KORDOFAN 



3277 



KOSSUTH 



it is' an inspired book has been assailed at 

 times even among Moslems; in 1842, how- 

 ever, Harun II forbade all discussion of the 

 book, and it is since reverenced by Moham- 

 med's followers as the only religious authority. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 



the following articles in these volumes : 

 Mohammed Religion, subhead 



Mohammedanism Religions of the World 



KORDOFAN, kawrdojahn', a province of 

 Egyptian Sudan, between Darfur and the 

 White Nile. Although a hilly, barren, desert 

 region during most of the year, it becomes a 

 malarial swamp during the rainy season. The 

 inhabitants are mostly Arabs and Berbers, 

 though there are several half-savage itegro 

 tribes in the south. During the dry season 

 the inhabitants wander from place to place 

 to find pasture and water for their camels, 

 goats and oxen, or camp around some well or 

 village; but when the wet season comes and 

 the dry rivers are flooded and the wells are 

 full, they plant their fields of millet and sesame 

 and gather the gum of the acacia, which is 

 used in making glue. This gum, ostrich feath- 

 ers, and their herds of cattle, goats and cam- 

 els constitute the chief wealth. The main city, 

 El Obeid, is the center of three caravan routes, 

 bringing ivory, feathers and gum. Before 1821 

 Kordofan belonged first to one tribe, then to 

 another; in 1821 it was made a province of 

 Egypt, but revolted in 1882 and was inde- 

 pendent until taken control of by the British 

 Sudanese government in 1889. 



KOREA, or CORE A, kore'a, formerly a 

 small, independent kingdom of Eastern Asia, 

 occupying the peninsula between the Sea of 

 Japan and the Yellow Sea. When the coun- 

 try passed under the government of Japan 

 in 1910, the name Korea was abandoned, the 

 peninsula becoming officially known as Chosen. 

 For description, see CHOSEN. 



KOSCIUSKO, kosius'ko, THADDEUS (1746- 

 1817), a Polish patriot, distinguished for his 

 valiant service to the United States in the 

 Revolutionary War. He was born in Lithu- 

 ania of a noble but impoverished family, re- 

 ceived his military training at Warsaw and 

 Versailles, and became a captain in the Polish 

 army. In 1776 his sympathy for the American 

 patriot cause led him to embark for America, 

 where he served in the Revolutionary army. 

 He was appointed chief engineer in charge of 

 construction at West Point and became adju- 

 tant to General Washington. In 1786 he re- 

 turned to Poland, and in 1789 was appointed 



major-general of the reorganized Polish army. 

 In 1794 he became commander-in-chief and 

 dictator of the Polish insurgent forces and was 

 victorious over the Russians near Cracow. In 

 1794 at the battle of Maciejowice, he was 

 overwhelmed by superior forces, wounded and 

 imprisoned. He was confined in Saint Pe- 

 tersburg (now Petrograd) for two years, but 

 was liberated on the death of the Empress 

 Catharine. In 1817 he freed the serfs on his 

 estate in Poland. He died at Solothurn, 

 Switzerland, from injuries sustained in a fall 

 from his horse. 



KOSSUTH, kosh'oot, but more commonly 

 kah sooth' , Louis (1802-1894), a Hungarian pa- 

 triot, statesman and orator and the national 

 hero of Hungary, was born in Monok. His 

 parents were of noble descent, and his father 

 was a prominent lawyer. He received his edu- 

 cation at Budapest University, and in 1832 

 entered the upper house of the Hungarian Diet 

 as a substitute for an absent member. The 

 young man at. once joined the movement for 

 political reform and soon acquired a strong 

 influence. For publishing parliamentary de- 

 bates he was condemned to an imprisonment 

 of four years, but was released after one year. 

 In 1841 he became editor of the Pesth Journal, 

 an extremely liberal paper, and at the out- 

 break of the revolution in Vienna he became 

 the Hungarian leader. 



In September, 1848, Kossuth was made 

 president of the committee of national de- 

 fense, and thereafter he kept the direction of 

 the government in his own hands. He issued 

 the declaration of Hungarian independence 

 in 1849 and was appointed responsible gov- 

 ernor, but the intervention of Russia made 

 further efforts useless, and he resigned in favor 

 of Gorgey, who then surrendered to the Rus- 

 sians. Kossuth went to Turkey, where he was 

 virtually kept a prisoner, but was liberated in 

 1851, and sailed on the Mississippi for America 

 as the guest of the nation, the vessel having 

 been dispatched by the United States govern- 

 ment for that purpose. He made many 

 speeches in American cities urging the claims 

 of Hungarian independence. In 1852 he re- 

 turned to Europe, but was never reconciled 

 to the Union between Hungary and Austria 

 and preferred to live in Italy. He died in 

 Turin and his body was taken to Pesth. At 

 the time of his burial the whole Hungarian 

 nation united to do him honor. 



Consult his Memoirs of My Exile; Creelman's 

 On the Great Highway. 



