| | - Akkadian writing
- (from the article "cuneiform") Before these developments had been completed, the Sumerian writing system was adopted by the Akkadians, Semitic invaders who established themselves in Mesopotamia about the middle of the 3rd millennium. In adapting the script to their wholly different language, the Akkadians retained the Sumerian logograms and combinations of logograms for more ...
- Akkerman, Convention of
- (from the article "Edirne, Treaty of") ...and opened the Straits of the Dardanelles and Bosporus to Russian shipping. Furthermore, in the Balkans, the Ottomans acknowledged Greece as an autonomous but tributary state, reaffirmed the Convention of Akkerman (1826), granting autonomy to Serbia, and recognized the autonomy of the Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Walachia under Russian ...
- Akko
- city, northwest Israel. It lies along the Mediterranean Sea, at the north end of the Bay of Haifa (formerly Bay of Acre). Its natural harbour was a frequent target for Palestine's many invaders over the centuries. The earliest mention of 'Akko is in an Egyptian text dating from the 19th ... [2 Related Articles]
- AKM rifle
- (from the article "AK-47") ...rate of 600 rounds per minute. It is manufactured in several countries in two basic designs. One has a wooden stock, the other a folding metal stock. In the 1980s the AK-47 was replaced by the AKM, a modernized version with better sights but the same basic operation. The AK-47 ...
- Ako
- city, Hyogo ken (prefecture), western Honshu, Japan. During the Heian period (794-1185), it was a seaside resort for courtesans from Kyoto. It became a castle town in the 17th century, when the powerful Ikeda clan took up residence. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the establishment of chemical factories ...
- Akokoid languages
- (from the article "Benue-Congo languages") The Defoid languages comprise two groups: the Akokoid cluster of four languages and the very much larger Yoruboid cluster whose principal members are Yoruba (20,000,000 speakers), Igala (1,000,000), and Itsekiri (Itsepsilonkiri; 600,000). Yoruba is the Niger-Congo language with the largest number of mother-tongue speakers. Though Swahili has a greater total ...
- Akola
- city, north-central Maharashtra state, western India, on the Murna River. An important road and rail junction in the Tapti River valley, it is a commercial centre trading chiefly in cotton. There are also textile and vegetable-oil industries. In the past it was incorporated in turn into several local Muslim kingdoms. ...
- Akombo
- (from the article "Tiv") Some Tiv have converted to Christianity, and a lesser number have adopted Islam; but their traditional religion, based on the manipulation of forces (akombo) entrusted to humans by a creator god, remains strong. The akombo are manifested in certain symbols or emblems and in diseases that they create. An organization ...
- Akosombo Dam
- rock-fill dam on the Volta River, near Akosombo, Ghana, completed in 1965 as part of the Volta River Project. Its construction was jointly financed by the government of Ghana, the World Bank, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The dam rises 440 feet (134 m) above ground level and ... [3 Related Articles]
- Akra
- (from the article "Palestine") ...taxes from the cities of Judaea. Antiochus's official attacked the city of Jerusalem by guile and largely destroyed it. He then built a fortified position on the citadel, called by the Greeks the Akra. This became the symbol of Judah's enslavement, though in itself the presence of a royal garrison ...
- akriyavada
- set of beliefs held by heretic teachers in India who were contemporaries of the Buddha. The doctrine was a kind of antinomianism that, by denying the orthodox karmic theory of the efficacy of former deeds on a person's present and future condition, also denied the possibility of a person's influencing ...
- Akron
- city, seat (1842) of Summit county, northeastern Ohio, U.S. It lies along the Cuyahoga River, about 40 miles (64 km) south-southeast of Cleveland. Akron is the centre of a metropolitan area that includes the cities of Cuyahoga Falls, Tallmadge, and Stow and several villages. At 1,081 feet (329 metres) above ... [2 Related Articles]
- Akron Pros
- (from the article "Pollard, Fritz") ...He was the first African American selected to a backfield position on Walter Camp's All-America team (1916) and the first African American head coach in the National Football League (NFL), with the Akron Pros in 1921.
- Akron, University of
- public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Akron, Ohio, U.S. While the university is known for its research in polymer engineering and science, it also offers a curriculum of liberal arts, business, and education courses, including master's degree programs. Doctoral degrees are available in a number of fields, including sociology, ...
- Akrotiri
- British military enclave in south-central Cyprus that was retained as a "sovereign base area" by the United Kingdom under the London Agreement of 1959 granting the independence of Cyprus. Located southwest of Limassol, the enclave comprises Akrotiri Peninsula, the southernmost part of the island, and a small coastal area north ...
- Akrotiri
- (from the article "Aegean civilizations") ...minimal. Similarly, in the Cyclades there are few signs of any gap in occupation as a result of the eruption. The settlements on Thera, however, lay buried deep in pumice. The largest of these, at Akrotiri, opened by excavations since 1967, offers a unique picture of a Bronze Age town. ...
- Aksai Chin
- (from the article "India") China and India, however, had not resolved a dispute over several areas of their border, most notably the section demarcating a barren plateau in Ladakh-most of which was called Aksai Chin, which was claimed by India as part of Jammu and Kashmir state but never properly surveyed-and the section bordered ...
- aksak
- an important pattern in the rhythmic structure of folk and vernacular traditional music of the Middle East, particularly Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan, and of the Balkans. It is characterized by combinations of unequal beats, such as 2 + 3 and their extensions, particularly 2 + 2 + 2 + 3. ...
- Aksakov, Ivan Sergeyevich
- (from the article "Aksakov, Konstantin Sergeyevich") His brother Ivan Sergeyevich Aksakov (1823-86), who also was an early Slavophile, became a controversial journalist, newspaper publisher, and proponent of Pan-Slavism in the later 19th century.Russian Slavophile movementRussiaEducation and intellectual life...or the Slavophiles as repudiating everything European and rejecting ...
- Aksakov, Konstantin Sergeyevich
- Russian writer and one of the founders and principal theorists of the Slavophile movement. [1 Related Articles]
- Aksakov, Sergey Timofeyevich
- novelist noted for his realistic and comic narratives and for his introduction of a new genre, a cross between memoir and novel, into Russian literature. [2 Related Articles]
- Akselrod, Pavel Borisovich
- Marxist theorist, a prominent member of the first Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party, and one of the leaders of the reformist wing of Russian social democracy, known after 1903 as the Mensheviks. [1 Related Articles]
- Akshak
- ancient city of Mesopotamia on the northern boundary of Akkad, identified by some authorities with the Babylonian city of Upi (Opis). About 2500 BC Akshak was conquered by Eannatum, king of Lagash. About a century later Akshak temporarily established its hegemony over Sumer and Akkad. The location of Akshak is ... [1 Related Articles]
- Aksobhya
- (from the article "Aksobhya") in Mahayana and Vajrayana (Tantric) Buddhism, one of the five "self-born" Buddhas. See Dhyani-Buddha.Dhyani-BuddhaDhyani-Buddha...and Vajrayana (Tantric) B
- Aksu River
- (from the article "Tarim River") ...by the confluence of the Kaxgar (Kashgar) and Yarkand (Yarkant) rivers in the far west; flowing northeastward from this confluence, the river is then joined some 230 miles (370 km) downstream by the Aksu and the Hotan (Khotan) rivers. Only the Aksu River flows for the entire year. It is ...
- Aksum
- a powerful kingdom in northern Ethiopia during the early Christian era. [8 Related Articles]
- Aksum
- ancient town in northern Ethiopia. It lies at an elevation of about 7,000 feet (2,100 m), just west of Adwa. [4 Related Articles]
- Aksyonov, Vasily Pavlovich
- Russian novelist and short-story writer, one of the leading literary spokesmen for the generation of Soviets who reached maturity after World War II. [2 Related Articles]
- Akti promontory
- (from the article "Athos, Mount") ...than the parent monasteries. It occupies the easternmost of the three promontories of the Chalcidice (Khalkidhiki) Peninsula, which projects from Macedonia region into the Aegean Sea. The Akti promontory, 30 miles (50 km) long and 6.5 miles (10.5 km) wide at its broadest point, has a mountainous spine thickly wooded ...
- Aktiengesellschaft fur Anilinfabrikation
- (from the article "Agfa-Gevaert NV") Agfa, an abbreviation for Aktiengesellschaft fur Anilinfabrikation ("Corporation for Aniline Manufacture"), was founded as a dye company in 1867 at Rummelsburger See near Berlin; it began producing photographic film in 1908. From 1925 to 1945 it was a part of the German cartel IG Farben; in 1951 it became a ...
- Aktshura Oghlu, Yussuf
- (from the article "Pan-Turkism") ...in language, thought and action" of all the Turkish-speaking peoples in the Russian and Ottoman empires, established the Turkish newspaper Tercuman in the Russian Crimea. In 1911 Yussuf Aktshura Oghlu founded in Constantinople (Istanbul) a similar paper, Turk Yurdu ("The Turkish Homeland"). At the same time, prominent Turkish writers such ...
- akua-ba
- (from the article "art, African") ...lap of the first king, Osei Tutu. The stool is believed to house the spirit of the Asante people in the same way that an individual's stool houses his spirit after death. The Asante also carve akua-ba (dolls with disk-shaped heads embodying their concept of beauty and carried by women ...
- Akuapem language
- (from the article "Akan languages") dialect cluster of the Nyo group within the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Its principal members are Asante (Ashanti), Fante (Fanti), Brong (Abron), and Akuapem. The Akan cluster is located primarily in southern Ghana, although many Brong speakers live in eastern Cote d'Ivoire. Altogether speakers of Akan dialects ...
- Akuffo, Frederick W. K.
- (from the article "Rawlings, Jerry J.") ...and public life of widespread corruption. He and his Armed Forces Revolutionary Council ruled for 112 days, during which time the former heads of state, General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong and General Fred W.K. Akuffo, were tried and executed. Rawlings then yielded power to a freely elected civilian president, Hilla Limann, ...
- Akuj
- (from the article "Teso") ...and much of the indigenous territorial organization was destroyed. Almost all indigenous religion has been replaced by Christianity; previously the Teso believed in an omnipotent but remote god, Akuj, and a god of calamity, Edeke.
- akund floss
- downy seed fibre obtained from Calotropis procera and C. gigantea, plants of the Apocynaceae family. The plants are native to southern Asia and Africa and were introduced to South America and the islands of the Caribbean. The yellowish material is made up of thin fibres 2 to 3 cm (0.75 ...
- Akure
- town, capital of Ondo state, southwestern Nigeria. It lies in the southern part of the forested Yoruba Hills and at the intersection of roads from Ondo, Ilesha, Ado-Ekiti, and Owo. Akure is an agricultural trade centre for the yams, cassava, corn (maize), bananas, rice, palm oil and kernels, okra, and ... [1 Related Articles]
- Akureyri
- town, northern Iceland. It lies at the southern end of Eyja Fjord. Akureyri is the chief centre of the north and is one of the island's most populous urban centres outside the Reykjavik metropolitan area. While primarily a commercial and distributing centre, Akureyri is also a fishing port, agricultural market, ...
- Akuse clay
- (from the article "Ghana") ...coastal savanna zone has an abundance of soil types, including tropical black earths, tropical gray earths, acid vleisols, and sodium vleisols. Except for the tropical black earths, known locally as Akuse clays, most of these soils are of little importance agriculturally. The Akuse clays fill a broad zone across the ...
- Akutagawa Prize
- Japanese literary prize awarded semiannually for the best work of fiction by a promising new Japanese writer. The prize is generally considered, along with the Naoki Prize (for the best work of popular fiction), Japan's most prestigious and sought-after literary award. Novellas win the prize more frequently than do full-length ... [3 Related Articles]
- Akutagawa Ryunosuke
- prolific Japanese writer known especially for his stories based on events in the Japanese past and for his stylistic virtuosity. [2 Related Articles]
- akuto
- (from the article "Japan") ...provinces centered around Kyoto). Elsewhere as well, local warriors with grievances increasingly took the law into their own hands, seizing crops or otherwise disturbing local order. Termed akuto by the authorities, they included many different elements: frustrated local warriors, pirates, aggrieved peasants, and ordinary robbers. Cultivators as well took advantage ...
- Akvarium
- (from the article "Russia") ...rock musicians in Russia were content to reproduce not only the styles but the songs of British and American models; however, by the early 1980s Russian rock had found its native voice in the band Akvarium ("Aquarium"), led by charismatic songwriter and vocalist Boris Grebenshikov. The band's "concerts," played in ...
- Akwa Ibom
- state, southeastern Nigeria. Its area formed part of Cross River state until 1987, when Akwa Ibom state was created. Akwa Ibom is bounded by the Cross River on the east and by the Bight of Biafra of the Atlantic Ocean on the south. There are extensive saltwater mangrove swamps along ... [1 Related Articles]
- Akwamu
- Akan state (c. 1600-1730) of the Gold and Slave coasts of western Africa. At its apogee in the early 18th century, it stretched more than 250 miles (400 km) along the coast from Whydah (now Ouidah, Benin) in the east to beyond Winneba (now in Ghana) in the west. [3 Related Articles]
- Akwamuhene
- (from the article "Akwamu") ...alliance with or subject to the powerful Denkyera, they expanded south and southeast toward the Ga and Fante (Fanti) towns of the coast. These they subdued between 1677 and 1681 under their king (Akwamuhene), Ansa Sasraku. They also extended their influence over the state of Ladoku in the east (1679) ...
- akwanshi
- (from the article "art, African") ...represent hair, which, alternatively, may be carved in elaborate coils. They are used by several masking associations. In the northern Ekoi area, around Ikom, are found circles of large stones, akwanshi, from 1 to 6 feet (30 to 180 cm) high, carved in low relief to represent human figures. They ...
- Akwapim-Togo Ranges
- narrow belt of ridges and hills in Ghana, western Africa. They extend in a southwest-northeast line for about 200 miles (320 km) from the Densu River mouth (near Accra) on the Atlantic coast to the boundary with Togo. Averaging 1,500 feet (460 m) in height, the hills continue eastward to ... [1 Related Articles]
- Akyem
- (from the article "Akwamu") ...the Ewe people of the Ho region. By this time, however, their former satellite, Asante, had grown rich and powerful and was becoming increasingly hostile to Akim. Pressured by the Asante, the Akyem peoples retreated upon Akwamu's borders and, after a long war, succeeded in infiltrating them. The Akwamuhene was ...
- Akzo Nobel NV
- diversified Dutch manufacturer of paints, coatings, and chemicals. The company was formed from the merger of Akzo NV and the Swedish firm Nobel Industries AB in 1994. Its headquarters are in Arnhem, Neth.
- Akzo NV
- (from the article "Akzo Nobel NV") diversified Dutch manufacturer of paints, coatings, and chemicals. The company was formed from the merger of Akzo NV and the Swedish firm Nobel Industries AB in 1994. Its headquarters are in Arnhem, Neth.
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