Books in the Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East series

Pakistan is unlike most other countries in the emerging world. It is one of the two nations ΓÇô the other being the state of Israel ΓÇô founded on the basis of religion. Although it was created to provide a homeland for the Muslim community of British India, in its original form it was able to accommodate only about half of the people of Islamic faith who lived in the subcontinent. PakistanΓÇÖs birth in 1947 resulted in one of the largest movements of people in human history when some 14 million people left their homes, with 8 million Muslims leaving India for what is now Pakistan and 6 million Hindus and Sikhs moving in the opposite direction. This was the first large-scale incidence of ethnic cleansing the world was to witness.This fourth edition of Historical Dictionary of Pakistan covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Pakistan.

This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Democratic People's Republic of Korea contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture.

East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, located at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago. East Timor was among the last of colonial territories to become independent, and it actually had to be liberated twice. First, after more than four centuries of Portuguese colonial rule, it achieved independence in 1975 only to be invaded and occupied by Indonesia. After a blood-soaked occupation of 24 years and following intense international pressure, the Jakarta-regime only grudgingly allowed East Timor to form a nation of its own in 1999. Since then, the new state has faced further armed clashes and is only now able to seriously engage in nation-building. Historical Dictionary of East Timor relates the turbulent history of this country through a chronology, an introductory essay, an expansive bibliography, and over 200 cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant persons, events, places, organizations, and other aspects of East Timor history from the earliest times to the present.

The term Polynesia refers to a cultural and geographical area in the Pacific Ocean, bound by what is commonly referred to as the Polynesian Triangle, which consists of Hawai'i in the north, New Zealand in the southwest, and Easter Island in the southeast. Thousands of islands are scattered throughout this area, most of which are currently included in one of the modern island states of American Samoa, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Hawai'i, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Tokelau, Tuvalu, and Wallis and Futuna.The third edition of the Historical Dictionary of Polynesia greatly expands on the previous editions through a chronology, an introductory essay, an expansive bibliography, and over 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant persons, events, places, organizations, and other aspects of Polynesian history from the earliest times to the present. Appendixes of the major islands and atolls within Polynesia, the rulers and administrators of the 13 major island states, and basic demographic information of those states are also included.

Kazakhstan is in some ways a very old nation dating back to the Kazakh Khanate of 1458, but it dramatically transformed within the Russian Empire and even more so during the period when it was part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Since 1991 it has been independent and has had to forge its own policy in all fields. Kazakhstan is in an enviable position in terms of exportable natural resources, but at the same time it is faced with many domestic problems, such as an inadequate infrastructure. Along with solving a multitude of social problems, Kazakhstan has had to simultaneously create a normal functioning state, which added to its political difficulties. The situation at present is a state run by a strong ruler, which solves some problems but creates others.The Historical Dictionary of Kazakhstan covers the history of Kazakhstan through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and a bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Kazakhstan.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People''s Republic of China is located on the southeastern coast of China, and the Macao SAR can be found off of China''s southern coast. Both regions have recently been released from European colonial rule: Hong Kong from British control in 1997 and Macao from Portugal in 1999. As SARs, Hong Kong and Macao retain a high degree of autonomy, and they control all issues except those of state (e.g. diplomatic relations and national defense). As with other volumes in the Historical Dictionaries series, the Historical Dictionary of the Hong Kong SAR and the Macao SAR includes maps, photographs, a list of acronyms, a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, places, and events as well as political, economic and social background. However, unlike the rest of the series, all these sections are presented in duplicate: one for Hong Kong and one for Macao. The authoritative analysis and informative data presented clearly elucidate the unique situation of these two territories.

This fourth edition of Historical Dictionary of Australia covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture.

This third edition of Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture.

Sri Lanka has had a celebrated history, a long colonial past, and since independence in 1948 has passed through a series of crises and political experiments. It has had a remarkable record of voters turning out unpopular governments, often by sweeping margins. On 8 January 2015 voters again performed this feat when Maithripala Sirisena, representing a coalition of disparate parties, defeated Mahinda Rajapaksa for the presidency. Rajapaksa was turning the nation away from its democratic heritage towards authoritarianism and militarism. Independent Sri Lankäs economy stagnated for decades before it began to grow in the 1980s. It has had significant economic growth since the end of the 26-year war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. Although reconciliation between the Sinhalese Buddhist majority and Hindu, Muslim and Christian minorities seems distant, prospects for Sri Lanka seem better than they have been for decades.The Historical Dictionary of Sri Lanka contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Sri Lanka.

This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Indonesia contains a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 900 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Indonesia.