man-made object to make contact with
a gas giant.
#More to explore
Planets • Solar System • Space
Exploration
Jupiter, god
#see Zeus.
Though Jupiter appears solid, it is made up
mostly of gases.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Jupiter, god 41
The famous Mexican artist Frida
Kahlo was seriously injured in
a bus crash when she was 18.
(See Kahlo, Frida.)
Some kangaroos stand 6 feet
(1.8 meters) tall.
(See Kangaroo.)
U.S. president John F. Kennedy
wrote a book called Profiles in
Courage.
(See Kennedy, John F.)
People flew the first kites about
3,000 years ago.
(See Kite.)
The Koran is the holy book of
Islam.
(See Koran.)
The name of the African
American holiday Kwanzaa
comes from the African language
Swahili. It means “first
fruits.”
(See Kwanzaa.)
Kk
Kabul
Population
(2006 estimate)
2,536,300
Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan, a
country in central Asia. It is Afghanistan’s
largest city and center of economy.
The city’s economy, however, was hurt
by many years of war.
Kabul has existed for at least 3,500
years. It became an important city long
ago because of its location. Kabul lies on
the main routes to passes through the
country’s mountains.
In the early 1500s Kabul was the capital
of the Mughal Empire of northern
India. In the 1770s Afghanistan became
an independent country with Kabul as
its capital.
In recent history Kabul has seen much
fighting. In the late 1970s and 1980s
the city was the site of fighting during a
civil war. The Soviet Union also invaded
Kabul during that period.
In the 1990s local groups fought each
other for control of Kabul. A group
called the Taliban took over much of
Afghanistan, including Kabul. The Taliban
were thought to have helped terrorists
who attacked the United States in
2001. In response U.S. forces bombed
Afghanistan and ended Taliban rule.
Kabul was heavily damaged. A new government
was later established, and the
city began to rebuild.
..More to explore
Afghanistan • Terrorism
Kahlo, Frida
Frida Kahlo was one of the most famous
Mexican artists of the 1900s. She was
In Kabul, Afghanistan, thousands of people
gaze down on the Sakhy Shrine. A holy
ceremony celebrating the new year is taking
place there.
Frida Kahlo
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Kahlo, Frida 43
known especially for her disturbing style
and her many unsmiling self-portraits.
The pain Kahlo expressed in her paintings
came from her own life. She was
born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y
Calderon in Coyoacan, Mexico, on July
6, 1907. She suffered from the disease
polio at 6 years old and walked with a
limp the rest of her life. At 18 she was
nearly killed in a bus crash. Her injuries
were so severe that she spent many
weeks in the hospital.
Kahlo began painting self-portraits
while in the hospital. Once she was
well, she showed her paintings to the
famous Mexican painter Diego Rivera.
Rivera was enthusiastic. He encouraged
her and promoted her work to others.
Kahlo and Rivera married in 1929.
They divorced in 1939 but remarried in
1941.
During her life Kahlo was more famous
in the United States and Europe than in
her homeland. Since her death, on July
13, 1954, she has become equally
famous in Mexico.
#More to explore
Painting • Rivera, Diego
Kalahari
The Kalahari is a desert in Southern
Africa. It lies mostly in Botswana. It also
covers parts of Namibia and South
Africa.
The Kalahari is covered mostly by reddish
sand. Hills of sand, called dunes,
are common in the west. Rainfall is rare,
and it varies from place to place and
from year to year.
Despite the dry climate, the Kalahari has
grasses, shrubs, and even some forests.
Animal life includes antelope, wildebeests,
giraffes, elephants, and cheetahs.
Most of the people of the Kalahari raise
cattle and goats. They also grow corn,
sorghum, and pumpkins. They get water
from underground by digging wells.
Springbok, a type of antelope, roam
through the Kalahari Gemsbok National
Park in South Africa.
Kahlo often
included blood
and skulls in
her paintings.
44 Kalahari BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Some people have always lived in villages.
Others, notably the San people,
used to live as nomads. They traveled
through the desert hunting animals and
gathering food. Some San still live as
nomads, but today most work on cattle
ranches.
#More to explore
Botswana • Desert • Sand Dune
Kampala
Population
(2002 estimate),
metropolitan
area,
1,208,500
Kampala is the capital of the East African
country of Uganda. It is the largest
city in Uganda by far. The city lies on a
series of hills near Lake Victoria.
Kampala is a center of business and
transportation. Many people in the city
work in government or business offices.
Factories in Kampala process foods from
Uganda’s farms. The factories produce
tea, sugar, coffee, and cotton.
The African kingdom of Buganda once
controlled the Kampala area. Great Britain
took over what is now Uganda in the
1890s. Kampala was then chosen to be
the center of British rule in Uganda. The
British moved their capital to the city of
Entebbe for most of the early 1900s. In
1962 Uganda became an independent
country with Kampala as its capital.
#More to explore
Uganda
Kampuchea
#see Cambodia.
Kanem-Bornu
Empire
