| | - Alaska Peninsula
- stretch of land extending southwest from mainland Alaska, U.S. It spreads for 500 miles (800 km) between the Pacific Ocean (southeast) and Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea. The volcanic Aleutian Range runs along its entire length; the majestic Pavlof Volcano, near the peninsula's southwestern edge, rises to ... [2 Related Articles]
- Alaska pollock
- (from the article "Agriculture and Food Supplies") The Alaska pollock catch dropped by 18.44% to 2,654,854 metric tons. It was announced during 2004 that following a three-year assessment process, the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands pollock fishery had been awarded certification to the Marine Stewardship Council's standards for sustainable fisheries. This was regarded as a visible acknowledgement of the ...
- Alaska Purchase
- (1867), acquisition by the United States from Russia of 586,412 square miles (1,518,800 square km) of land at the northwestern tip of the North American continent. [3 Related Articles]
- Alaska Railroad
- (from the article "permafrost") ...necessity of maintaining a relatively low gradient and the subsequent location of the roadbed in ice-rich lowlands that are underlain with perennially frozen ground. The Trans-Siberian Railroad, the Alaska Railroad, and some Canadian railroads in the north are locally underlain by permafrost with considerable ground ice. As the large masses ...
- Alaska Range
- segment of the Pacific mountain system that extends generally northward and eastward in an arc for about 400 miles (650 km) from the Aleutian Range to the Yukon boundary in southern Alaska, U.S. Mount McKinley, which reaches an elevation of 20,320 feet (6,194 metres), near the centre of the range, ... [3 Related Articles]
- Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation
- (from the article "Palmer") ...as a station on the Matanuska branch of the Alaska Railroad. In 1935, during the Great Depression, the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt established Palmer as the seat of the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation; it became a supply centre for some 200 farm families who were relocated to Alaska ...
- Alaska, flag of
- U.S. state flag consisting of a dark blue field (background) showing Polaris (the North Star) and the Ursa Major (Great Bear) constellation in gold or yellow.
- Alaska, Gulf of
- broad inlet of the North Pacific on the south coast of Alaska, U.S. Bounded by the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island (west) and Cape Spencer (east), it has a surface area of 592,000 square miles (1,533,000 square km). The coast is deeply indented by fjords and other inlets, including Cook ... [4 Related Articles]
- Alaska, University of
- system of public land-, sea-, and space-grant universities in Alaska, U.S., with campuses (regional university centres) in Fairbanks (main campus), Anchorage, and Juneau (known as the University of Alaska Southeast). The university traces its origins to 1917, two years after the U.S. Congress set aside land for the creation of ... [2 Related Articles]
- Alaskan husky
- (from the article "dogsled racing") ...common to the most northern reaches of the Northern Hemisphere -such as Eskimo dogs, Siberian huskies, Samoyeds, and Alaskan malamutes-are sometimes used, most racing sled dogs are Alaskan huskies, a mixed breed which originated perhaps 10,000 years ago. While not an officially recognized breed, Alaskan huskies are known for their ...
- Alaskan Malamute
- sled dog developed by the Malemiut, an Eskimo (Inupiat) group from which it takes its name. The Alaskan Malamute is a strongly built dog, with a broad head, erect ears, and a plumelike tail carried over its back. Its thick coat is usually gray and white or black and white, ... [1 Related Articles]
- Alaskan mountains
- three principal mountain groups-the Brooks Range, Alaska Range, and Aleutian Range-found in Alaska.
- Alastor
- any of certain avenging deities or spirits, especially in Greek antiquity. The term is associated with Nemesis, the goddess of divine retribution who signified the gods' disapproval of human presumption. Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude (1816) was a visionary work in which he warned idealists ...
- alastrim
- (from the article "smallpox") Smallpox is caused by infection with variola major, a virus of the family Poxviridae. (A less-virulent form of smallpox, called alastrim, is caused by a closely related virus known as variola minor.) There are no natural animal carriers or natural propagation of variola outside the human body. The disease is ...
- alate
- (from the article "reproductive behaviour") The winged sexual forms, or alates, are produced at certain times during the year and swarm in mating flights to establish a new colony, which may actually be no more than a few hundred feet from the old colony. Actual copulation may occur either during flight or after landing on ...
- Alateen
- (from the article "alcoholism") ...and, at best, the relapse-prevention technique of choice. AA has spawned allied but independent organizations, including Al-Anon, for spouses and other close relatives and friends of alcoholics, and Alateen, for their adolescent children. The aim of such related groups is to help the members learn how to be helpful and ...
- Alatri
- town, Lazio (Latium) regione, central Italy. It lies in the Cosa River valley, at 1,647 feet (502 m) above sea level, just north of Frosinone city. Said to have been founded in 1830 BC as Alatrium (mentioned by the Greek geographer Strabo), it belonged to the confederation of the Hernici, ...
- Alaungpaya
- king (1752-60) who unified Myanmar (Burma) and founded the Alaungpaya, or Konbaung, dynasty, which held power until the British annexed Upper (northern) Burma on Jan. 1, 1886. He also conquered the independent Mon kingdom of Pegu (in the Irrawaddy River delta). [7 Related Articles]
- Alaungpaya Dynasty
- the last ruling dynasty (1752-1885) of Myanmar (Burma). The dynasty's collapse in the face of British imperial might marked the end of Myanmar sovereignty for more than 60 years. (Some authorities limit the name Konbaung dynasty to the period beginning with King Bodawpaya in 1782 and continuing to 1885.) The ... [3 Related Articles]
- Alava
- provincia, northern Spain. Alava is the southernmost of the three Basque Country provincias of northern Spain and is located mainly on the southern slope of the Pyrenees Range. It is bounded by the Ebro River (southwest) and surrounds the enclaves of Trevino and Orduna belonging to Burgos and Vizcaya provincias, ... [2 Related Articles]
- Alava y Esquivel, Miguel Ricardo de
- soldier in the Napoleonic Wars and statesman. Alava was an aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington and the Spanish commissary at the duke's headquarters during the Peninsular War. On the restoration of Ferdinand VII to the throne of Spain, he lost favour because of his liberal ideas but was appointed ...
- Alavi, Bozorg
- one of the leading prose writers of 20th-century Persian literature. [1 Related Articles]
- Alawite
- any member of a minority sect of Shi'ite Muslims living chiefly in Syria. [6 Related Articles]
- Alay Range
- (from the article "Tien Shan") ...to the north by the Junggar (Dzungarian) Basin of northwestern China and the southern Kazakhstan plains and to the southeast by the Tarim (Talimu) Basin. To the southwest the Hisor (Gissar) and Alay ranges of Tajikistan extend into part of the Tien Shan, making the Alay, Surkhandarya, and Hisor valleys ...
- alaya-vijnana
- (Sanskrit: "store of consciousness"), key concept of the Vijnanavada ("Consciousness-affirming") school of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. Since that school maintains that no external reality exists, while retaining the position that knowledge, and therefore a knowable, exists, it assumes that knowledge itself is the object of consciousness. It therefore postulates a ... [3 Related Articles]
- alb
- liturgical vestment worn in some services by Roman Catholic officiants, some Anglicans, and some Lutherans. A symbol of purity, it is a full-length, long-sleeved, usually white linen tunic secured at the waist by a cord or belt called a cincture. The equivalent vestment in the Eastern churches is the sticharion. [4 Related Articles]
- Alba
- town, Piedmont regione, northwestern Italy. It lies along the Tanaro River southwest of Turin. It occupies the site of the Roman Alba Pompeia, which was probably founded by Pompeius Strabo (consul, 89 BC) when he constructed the road from Aquae Statiellae (Acqui Terme) to Augusta Taurinorum (Turin). The town became ...
- Alba
- the kingdom formed by the union of the Picts and Scots under Kenneth I MacAlpin in 843. Their territory, ranging from modern Argyll and Bute to Caithness, across much of southern and central Scotland, was one of the few areas in the British Isles to withstand the invasions of the ... [2 Related Articles]
- alba
- in the music of the troubadours, the 11th- and 12th-century poet-musicians of southern France, a song of lament for lovers parting at dawn or of a watchman's warning to lovers at dawn. A song of the latter type sometimes takes the form of a dialogue between a watchman and a ...
- Alba
- judet (county), western Romania, occupying an area of 2,406 square miles (6,231 square km). The Western Carpathians rise above the settled areas in intermontane valleys. The county is drained westward by the Mures River and its tributaries. Neolithic artifacts have been found at Alba Iulia (q.v.; the county capital) and ...
- Alba Fucens
- ancient fortified hilltop town of the Aequi in central Italy. It was settled by Rome as a Latin colony in 303 BC and was important for its domination of the Via Valeria, which linked Rome with the Adriatic Sea. Alba Fucens was situated on a hill with three distinct summits, ...
- Alba Iulia
- city, capital of Alba judet (county), west-central Romania. It lies along the Mures River, 170 miles (270 km) northwest of Bucharest. One of the oldest settlements in Romania, the site was selected by the Romans for a military camp. The remains of Apulum, an important city in Roman Dacia mentioned ... [1 Related Articles]
- Alba Longa
- ancient city of Latium, Italy, in the Alban Hills about 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Rome, near present Castel Gandolfo. Tradition attributes its founding (c. 1152 BC) to Ascanius, the son of the legendary Aeneas, thus making it, according to legend at least, the oldest Latin city, which in ... [3 Related Articles]
- Alba, Fernando Alvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3er duque de (3rd duke of)
- Spanish soldier and statesman famous for his conquest of Portugal (1580) and notorious for his tyranny as governor-general of the Netherlands (1567-73). In the Netherlands he instituted the Council of Troubles (nicknamed the Council of Blood), which set aside local laws and condemned thousands. [11 Related Articles]
- Albacete
- provincia (province) in the comunidad autonoma (autonomous community) of Castile-La Mancha, southeast-central Spain. It occupies the southeastern end of the Meseta Central (plateau). Albacete is the driest interior province of the Iberian Peninsula, with about 14 inches (350 mm) average annual rainfall. The south ...
- Albacete
- city, capital of Albacete provincia (province), in the Castile-La Mancha comunidad autonoma (autonomous community), southeast-central Spain. Albacete is located in the historic La Mancha region, on the Don Juan River at its juncture with the Maria Cristina Canal. Of Moorish origin (Arabic: Al-Basit), it ...
- albacore
- (from the article "albacore") (species Thunnus alalunga), large oceanic fish noted for its fine flesh. The bluefin tuna (T. thynnus) is also sometimes called albacore. See tuna.classificationtuna...marked with silvery spots or bars; it is i
- Albaicin
- (from the article "Granada") In the northeast of the city is the Albaicin (Albayzin) quarter, the oldest section of Granada, with its narrow cobbled streets and carmenes (Moorish-style houses). Albaicin is bounded to the south by the Darro River, and on the other side of the river is the hill upon ...
- Albalag, Isaac
- Jewish philosopher who rendered a Hebrew translation of parts of the Maqasid al-falasifah ("Aims of the Philosophers"), a review of doctrines of earlier thinkers by the Arabic philosopher al-Ghazali, to which Albalag added his own views and comments. In defending philosophy against the accusation that it undermined religion, Albalag espoused ... [2 Related Articles]
- Alban Hills
- area of extinct volcanoes in the Lazio (Latium) regione of central Italy, southeast of Rome. The hills consist of an outer circle, 6-8 miles (10-13 km) in diameter, rising to 3,113 feet (949 m) at Mount Cavo, and an inner crater rim, about 1.5 miles (2 km) across, rising to ... [1 Related Articles]
- Alban, Saint
- first British martyr. [1 Related Articles]
- Alban, Vicente
- (from the article "Latin American art") ...further explored by contemporary artists in South America on the eve of independence. A South American variant on castas appeared in Quito in 1783, when Vicente Alban created idealized portraits of indigenous and Latin American-born Spanish people in their typical costume. In his set of six paintings ...
- Albani, Alessandro
- (from the article "Winckelmann, Johann") ...his homeland for the city of Rome, second only to Paris as a cultural centre. There he rose to the position of librarian of the Vatican, president of Antiquities, and, later, secretary to Cardinal Albani, who had one of the great private collections of classical art. Winckelmann's position and influential ...
- Albani, Francesco
- Italian painter, one of the 17th-century Bolognese masters trained in the studio of the Carracci. He assisted Guido Reni in a number of major decorative cycles, including that of the Chapel of the Annunciation (1609-12) in the Quirinal Palace and the choir (1612-14) of Santa Maria della Pace.
- Albania
- country in southern Europe, located in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula on the Strait of Otranto, the southern entrance to the Adriatic Sea. The capital city is Tirana (Tirane). [27 Related Articles]
- Albania, flag of
- national flag consisting of a red field (background) with a black two-headed eagle in its centre. Its width-to-length ratio is 5 to 7.
- Albania, history of
- (from the article "Albania") HistoryCommunist takeoverEurope, history ofA climate of fearIn Albania there was not even a preliminary coalition. At the first postwar elections in Dec
- Albanian
- (from the article "Macedonia") Continued friction between ethnic Albanian and ethnic Macedonian parties as well as within the ethnic Albanian political spectrum characterized Macedonian politics for much of 2007. On January 27 the Democratic Union for Integration (BDI) and its partner, the Party for Democratic Prosperity (PPD), announced a boycott of the parliament, which ...
- Albanian Democratic Party
- (from the article "Albania") Albanian domestic politics in 2004 remained focused on the decade-old power struggle between Socialist Prime Minister Fatos Nano and his rival, former president Sali Berisha (of the Albanian Democratic Party [PD]). On February 7, police had to prevent several thousand PD protesters from entering government buildings in Tirana. Berisha called ...
- Albanian language
- Indo-European language spoken in Albania and by smaller numbers of ethnic Albanians in other parts of the southern Balkans, along the east coast of Italy and in Sicily, in southern Greece, and in Germany, Sweden, the United States, Ukraine, and Belgium. Albanian is the only modern representative of a distinct ... [6 Related Articles]
- Albanian League
- first Albanian nationalist organization. Formed at Prizren, Serbia, on July 1, 1878, the league, initially supported by the Turks, tried to influence the Congress of Berlin, which was formulating a peace settlement following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 and which threatened to partition Albania (then part of the Ottoman Empire) ... [3 Related Articles]
|
|
