[Selim I.], a warlike sultan of Turkey, who, having dethroned and put to death his father, Bajazet II., entered upon a victorious career of military aggrandisement, overcoming the Persians in 1515, conquering and annexing Egypt, Syria, and the Hejaz in 1517, finally winning for himself the position of Imâm or head of the Mohammedan world; greatly strengthened his country, and strove according to his lights to deal justly with and ameliorate the condition of the peoples whom he conquered (1467-1520).
[Seljuks], a Turkish people who in the 10th century, headed by a chief named Seljuk (whence their name), broke away from their allegiance to the khan of Kirghiz, adopted the Mohammedan faith, and subsequently conquered Bokhara, but were driven across the Oxus and settled HI Khorassan; under Toghril Beg, grandson of Seljuk, they in the 11th century won for themselves a wide empire in Asia, including the provinces of Syria and Asia Minor, whose rulers, by their cruel persecution of Christian pilgrims, led to the Crusade movement in Europe. The Seljuks were in part gradually absorbed by the advancing Mongol tribes, while numbers fled westward, where they were at length incorporated in the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century.
[Selkirk] (6), county town of Selkirkshire, on the Ettrick, 40 m. SE. of Edinburgh; famed at one time for its "Souters"; is a centre of the manufacture of tweeds.
[Selkirkshire] (27), a south inland county of Scotland; extends S. from the corner of Midlothian to Dumfriesshire, between Peebles (W.) and Roxburgh (E.); the grassy slopes of its hills afford splendid pasturage, and sheep-farming is a flourishing industry; manufactures are mainly confined to Galashiels and Selkirk; is traversed by the Ettrick and the Yarrow, whose romantic valleys are associated with much of the finest ballad literature of Scotland.
[Selwyn, George], a noted wit in the social and literary life of London in Horace Walpole's time, born, of good parentage, in Gloucestershire; was expelled from Oxford in 1743 for blasphemy; four years later entered Parliament, and supported the Court party, and received various government favours; his vivacious wit won him ready entrance into the best London and Parisian society; is the chief figure in Jesse's entertaining "George Selwyn and his Contemporaries" (1719-1791).
[Selwyn, George Augustus], the first bishop of New Zealand, in which capacity he wrought so zealously, that his diocese, by his extension of Episcopacy, was subdivided into seven; on his return to England he was made bishop of Lichfield (1809-1878).
[Semaphore], a name applied to the mechanism employed for telegraphing purposes prior to the discovery of the electric telegraph; invented in 1767 by Richard Edgeworth, but first extensively used by the French in 1794, and afterwards adopted by the Admiralty in England; consisted at first of six shutters set in two rotating circular frames, which, by opening and shutting in various ways, were capable of conveying sixty-three distinct signals; these were raised on the tops of wooden towers erected on hills; later a different form was adopted consisting of a mast and two arms worked by winches. The speed at which messages could be transmitted was very great; thus a message could be sent from London to Portsmouth and an answer be received all within 45 seconds. The railway signal now in use is a form of semaphore.
[Semele], in the Greek mythology the daughter of Cadmus and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus, was tempted by Hera to pray Zeus to show himself to her in his glory, who, as pledged to give her all she asked, appeared before her as the god of thunder, and consumed her by the lightning. See Dionysus.
[Seminoles], a nomadic tribe of American Indians who from 1832 to 1839 offered a desperate resistance to the Americans before yielding up their territory SE. of the Mississippi (Florida, etc.); finally settled in the Indian Territory, where they now number some 3000, and receive an annuity from the American Government; missionary enterprise among them has been successful in establishing schools and churches.
[Semipalatinsk] (586), a mountainous province of Asiatic Russia, stretching between Lake Balkash (S.) and Tomsk; encloses stretches of steppe-land on which cattle and horses are reared; some mining of silver, lead, and copper is also done. Semipalatinsk, the capital (18), stands on the Irtish; has two annual fairs, and is an important trading mart.