| | - Ahmadnagar
- town, west-central Maharashtra state, western India. It lies along the Sina River, 130 miles (210 km) east of Bombay. Known as Bhinar in early Yadava times, it was conquered by Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah, founder of the Ahmadnagar dynasty, in 1490. The city was later taken by the Mughals, Marathas, ...
- Ahmadu Seku
- second and last ruler of the Tukulor empire in West Africa, celebrated for his resistance to the French occupation.
- Ahmed Hasim
- writer, one of the most outstanding representatives of the Symbolist movement in Turkish literature.
- Ahmed I
- Ottoman sultan from 1603 to 1617, whose authority was weakened by wars, rebellions, and misrule. The rebellions he was able to suppress; he executed some of the viziers and exiled many palace dignitaries for bribery and intrigue; and he introduced a new regulation for the improvement of land administration. The ...
- Ahmed II
- Ottoman sultan (1691-95) whose reign was marked by the continuing war with the Holy League (Austria-Poland-Venice).
- Ahmed III
- sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1703 to 1730.
- Ahmed Vefik Pasa
- Ottoman statesman and scholar who presided over the first Ottoman Parliament (1877) and who is known for his contributions to Turkish studies.
- Ahmed Yesevi
- poet and Sufi (Muslim mystic), an early Turkish mystic leader who exerted a powerful influence on the development of mystical orders throughout the Turkish-speaking world.
- Ahmed, Fakhruddin Ali
- statesman who was president of India from 1974 to 1977.
- Ahmedabad
- city, eastern Gujarat state, west-central India. It lies along the Sabarmati River about 275 miles (440 km) north of Mumbai (Bombay). The old city lies east of the river, while newer sections lie along the west bank.
- Ahmedi, Taceddin
- one of the greatest poets of 14th-century Anatolia.
- Ahmet Pasa Bursali
- one of the most important figures in 15th-century Turkish literature.
- Ahmose I
- (reigned c. 1539-14 BC), founder of the 18th dynasty, who completed his brother's expulsion of the Hyksos (Asiatic rulers of Egypt), invaded Palestine, and re-exerted Egypt's hegemony over Nubia, to the south.
- Ahmose II
- king of the 26th dynasty (reigned 570-526 BC), a general who seized the throne during a revolt against King Apries. The account of the 5th-century-BC Greek historian Herodotus reveals Ahmose as a shrewd and opportunistic ruler, who, while promoting Greek trade with Egypt, strictly regulated it.
- Aho, Juhani
- novelist and short-story writer who began as a realist but toward the end of his life made large concessions to Romanticism.
- aholehole
- any of several species of fishes constituting the family Kuhliidae (order Perciformes). Various members of the genus Kuhlia inhabit marine or fresh waters in the Indo-Pacific region, whereas representatives of the other two genera are restricted to freshwater or brackish habitats of Australia. Superficially the aholeholes resemble the freshwater sunfishes ...
- Ahom
- tribe that ruled much of Assam from the 13th century until the establishment of British rule in 1838. Their power in Assam reached its peak during the reign of King Rudra Singh (1696-1714). They originated in the Chinese province of Yunnan and began migrating into Indochina and northern Myanmar (Burma) ...
- Ahram, Al-
- daily newspaper published in Cairo, long regarded as Egypt's most authoritative and influential newspaper and as one of the most important papers in the Arab world.
- Ahriman
- the evil spirit in the dualistic doctrine of Zoroastrianism. His essential nature is expressed in his principal epithet-Druj, "the Lie." The Lie expresses itself as greed, wrath, and envy. To aid him in attacking the light, the good creation of Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, Ahriman created a horde of ...
- Ahsa'i, al-
- founder of the heterodox Shi'ite Muslim Shaykhi sect of Iran.
- Ahtisaari, Martti
- Finnish politician and noted mediator who was president of Finland (1994-2000).
- Ahuachapan
- city, western El Salvador, on the small Molino River (with a hydroelectric station) at the foot of La Lagunita Volcano. Originally called Gueciapam by the Indians, it was renamed Aguecha before becoming the town (1823) and the city (1862) of Ahuachapan. A manufacturing and distributing centre (the most important product ...
- Ahuitzotl
- eighth king of the Aztecs, under whose reign (1486-1503) the Aztec empire reached its greatest extent.
- Ahura Mazda
- supreme god in ancient Iranian religion, especially in the religious system of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster (7th century-6th century BC). Ahura Mazda was worshiped by the Persian king Darius I (reigned 522 BC-486 BC) and his successors as the greatest of all gods and protector of the just king.
- Ahvaz
- town, southwestern Iran. Ahvaz is situated on both banks of the Karun River where it crosses a low range of sandstone hills. The town has been identified with Achaemenid Tareiana, a river crossing on the royal road connecting Susa, Persepolis, and Pasargadae. Ardashir I, the Sasanian king (224-241) who rebuilt ...
- Ai
- ancient Canaanite town destroyed by the Israelites under their leader Joshua (Joshua 7-8). Biblical references agree in locating Ai (Hebrew: ha-'Ay, "The Ruin") just east of Bethel (modern Baytin in the West Bank). This would make it identical with the large early Bronze Age site now called At-Tall. Excavations there ...
- Ai Qing
- Chinese poet whose free verse was influential in the development of xinshi ("new poetry").
- Aicard, Jean
- French poet, novelist, and dramatist, best known for his poems of the Provence region.
- Aichbuhl
- site of a Middle Neolithic settlement (end of the 3rd millennium BC) on the shores of Lake Feder (Federsee) in southeastern Baden-Wurttemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. Foundations of 25 rectangular buildings arranged in an irregular row along the shoreline were uncovered in the peat wetland by R. Schmidt in 1930. ...
- Aichi
- ken (prefecture), central Honshu, Japan, on the Pacific coast. More than half of its area lies within the Nobi Plain and two smaller plains to the east. The northwestern border with Gifu prefecture is formed by the Kiso River, sometimes known as the Nihon (Japan) Rhine. The irregular coast is ...
- Aichinger, Gregor
- German composer of religious music during the stylistic transition from the late Renaissance to early Baroque.
- Aichinger, Ilse
- Austrian poet and prose writer whose work, often surreal and presented in the form of parables, reflects her preoccupation with the Nazi persecution of the Jews during World War II.
- aid
- a tax levied in medieval Europe, paid by persons or communities to someone in authority. Aids could be demanded by the crown from its subjects, by a feudal lord from his vassals, or by the lord of a manor from the inhabitants of his domain.
- Aidan
- king of the Scottish kingdom of Dalriada. He was the son of Gabran, king of Dalriada.
- Aidan, Saint
- apostle of Northumbria, monastic founder, first bishop of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, off the coast of Northumberland.
- aide-de-camp
- (French: "camp assistant"), an officer on the personal staff of a general, admiral, or other high-ranking commander who acts as his confidential secretary in routine matters. On Napoleon's staff such officers were frequently of high military qualifications and acted both as his "eyes" and as interpreters of his mind to ...
- Aidoo, Ama Ata
- Ghanaian writer whose work, written in English, emphasized the paradoxical position of the modern African woman.
- AIDS
- transmissible disease of the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV slowly attacks and destroys the immune system, the body's defense against infection, leaving an individual vulnerable to a variety of other infections and certain malignancies that eventually cause death. AIDS is the final stage of HIV ...
- aigrette
- tuft of long, white heron (usually egret) plumes used as a decorative headdress, or any other ornament resembling such a headdress. Such plumes were highly prized as ornaments in Middle Eastern ceremonial dress. Jeweled aigrettes, at first made in the form of a tuft of plumes, became an adornment for ...
- Aigues-Mortes
- town, Gard departement, Languedoc-Roussillon region, southeastern France, southwest of Nimes, on the Canal du Rhone a Sete, with its own 3.5-mile (6-km) canal to the Gulf of Lion. Its name comes from aquae mortuae, the "dead waters" of the surrounding saline ...
- Aiguillon, Emmanuel-Armand de Richelieu, duc d'
- French statesman, whose career illustrates the difficulties of the central government of the ancien regime in dealing with the provincial Parlements and estates, the extent to which powerful ministers were at the mercy of court intrigue, and how French diplomacy suffered under Louis XV as a result of secret diplomacy.
- Aiken
- city, seat of Aiken county, western South Carolina, U.S. Aiken lies 16 miles (26 km) northeast of Augusta, Georgia. It was chartered in 1835 and named for the railroad entrepreneur William Aiken. The city was originally a health resort. During the American Civil War the Confederate forces of General Joseph ...
- Aiken
- county, western South Carolina, U.S. It lies in the state's sandhill region between the North Fork Edisto River to the northeast and the Savannah River border with Georgia to the southwest. The county is also drained by the South Fork Edisto. Aiken and Redcliffe Plantation state parks are within its ...
- Aiken, Conrad
- American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, short-story writer, novelist, and critic whose works, influenced by early psychoanalytic theory, are concerned largely with the human need for self-awareness and a sense of identity. Aiken himself faced considerable trauma in his childhood when he found the bodies of his parents after his father had ...
- Aiken, Howard Hathaway
- mathematician who invented the Harvard Mark I, forerunner of the modern electronic digital computer.
- Aiken, Joan
- prolific British author of fantasy, adventure, horror, and suspense tales for both juvenile and adult readers. Perhaps best-known as the inventor of a genre called the "unhistorical romance," Aiken wrote tales that combine humour and action with traditional mythic and fairy tale elements. Many of these works are set in ...
- aikido
- (Japanese: "way of spiritual harmony"), self-defense system that resembles the fighting methods jujitsu and judo in its use of twisting and throwing techniques and in its aim of turning an attacker's strength and momentum against himself. Pressure on vital nerve centres is also used. Aikido was developed to subdue, rather ...
- aileron
- movable part of an airplane wing that is controlled by the pilot and permits him to roll the aircraft around its longitudinal axis. Ailerons are thus used primarily to bank the aircraft for turning. Ailerons have taken different forms through the years but are usually part of the wing's trailing ...
- Ailey, Alvin, Jr.
- American dancer, choreographer, and director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
- Ailly, Pierre d'
- French theologian, cardinal, and advocate of church reform whose chief aim was to heal the Great Schism of the Western church (1378-1417). He advocated the doctrine of conciliarism-the subordination of the pope to a general council-and in 1381 he suggested convoking such a council in an effort to end the ...
- Ailsa Craig
- granite islet, South Ayrshire council area, Scotland, at the mouth of the Firth of Clyde and 10 miles (16 km) off the coast of South Ayrshire, to which it belongs. It is nicknamed "Paddy's Milestone" for its location halfway between Glasgow and Belfast (Northern Ireland). The name Ailsa Craig is ...
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