Kush See Cush
Kushan art or Kusana art Art produced during the Kushan dynasty (late lst-3rd century ad), in an area that now includes parts of Central Asia, northern India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. There are two major sty¬ listic divisions among artifacts of the period: the imperial art of Iranian derivation, and the Buddhist art of mixed Greco-Roman and Indian sources. The former is exemplified by stiff, frontal portraits (including those on coins) emphasizing the individual’s power and wealth. The sec¬ ond, more realistic, style is typified by the schools of Gandhara and Mathura art.
Kushner, Tony (b. July 16, 1956, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. drama¬ tist. He grew up in Lake Charles, La., and attended Columbia University and New York University. His early plays include Yes, Yes, No, No (1985). His major work, Angels in America, consists of two lengthy plays that deal with political issues and the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. The first part, Millennium Approaches (1991), won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for best play; the second. Perestroika (1992), also won a Tony Award for best play. Later works include Slavs (1995), Henry Box Brown (1997), and the controversial Homebody/Kabul (2001), which addresses the relationship between Afghanistan and the West.
K’ut’aisi \,ku-ta-'e-se\ City (pop., 2002: 185,965), west-central Repub¬ lic of Georgia. One of the oldest cities of Transcaucasia, it served as the capital of successive kingdoms in Georgia: Colchis, Iberia (Kartli), Abk¬ hazia, and Imeretia. It was often caught in wars between Persians, Mon¬ gols, Turks, and Russians. Russia occupied it in the 18th century and made it a provincial seat. It is a major regional industrial and trade centre.
Kutch, Rann of See Rann of Kachchh
Kutuzov \k9-'tu-zof\, Mikhail (Illarionovich), Prince orig. Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (b. Sept. 16, 1745, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. April 28, 1813, Bunzlau, Silesia) Rus¬ sian army commander. In 1805 Kutuzov, an army officer, was given com¬ mand of the joint Russian-Austrian army that opposed the French advance on Vienna. Following Austria’s defeat in the Battle of Ulm, he retreated and preserved his army intact, but Alexander I engaged the French at the Battle of Austerlitz (1805), for which disaster Kutuzov was partly blamed. After Napoleon’s army entered Russia in 1812, public pressure made Alexander appoint Kutuzov commander in chief. After waging minor engagements, he was forced to fight the inconclusive Battle of Borodino. When Napoleon led his troops in retreat from Moscow, Kutuzov forced
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Kuusinen > KwaNdebele I 1059
the French army to leave Russia along the path it had devastated when it entered the country. He pursued the French into Prussia, destroying his opponent without fighting another major battle. Considered the finest Rus¬ sian commander of his day, he appeal’s as a major character in Leo Tol¬ stoy’s War and Peace.
Kuusinen Vkii-si-nanV Otto V(ilhelm) (b. Oct. 4, 1881, Laukaa, Fin.—d. May 17, 1964, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Finnish-born Soviet politician. He joined the Social Democratic Party in Finland in 1905 and held various party posts. After Finland’s short-lived socialist regime was overthrown in 1918, he fled to Russia, where he cofounded the Finnish Communist Party. He remained in exile to become secretary of the Com¬ intern. In the Soviet-Finnish “Winter War” (1939-40) he was head of the pro-Soviet puppet Finnish government, and he later became president of the supreme soviet of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (1940- 56). He was secretary of the Russian Communist Party’s Central Com¬ mittee (1946-53, 1957-64).
Kuwait officially State of Kuwait Country, Middle East, southwest¬ ern Asia. It is on the Arabian Peninsula at the northwest comer of the Persian Gulf. Area: 6,880 sq mi (17,818 sq km). Population (2005 est.):
Kuwaiti dinar. Except for Al-Jahra’ oasis, at the western end of Kuwait Bay, and a few fertile patches in the south¬ eastern and coastal areas, it is largely desert; annual precipitation totals 1-7 in. (25-180 mm). Kuwait has almost no arable land, but there is a small amount of pastureland for livestock. Its extensive petroleum and natural gas deposits are the basis of its economy. Its estimated reserves of petroleum represent roughly one-tenth of global reserves, ranking Kuwait third, behind Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It is a constitutional monar¬ chy with one legislative body; the head of state and government is the emir, assisted by the prime minister. Traces of civilization on Faylakah, an island in Kuwait Bay, date to the 3rd millennium bc. These flourished until c. 1200 bc, when they disappeared from the historical record. Greek colonists again settled the island in the 4th century bc. The nomadic 'Anizah tribe of central Arabia founded Kuwait city in 1710, and c Abd al-Rahlm of the Sabah dynasty became sheikh in 1756; the family contin¬ ues to rule Kuwait. In 1899, to thwart German and Ottoman influences, Kuwait agreed to give Britain control of its foreign affairs. Following the outbreak of war with the Ottoman Empire in World War I (1914-18), Britain established a protectorate there. In 1961, after Kuwait had gained full independence from Britain, Iraq laid claim to Kuwait. British troops were sent to defend Kuwait; the Arab League recognized its independence,
and Iraq dropped its claim. Iraq reasserted these claims in the aftermath of the Iraq-Iraq War and invaded and occupied Kuwait in 1990. A U.S.- led military coalition drove the Iraqi army out of Kuwait the next year (see First Persian Gulf War). Iraqi forces set fire to most of Kuwait’s oil wells, but these were extinguished, and petroleum production soon returned to prewar levels.
Kuwait or Kuwait City City (pop., 1995: 28,859), capital of Kuwait. Located at the head of the Persian Gulf, it was founded in the 18th cen¬ tury and was a trading city relying on sea and caravan traffic. Until 1957 it was enclosed by a mud wall separating it from the desert and was only 5 sq mi (13 sq km) in area. The development of the country’s oil indus¬ try after World War II (1939-45) transformed the city into a modem metropolis. Almost all of the country’s population is concentrated near the capital. The city, damaged during the Iraqi occupation and the Persian Gulf War (1990-91), soon recovered.
Kuybyshev See Samara
Kuyper Vkoei-porV Abraham (b. Oct. 29, 1837, Maassluis, Neth.—d. Nov. 8, 1920, The Hague) Dutch theologian and politician. After serving as a pastor (1863-74), he founded a Calvinist-oriented newspaper (1872) and was elected to the national assembly (1874). He formed the Anti- Revolutionary Party, the first organized Dutch political party, and built up a lower-middle-class following with a program that combined orthodox religious positions and a progressive social agenda. To provide Calvinist training for pastors, he founded the Free University at Amsterdam (1880), and in 1892 he founded the Reformed Churches in The Netherlands. As prime minister of The Netherlands (1901-05), he advocated a wider fran¬ chise and broader social benefits.
Kuznets \'koz-nets\, Simon (Smith) (b. April 30, 1901, Kharkov, Ukraine, Russian Empire—d. July 8, 1985, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.) Russian-U.S. economist and statistician. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1922 and joined the National Bureau of Economic Research in 1927; he later taught at the University of Pennsylvania (1930-54), Johns Hopkins University (1954-60), and Harvard University (1960-71). His work emphasized the complexity of underlying data in the construction of eco¬ nomic models, stressing the need for information on population structure, technology, labour quality, government structure, trade, and markets. He also described the existence of cyclical variations in growth rates (now called “Kuznets cycles”) and their links with underlying factors such as population. In 1971 he received the Nobel Prize.