where it joins the Columbia River, having traveled a course of 485 mi (780 km).
Koprulu Vkoe-priE-'liEN, Fazil Ahmed Pasha (b. 1635, Vezirkoprli, Anatolia, Ottoman Empire—d. Nov. 3, 1676, near £orlu, Thrace) Grand vizier (1661-76) under the Ottoman sultan Mehmed IV. He started his career as a scholar but entered the civil service when his father became grand vizier. Having made the army more efficient, he campaigned suc¬ cessfully against Austria (1663), the Venetian republic in Crete (1669), and Poland (1672-76). He died during his last campaign.
KoraVs \k6-'ra-esV Adamantios (b. April 27, 1748, Smyrna, Anatolia—d. April 6,1833, Paris, France) Greek scholar. He studied medi¬ cine in France but moved to Paris to pursue a literary career. He hoped to awaken the national aspirations of his countrymen and to increase aware¬ ness of the Greek heritage. His advocacy of a revived classicism had a great
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influence on Greek language and culture. His anthologies include the Library of Greek Literature, 17 vol. (1805-26), and the Parerga, 9 vol. (1809-27). Largely through his Atakta (composed 1828-35), the first Mod¬ ern Greek dictionary, he created a new Greek literary language by com¬ bining elements of vernacular (Demotic) with Classical Greek.
Koran See Qur’an
Korbut, Olga (Valentinovna) (b. May 16, 1955, Grodno, Belorus- sia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet gymnast. Korbut first competed in the U.S.S.R. championships in 1969. Appealingly diminutive, with a captivating smile, she was the first person ever to do a backward aerial somersault on the balance beam and the first to perform a backward release move on the uneven parallel bars. In the 1972 Olympic Games she won three gold medals (balance beam, floor exercises, and as a member of the winning U.S.S.R. team) and a silver medal (uneven parallel bars). In the 1976 Olympics she won a team gold medal and a silver for the balance beam.
Korda, Sir Alexander orig. Sandor Laszlo Kellner (b. Sept. 16, 1893, Pusztaturpaszto, Hung.—d. Jan. 23, 1956, London, Eng.) Hungarian-born British film director and producer. He worked as a jour¬ nalist in Budapest, where he founded a film magazine and, in 1917, became manager of the Corvin movie studio. He left Hungary in 1919 to make several films in Berlin, then went to Hollywood, where he directed movies such as The Private Life of Helen of Troy (1927). After moving to England in 1931, he founded London Film Productions. He helped develop Britain’s film industry, directing and producing successful films such as The Private Life of Henry VIII { 1933), Catherine the Great ( 1934), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935), and Rembrandt (1936), and producing The Third Man (1949), Summertime (1955), and Richard III (1955). In 1942 he received the first British knighthood conferred on someone in the film industry.
Kordofan \,k6r-d9-'fan\ or Kurdufan \,kur-du- , fan\ Region, central Sudan. Lying west of the White Nile River, it was originally inhabited by Nubian-speaking peoples. Controlled by the Christian Tungur dynasty (900-1200 ad), it was later taken by Arabs, and in the 17th century a sul¬ tanate was established. Egyptian rule began in the 1820s. The slave trade played an important part in the region’s economy until its eradication in 1878 by Charles George Gordon. Egyptian rule was ended by a revolt in 1882 led by al-MAHDi. Kordofan became a province of The Sudan in 1899.
Kordofanian languages Branch of the Niger-Congo language fam¬ ily. It is geographically separated from the rest of the Niger-Congo lan¬ guages and is believed to represent the oldest layer of languages in the region. The Kordofanian branch consists of some 20 languages spoken by 250,000 to 500,000 people, mainly in the Nuba Hills of central Sudan.
kore \'ko-ra\ Type of freestanding statue of a maiden (the female coun¬ terpart of the kouros) that appeared with the beginning of Greek monu¬ mental sculpture (c. 700 bc) and remained to the end of the Archaic period (c. 500 bc). Carved from marble and originally painted, the kore is a draped female figure standing erect with feet together or one foot slightly advanced. One arm is often extended, holding an offering; the other is lowered, usually clasping a fold of drapery. As in all Greek art, the kore evolved from a highly stylized form to a more naturalistic one. Its pro¬ totypes are found in Egyptian and Mesopotamian art.
Korea Korean Chosdn \'cho-son\ or Taehan Former kingdom, a peninsula (Korean peninsula) on the eastern coast of Asia. In 1948 it was partitioned into two republics, North Korea and South Korea. According to tradition, the ancient kingdom of Choson was established in the north¬ ern part of the peninsula probably by peoples from northern China in the 3rd millennium bc. Conquered by China in 108 bc, it later developed into the Three Kingdoms of Silla, Koguryo, and Paekche. Silla conquered the other two in the 7th century ad and ruled until 936, when the Paekche dynasty became prominent. Invaded by the Mongols in 1231, the king¬ dom of Choson, with its capital at Seoul, was ruled by the Choson (Yi) dynasty (see Yi Song-gye) from 1392 to 1910. From c. 1636 it shut out foreign contacts but was forced after 1873 to open ports to Japan. Rivalry over Korea brought on the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), after which Korea became a Japanese protectorate. Formally annexed to Japan in 1910, it was freed from Japanese control in 1945 at the end of World War II. After the war it was divided into two zones of occupation, Soviet in the north and U.S. in the south; the two republics were established in 1948. For Korea’s later history, see North Korea and South Korea; see also Korean War.
Korea, North officially Democratic People's Republic of Korea Country, East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean peninsula. Area: 47,399 sq mi (122,762 sq km). Population (2005 est.):
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