472 • GlossaryBunche, Ralph: US diplomat and UN mediator in Palestine (1948-1949)
Bursa: City in northwestern Anatolia, early Ottoman capital
Buyid dynasty (BOO-yid): Family of Shi'i Persians who settled south of the
Caspian, then conquered and ruled Persia and Iraq (932-1055); also called
Buwayhid
Byzantine Empire: Eastern Roman Empire (330-1453), ruled from Constantinople
and professing Greek Orthodox Christianity
Cairo (KYE-ro): Egypt's capital, founded by the Fatimids (969)
caliph (KAY-lif): Successor to Muhammad as head of the umma
caliphate: Political institution led by the caliph
Camel, Battle of the: First clash between Muslim armies (656), in which Ali de¬
feated Talha, Zubayr, and Aisha
Camp David: (1) US president's vacation home in northern Maryland; (2) site of
intensive peace talks by Begin, Carter, and Sadat in September 1978; (3) adjec¬
tive applied to the Egyptian-Israeli accords or to the 1979 peace treaty; (4) site
of abortive peace talks between Arafat, Barak, and Clinton in July 2000
Canaanite: Member of a Semitic group living in Palestine before the Hebrews
Capitulations: System by which Muslim states granted extraterritorial immunity
from local laws and taxes to subjects of Western countries
Caradon, Lord: British diplomat who drafted Security Council Resolution 242
Carter Doctrine: US policy statement declaring any foreign invasion of the Per¬
sian Gulf to be an attack on vital American interests
Caucasus: Mountain range between the Black and Caspian seas
Central Treaty Organization (CENTO): See Baghdad Pact
Chalabi, Ahmad (CHEL-a-bee, AH-mad): Leader of Iraqi National Congress,
who advocated US invasion of Iraq
Chalcedon: Site of 451 Christian council at which the Orthodox bishops con¬
demned the Monophysite view of Christ's nature
Chaldiran, Battle of (chal-dee-RAWN): Major Ottoman victory over Safavid
Persia (1514)
Chovevei Tzion (kho-ve-VAY tsee-YAWN): Early Russian Zionist group
Churchill White Paper: Official statement in 1922 of British Palestine policy, lim¬
iting Jewish immigration to the country's absorptive capacity
Cilicia (si-LISH-ya): Southwest Anatolian region, also called Little Armenia
Circassian: Native (or descendant of a native) of the Caucasus region east of the
Black Sea
Committee of Union and Progress: See Young Turks
Constantine: Roman emperor (306-337) who converted to Christianity
Constantinople: City on the Bosporus and Sea of Marmara, originally named
Byzantium, which became capital of the Byzantine Empire (330-1204 and
1262-1453) and of the Ottoman Empire (1453-1922); called Istanbul since