(Freebase) Bac Ai (Vietnamese: Bác Ái) is a district (huyện) of Ninh Thuan Province in the Southeastern region of Vietnam.

(Freebase) Bacteria (/bækˈtɪəriə/ ( listen); singular: bacterium) are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals. Bacteria are present in most habitats on Earth, growing in soil, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, water, and deep in the Earth's crust, as well as in organic matter and the live bodies of plants and animals, providing outstanding examples of mutualism in the digestive tracts of humans, termites and cockroaches. There are typically 40 million bacterial cells in a gram of soil and a million bacterial cells in a millilitre of fresh water; in all, there are approximately five nonillion (5×10) bacteria on Earth, forming a biomass that exceeds that of all plants and animals. Bacteria are vital in recycling nutrients, with many steps in nutrient cycles depending on these organisms, such as the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere and putrefaction. In the...

(Freebase) Bain Capital LLC is a Boston-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company. Originally conceived as an early-stage, growth-oriented investment fund, Bain Capital today manages approximately $67 billion in assets, and its strategies include private equity, venture capital, public equity, high-yield assets and mezzanine capital funds. Bain Capital was founded in 1984 by Bain & Company partners Mitt Romney, T. Coleman Andrews III, and Eric Kriss. In addition to the three founding partners, the early team included Fraser Bullock, Robert F. White, Joshua Bekenstein, Adam Kirsch, and Geoffrey S. Rehnert. Bain Capital's original $37 million fund was raised entirely from private individuals in mid-1984. The firm includes a large group of investment professionals with consulting or operating experience, and by taking an intensive, analytical approach to the investment process. This allows the firm's teams to pursue a wide range of equity...

(Freebase) The Bajuni people are a minority ethnic group that live in East Africa. The Bajuni principally inhabit the tiny Bajuni Islands in the Indian Ocean. Many also traditionally reside in Kenya, mainly in Mombasa and other towns in that country's Coast Province. Some are also found in the Kismayo region in more northerly Somalia. The population's members trace their origins to diverse groups, primarily coastal Bantu and bushmanoid hunter-gather groups, as well as later additions such as Arab, Persian and Cushitic immigrants. The Bajuni are traditionally fishermen and sailors. Some also pursue other trades such as metalwork. The Bajuni people collectively refer to themselves and are known as Wabajuni. They speak Kibajuni, a dialect of the Bantu Swahili language.

(Freebase) The Baka, also known as Bebayaka, Bebayaga, or Bibaya, or (along with the other Mbenga peoples) the derogatory Babinga, are an ethnic group inhabiting the southeastern rain forests of Cameroon, northern Republic of Congo, northern Gabon, and southwestern Central African Republic. They are sometimes mistakenly called a subgroup of the Twa, but the two peoples are not closely related. Likewise, the name "Baka" is sometimes mistakenly applied to other area peoples who, like the Baka and Twa, have been historically called pygmies (the term is no longer considered respectful). The Baka of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan are an unrelated people. The Baka's exact numbers are difficult to determine, but estimates range from 30,000 to 40,000 individuals. Unlike most other Central African groups, the Baka maintain a unique language, also called Baka. It is included in the Adamawa-Ubangi branch of the Niger-Congo language family. In addition, many Baka speak Koozime, Bakoum, Bangandou...

(Freebase) Bali is an Indonesian island located at the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island. With a population recorded as 3,551,000 in 2009, the island is home to the vast majority of Indonesia's small Hindu minority. About 93.18% of Bali's population adheres to Balinese Hinduism, while most of the remainder follow Islam. It is also the largest tourist destination in the country and is renowned for its highly developed arts, including dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking and music. Bali was inhabited by Austronesian peoples by about 2000 BC who migrated originally from Taiwan through Maritime Southeast Asia. Culturally and linguistically, the Balinese are thus closely related to the peoples of the Indonesian archipelago, the Philippines, and Oceania. Stone tools dating from this time have been found near the...

(Freebase) The Balkans (often referred to as the Balkan Peninsula, although the two are not coterminous) is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains, which run through the centre of Bulgaria into eastern Serbia. The region has a combined area of 550,000 km (212,000 sq mi) and a population of 55 million people. "Balkan" comes from a Turkish word meaning "a chain of wooded mountains". The ancient Greek name for the Balkan Peninsula was the "Peninsula of Haemus” (Χερσόνησος τοῦ Αἵμου, Chersónēsos tou Haímou). Romans considered the Rhodope Mountains to be the northern limit of the Peninsula of Haemus and the same limit applied approximately to the border between Greek and Latin use in the region (this was later called Jireček Line). The Balkans are also referred to as Southeastern Europe. The Balkan Peninsula may be defined as an area of southeastern Europe surrounded by water on three sides: the Adriatic Sea to the west, the...

(Freebase) The term Baltic states (also Baltics, Baltic nations or Baltic countries) refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: Finland (in scope to the term in the 1920's after initially gaining independence) but primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (from north to south). The trio were also referred to as limitrophe states between the two World Wars, from the French, indicating their collectively forming a rim along Bolshevik Russia's, later the Soviet Union's, western border. They were also part of what Clemenceau considered a strategic cordon sanitaire, the entire territory from Finland in the north to Romania in the south, standing between Western Europe and potential Bolshevik territorial ambitions. The term in the indigenous languages of the Baltic states is: The term "Baltic" stems from the name of the Baltic Sea — a hydronym dating back to the 11th century (Adam of Bremen mentioned Latin: Mare...

(Freebase) Bamako, population 1,809,106 (2009 Census, provisional), is the capital and largest city of Mali, and currently estimated to be the fastest growing city in Africa (sixth fastest in the world). It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the Upper and Middle Niger Valleys, in the southwestern part of the country. Bamako is the nation's administrative center as well as a cercle, with a river port located in nearby Koulikoro, and a major regional trade and conference center. Bamako is the seventh largest West African urban center after Lagos, Abidjan, Kano, Ibadan, Dakar and Accra. Manufactures include textiles, processed meat, and metal goods. There is commercial fishing on the Niger River. The name Bamako comes from the Bambara word meaning "crocodile river". The area of the city has been continuously inhabited since the Palaeolithic era for more than 150,000 years. The fertile lands of the Niger River Valley provided the people with an abundant food supply and early...

(Freebase) The Bambara (Bamana in their own language, or sometimes Banmana) are a Mandé people living in west Africa, primarily in Mali but also in Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal. They are considered to be amongst the largest Mandé ethnic groups, and are the dominant Mandé group in Mali, with 80% of the population speaking the Bambara language, regardless of ethnicity. The Bamana originated as a section of the Mandinka people, the founders of the Mali Empire in the 13th Century. Both a part of the Mandé ethnic group, whose earliest known history can be traced back to sites near Tichitt (now subsumbed by the Sahara in southern Mauritania), where urban centers began as early as 1500 BC. By 250 BC a Mandé subgroup, the Bozo, founded the city of Djenne. Between 300 AD and 1100 AD the Soninke Mandé dominated the Western Sudan, leading the Ghana Empire. When the Mandé Songhai Empire dissolved after 1600 AD, many Mandé speaking groups along the upper Niger river bassin turned inward. The Bamana...

(Freebase) Bambara, more correctly known as Bamanankan (ߒߞߏ), its designation in the language itself (literally 'Bamana(n) sound'), is a language spoken in Mali by as many as six million people (including second language users). The Bambara language is the mother tongue of the Bambara ethnic group, numbering about 2,700,000 people, but serves also as a lingua franca in Mali (it is estimated that about 80% of the population speaks it as a first or second language). It is an SOV language and has two tones. Bambara belongs to a group of closely-related languages called Manding, within the larger Mandé group. The differences between Bambara and Dioula are minimal. Dioula is a language spoken or understood by fewer people in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire and The Gambia. It uses seven vowels a, e, ɛ, i, o, ɔ and u (the letters approximate their IPA equivalents). Writing was introduced during the French occupation and literacy is a major issue especially in rural areas. Although written literature is...

(Freebase) Bamyan (Persian: بامیان Bāmyān), also spelled Bamiyan and Bamian, at an altitude of about 9,200 feet (2,800 m) and with a population of about 61,863, is the largest town in the region of Hazarajat, central Afghanistan and the capital of Bamyan Province. It lies approximately 240 kilometres north-west of Kabul, the national capital. Bamyan was the site of an early Buddhist monastery from which Bamyan takes its name (Sanskrit varmayana, "coloured"). Many statues of Buddha are carved into the sides of cliffs facing Bamyan city. In 2008, Bamyan was found to be the home of some of the world's oldest oil paintings. Situated on the ancient Silk Road, the town was at the crossroads between the East and West when all trade between China and the Middle East passed through it. The Hunas made it their capital in the 5th century. Because of the cliff of the Buddhas, the ruins of the Monk's caves, Shar-i-Gholghola ('City of Sighs', the ruins of an ancient city destroyed by Genghis Khan), and its...

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(Freebase) Banda Aceh is the provincial capital and largest city in the province of Aceh, Indonesia, located on the island of Sumatra, with an elevation of 21 meters. The city regency covers an area of 64 square kilometres and according to the 2000 census had a population of 219,070 people. Banda Aceh is located at the northwestern tip of Indonesia at the mouth of the River Krueng Aceh. The city was originally named Kutaraja, and determined as the provincial capital in 1956. Kuta Raja means "City of the King", in reference to the founding of the Aceh Sultanate from Champa origins. Later its name was changed to Bandar Aceh Darussalam or popularly known as Banda Aceh, with the first part of the name coming from the Persian bandar (بندر) meaning "port" or "haven". It is also referred to as the "port to Mecca", as Islam first arrived in Aceh before spreading throughout Southeast Asia. Banda Aceh was not frequently the subject of international discussion until December 26, 2004, the day the Indian...

(Freebase) Banda district (Hindi: बांदा जिला) is a district of Uttar Pradesh state of India, and Banda is the district headquarters. It is a part of Chitrakoot Division. The district is divided into four tehsils, Banda, Naraini, Baberu and Atarra. The district largely consists of irregular uplands with outcrops of rocks intermingling with lowlands, which are frequently under water during the rainy season. The Baghein River traverses the district from south-west to north-east. Other important rivers are the Ken River in the east and the Yamuna to the north. In 1998, the tehsils of Karwi and Mau, formerly part of Banda District, became the new Chitrakoot District. The economy is predominantly agricultural, with the main crops being paddy rice, wheat and vegetables. Banda is famous for its Shajar stone, used for making jewellery, and the historically and architecturally significant sites Khajuraho and Kalinjar. Khajuraho is a World Heritage Site famous for its elaborately carved temples. The...

(Freebase) Bangalore [ˈbæŋɡəlɔːr] (help·info), also known as Bengaḷūru (Kannada: ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು, [ˈbeŋɡəɭuːru]( listen)) , is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Silicon Valley of India, Silicon City of India, Garden City, Metropolitan City, India's Most Expensive City, IT/BT Capital Of India. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and fifth-most populous urban agglomeration. Though historical references to the city predate 900 AD, a modern written history of continuous settlement exists only from 1537, when Kempe Gowda, who many regard as the architect of modern Bangalore, built a mud-brick fort at the site and established it as a province of the imperial Vijayanagara Empire. During the British Raj, it became a centre of colonial rule in South India. The establishment of the Bangalore Cantonment brought in large numbers of migrants from other parts of the country. Today as a large city...