Britannica Concise 2005 - читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги автора Encyclopedia Britannica (ч. 4)

Alvin Ailey, Jr., 1960.

COURTESY OF ZACHARY FREYMAN

airbrush ► airship I 33

nuclear-armed bombers. In the jet age, air power has continued to be used in strategic bombing of an enemy’s home territory (as in the Vietnam War, 1965-74), destroying enemy air forces (as in the Arab-Israeli wars), attacking and defending carrier-based naval fleets (as in the Falkland Islands War, 1982), and supporting ground forces (as in the Persian Gulf War, 1990-91).

airbrush Pneumatic device for developing a fine, small-diameter spray of paint, protective coating, or liquid colour (see aerosol). The airbrush can be a pencil-shaped atomizer used for various highly detailed activities such as shading drawings and retouching photographs; in contrast, a spray gun is usually used for covering large surfaces with paint.

Airbus S.A.S. European aircraft manufacturer that is the world’s sec¬ ond largest maker of commercial aircraft (after Boeing Co.). It is co-owned by the German-French-Spanish European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), with an 80% interest, and Britain’s BAE Systems, with 20%. Airbus was formed as a consortium in 1970 by French and German aerospace firms (later joined by Spanish and British companies) to fill a market niche for short- to medium-range, high-capacity jetliners and to compete with long-established American manufacturers. Its first product, the A300, entered service in 1974. It was the first wide-body jetliner equipped with only two engines for more economical operation. The twin- engine A320 (entered service 1988) incorporated numerous technical innovations, notably fly-by-wire (electric rather than mechanically linked), computer-based flight controls. The four-engine A340 (1993) and smaller, twin-engine A330 (1994) were long-range airliners. In 2000 Air¬ bus launched development of the A380, intended to be the world’s larg¬ est passenger jet with a typical seating of 555 people. The consortium integrated into a single company in 2001.

aircraft carrier Naval vessel equipped with a platform that allows air¬ planes to take off and land. Takeoffs are facilitated by the use of catapults or by a ramp at the end of the flight deck. For landing, aircraft are fitted with retractable hooks that engage arresting wires on the deck, or they are built with vectored-thrust engines that allow them to be landed vertically. Britain’s Royal Navy developed the first true aircraft carrier near the end of World War I, and carriers played leading roles in World War II naval engagements such as the Pearl Harbor attack and the Battles of Midway and the Coral Sea. The largest modern carriers are 1,000-ft (300-m) nuclear-powered vessels of the U.S. Navy, which can carry 100 jet air¬ craft. Other types include the light carrier, equipped for anti-submarine warfare and ground attack, and the helicopter carrier, intended for con¬ ducting amphibious assault.

airplane Fixed-wing aircraft that is heavier than air, propelled by a screw propeller or a high-velocity jet, and supported by the dynamic reac¬ tion of the air against its wings. An airplane’s essential components are the body or fuselage, a flight-sustaining wing system, stabilizing tail sur¬ faces, altitude-control devices such as rudders, a thrust-providing power source, and a landing support system. Beginning in the 1840s, several British and French inventors produced designs for engine-powered air¬ craft, but the first powered, sustained, and controlled flight was only achieved by Wilbur and Orville Wright in 1903. Later airplane design was

affected by the development of the jet engine; most airplanes today have a long nose section, swept-back wings with jet engines placed behind the plane’s midsection, and a tail stabilizing section. Most airplanes are designed to operate from land; seaplanes are adapted to touch down on water, and carrier-based planes are modified for high-speed short takeoff and landing. See also airfoil; aviation; glider; helicopter.

wing

Two physical forces essential to airplane flight are thrust and lift. Jet engines, such as the turbofan shown, provide forward thrust by taking in air through the front of the engine, compressing it, and burning it with fuel in the combustor. Hot exhaust gases and air are then expelled at high speed from the rear of the engine. Lift is generated by the flow of air past the wings. Air flowing over the rounded upper surface of a wing moves faster than air flowing past the flat lower surface; as a result, the air above the wing exerts a lower pressure than the air below, producing a net upward force, or lift. Both lift and drag (friction caused by the plane moving through air) can be adjusted by the movement of ailerons, landing flaps, and tabs on the wings' edges. At the rear of the plane, the elevator, located on the horizon¬ tal stabilizer, controls the airplane's movement around the lateral axis. Both the elevator and the rudder, located on the vertical stabilizer, help to control turning movements initiated by the ailerons.

airport Site and installations for the takeoff and landing of aircraft. Early airports were open, grass-covered fields, called landing fields, that allowed a pilot to head directly into the wind to aid a plane’s lift on take¬ off and to decrease its speed on landing. In the 1930s heavier airplanes required paved runway surfaces. Larger planes needed longer runways, which today can reach 15,000 ft (4,500 m) to accommodate the largest jet aircraft. Air traffic is regulated from control towers and regional cen¬ tres. Passenger and cargo terminals include baggage-movement and passenger-transit operations.

airship or dirigible Lighter-than-air aircraft with steering and propul¬ sion systems. Airships could be nonrigid (blimps), semirigid, or rigid.

Airedale terrier Dog breed that is the largest of the terriers, probably descended from the otterhound and the extinct Old English terrier. It stands about 23 in. (58 cm) high, weighs 40-50 lbs (18-23 kg), and has a boxy appearance, with a long, squared muzzle. Its coat is dense and wiry, with a black saddle and tan legs, muzzle, and underparts. Intelligent and courageous, powerful and affec¬ tionate (though reserved with strang¬ ers), the Airedale has been used as a wartime dispatch carrier, police dog, guard, and big-game hunter.

airfoil Shaped surface, such as an airplane wing, tail, or propeller blade, that produces lift and drag when moved through the air. An airfoil pro¬ duces a lifting force that acts at right angles to the airstream and a drag¬ ging force that acts in the same direction as the airstream. High-speed aircraft usually employ thin, low-drag, low-lift airfoils; slow aircraft that carry heavy loads use thicker airfoils with high drag and high lift.

Airedale terrier

SALLY ANNE THOMPSON/EB INC.

compressor core turbine fan fan turbine

jet engine

core

nozzle

air

intake

exhaust

fan air duct

fuel

fan

combustor nozzle

34 I 'A’ishah ► Akhenaton

They all included a large cigar-shaped bag or balloon filled with a gas such as hydrogen or helium, a car or gondola suspended below the balloon that held the crew and passengers, engines to drive the propellers, and rudders for steering. Attempts to control the flight of balloons began soon after their invention in the 1780s. The first propeller-driven airship, built by Henri Giffard, flew in 1852 in France; design improvements led to construction of the rigid zeppelin (1900). The nonrigid helium-filled blimp was principally developed by Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932). In 1928 Germany began regular transatlantic airship passenger service. Sev¬ eral explosions, particularly the 1937 Hindenburg disaster, and airplane developments made the airship commercially obsolete. See also balloon.

‘A’ishah \'a-esho\ (bint AbT Baler) (b. 614, Mecca, Arabia—d. July 678, Medina) Third wife of Muhammad. The daughter of his supporter Abu Bakr, she became Muhammad’s favourite wife. Left a childless widow at 18, she became politically active during the reign of the third caliph, ‘Uth- man ibn ‘Affan, leading the opposition that resulted in his murder in 656. She led an army against his successor, 'All, who defeated her in the Battle of the Camel. She was allowed to live her remaining years quietly in Medina and is credited with transmitting more than a thousand HadIth.

Aitken, William Maxwell See Baron Beaverbrook

Aix-en-Provence \,eks-a n -pro-'va n s\ City (pop., 1999: 134,222), southeastern France. Founded as a military colony by the Romans c. 123 bc, it was the scene of the defeat of the Teutons by Marius in 102 bc. Visigoths, Franks, Lombards, and finally Muslim invaders from Spain successively plundered the town. As the capital of Provence, it was a cen¬ tre of culture during the Middle Ages; it became part of France in 1486. It is now a residential suburb of Marseille; its industries include tourism, food processing, and the manufacturing of electrical machinery.

Aix-la-Chapelle See Aachen

Aix-la-Chapelle \,eks-la-sha-'pel\, Congress of (Oct. 1-Nov. 15, 1818) First of four congresses held by Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and France to address European problems following the Napoleonic Wars. At Aix-la-Chapelle (now Aachen, Ger.), the participants accepted an offer by France to pay most of the war indemnity owed to the allies in exchange for the withdrawal of their armies of occupation. France was also admit¬ ted to the new Quintuple Alliance.

Aix-la-Chapelle, Treaty of (Oct. 18, 1748) Treaty that ended the War of the Austrian Succession. The treaty, negotiated largely by Britain and France, was marked by the mutual restitution of conquests, includ¬ ing the fortress of Louisbourg (in Nova Scotia) to France and Madras (now Chennai; in India) to England. It preserved Maria Theresa’s right to the Austrian lands, but the Habsburgs were weakened by Prussia’s retention of Silesia. The treaty did not resolve any issues in the commercial colo¬ nial struggle between England and France and thus did not lead to a last¬ ing peace.

Aizawl \I-'zaul\ City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 229,714), capital of Mizoram state, India. It is situated on a ridge at an elevation of about 2,950 ft (900 m) The surrounding region is part of the Assam-Myanmar geologic prov¬ ince, with steeply inclined hill ranges. Many in the population are from Myanmar. In the 1970s Aizawl was the scene of an armed attack on the government treasury by members of the Mizo National Front. Manufac¬ tures include aluminum utensils, handloom textiles, and furniture.

Ajax Greek hero of the Trojan War. In the Iliad Homer described him as of great stature and second only to Achilles in strength and bravery. He fought Hector in single combat and rescued the body of Achilles from the hands of the Trojans. When Achilles’s armour was awarded to Odysseus, he was so enraged that he went mad. According to several Greek and Roman poets, Ajax slaughtered a flock of sheep he mistook for his enemies, then returned to his senses and killed himself out of shame.

Ajodhya See Ayodhya

AK \'a-'ka\ -47 Soviet assault rifle. Designed by Mikhail T. Kalashnikov (its name stands for “automatic Kalashnikov 1947”), it had both semiau¬ tomatic and automatic capabilities and fired intermediate-power 7.62-mm ammunition. It was manufactured in the former Soviet Union and Soviet- bloc countries and soon became the basic shoulder weapon for virtually all communist armies as well as for many guerrilla and nationalist movements. In the Soviet military it was replaced in the 1960s by the AKM, which fea¬ tured a lighter, cheaper stamped-metal receiver, and in the 1970s by the AK-74, which fired a high-velocity 5.45-mm round. See also Ml 6 rifle.

Aka I Takht Vo-'kal-'tok-toX Chief centre of religious authority for Indian Sikhs, located in Amritsar opposite the Golden Temple. It also serves as the headquarters of the Akali Party. Since the line of Gurus came to an end in 1708, the Sikh community has settled religious and political disputes at meetings in front of the Akal Takht. In the 20th century local congre¬ gations began to pass resolutions on matters of Sikh doctrine and rules of conduct; disputed resolutions may be appealed to the Akal Takht. It was badly damaged during the assault on the Golden Temple by the Indian army in 1984 and had to be rebuilt. See also Sikhism.

Akali Party \3-'ka-le\ Sikh political party in India. The term Akali was first applied to suicide squads that appeared in the Sikh armies c. 1690 in response to Mughal persecution. The Akali name was revived in the 1920s during the gurdwara reform movement to refer to a semimilitary corps of volunteers opposed to British rule. Akalis took the lead in agitation for a Punjabi-speaking Sikh-majority state, a goal achieved in 1966 with the establishment of the Indian state of Punjab. The modem Akali Party par¬ ticipates in national elections but is mainly concerned with the status of the Sikhs in Punjab.

Akan \'a-,kan\ Cluster of peoples inhabiting southern Ghana, eastern Cote d’Ivoire, and parts of Togo. Their languages are of the Kwa branch of Niger-Congo languages. In the 14th-18th centuries several Akan states, notably the Fante confederacy and the Asante empire, formed in regions where gold was produced and traded. Many of the Akan, who number some 16 million, work in urban districts.

Akbar in full Abu al-Fath Jalal al-DTn Muhammad Akbar

(b. Oct. 15, 1542, Umarkot, Sind, India—d. 1605, A*gra) Greatest of the Mughal emperors (see Mughal dynasty) of India (r. 1556-1605). Akbar, whose ancestors included Timur and Genghis Khan, ascended the throne as a youth. Initially his rule extended only over the Punjab and the area around Delhi. The Rajput raja of Amber (Jaipur) acknowledged his suzer¬ ainty in 1562, and other Rajput rajas followed suit. Akbar included Rajput princes and other Hindus in the highest ranks of his government and reduced discrimination against non-Muslims. He continued his conquests, taking Gujarat in the west (1573) and Bengal in the east (annexed in 1576). Toward the end of his reign he conquered Kashmir (1586) and moved south into the Deccan. Administratively, he strengthened central power, establishing that all military officers and civil administrators were to be appointed by the emperor. He encouraged scholars, poets, painters, and musicians, making his court a centre of culture. He had Sanskrit clas¬ sics translated into Persian and was enthusiastic about the European paint¬ ings presented to him by Jesuit missionaries. His reign was often portrayed as a model by later governments—strong, benevolent, tolerant, and enlightened. See also Babur.

Akerlof, George A. (b. June 17, 1940, New Haven, Conn., U.S.) U.S. economist. He studied at Yale University (B.A., 1962) and the Massa¬ chusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D., 1966) and in 1966 began teaching at the University of Califor¬ nia, Berkeley, becoming Goldman Professor of Economics in 1980.

Akerlof s research often drew on other disciplines, including psychol¬ ogy, anthropology, and sociology, and he played an important role in the development of behavioral eco¬ nomics. His landmark study on asymmetric information in the used car market demonstrated how mar¬ kets malfunction when sellers have more information than buyers. Aker¬ lof shared the 2001 Nobel Prize for Economics with A. Michael Spence and Joseph E. Stiglitz.

Akhenaton or Akhnaton \ak- 'na-t 3 n\ orig. Amenhotep Ya- m3n-'ho-,tep\ IV (r. 1353-36 bc)

Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (1539-1292 bc). He came to power during a period of Egyptian preeminence, with Egypt controlling Palestine, Phoenicia, and Nubia.

Akhenaton, detail of the sandstone pil¬ lar statue from the Aton temple at Kar- nak, c. 1370 bc; in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

HIRMER FOTOARCHIV, MUNCHEN

Akhmatova ► al-Khwarizmi I 35

Shortly after his reign began, he began to encourage the exclusive wor¬ ship of the little-known deity Aton, a sun god he regarded as the source of all blessings. Assuming the name Akhenaton (“One Useful to Aton”), he moved his capital from Thebes to present-day Tell el-Amarna to escape established religious powers and make a fresh start. A new art style that focused on the details of actual life rather than on timeless conditions became popular. In government, Akhenaton tried to recapture the old authority of the ruler, which had been largely diverted to bureaucrats and officials, but his focus on his new religion to the exclusion of affairs of state resulted in the disintegration of Egypt’s Asian empire. He was suc¬ ceeded by two of his sons-in-law, Smenkhkare and Tutankhamen, but after Tutankhamen’s early death the army took over the throne, and Akhenaton’s new religion was abandoned.

Akhmatova Xok-'ma-to-voX, Anna orig. Anna Andreyevna Gorenko (b. June 23, 1889,

Bolshoy Fontan, near Odessa,

Ukraine, Russian Empire—d. March 5, 1966, Domodedovo, near Mos¬ cow) Russian poet. She won fame with her first poetry collections (1912, 1914). Soon after the Revo¬ lution of 1917, Soviet authorities condemned her work for what they perceived as its narrow preoccupa¬ tion with love and God, and in 1923, after the execution of her former hus¬ band on conspiracy charges, she entered a long period of literary silence. After World War II she was again denounced and expelled from the Writers Union. Following Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953, she was slowly rehabilitated. In her later years she became the influential cen¬ tre of a circle of younger Russian poets. Her longest work, Poem With¬ out a Hew, is regarded as one of the great poems of the 20th century. Regarded today as one of the greatest of all Russian poets, she is also admired for her translations of other poets’ works and for her memoirs.

Akiba ben Joseph Xa-'ke-va-ben-'jo-zofX (b. ad 40—d. c. 135, Cae¬ sarea, Palestine) Jewish sage, one of the founders of rabbinic Judaism. He is said to have been an illiterate shepherd who began to study after age 40. He believed that Scripture contained many implied meanings in addi¬ tion to its overt meaning, and he regarded written law (Torah) and oral law (Halakhah) as ultimately one. He collected and systematized the oral traditions concerning the conduct of Jewish social and religious life, thus laying the foundation of the Mishna. He may have been involved in Bar Kokhba’s unsuccessful rebellion against Rome; he gave the rebel leader his title and recognized him as the Messiah. He was imprisoned by the Romans and martyred for his public teaching. See also Ishmael ben Elisha.

Akihito \a-'ke-he-,to\ or Heisei \'ha-'sa\ emperor (b. Dec. 23, 1933, Tokyo, Japan) Emperor of Japan from 1989. Son of Hirohito, his role, like that of his father after 1945, has been largely ceremonial. He is the first Japanese emperor to have married a commoner, in what was hailed at the time as a love match rather than the customary arranged marriage. His children are Crown Prince Naruhito, Prince Akishino, and Princess Nori.

Akita \o -'ke-to\ Breed of working dog that originated in the mountains of northern Japan. In 1931 the Japanese government designated the breed as a national treasure. It is a powerful, muscular dog with a broad head, erect pointed ears, and a large curved tail carried over the back or curled against the flank. Colours and markings vary, including all-white, brindle, and pinto. All but the white akitas bear a distinct mask (dark area around the muzzle). Males stand 26-28 in. (66-71 cm) high, females 24-26 in. (60-66 cm).

Akkad Va -kad\ Ancient region, central Iraq. Akkad was the northern division of ancient Babylonia (Sumer was the southern division). Its name was taken from the city of Agade, founded by the conqueror Sargon c. 2300 bc. Sargon united the city-states in the region and extended the empire to much of Mesopotamia, including Sumer, Elam, and the upper Tigris. The empire waned in the 22nd century bc. Under the kings of Akkad, their Semitic language, Akkadian, became a literary language, and great art was fostered.

Akkadian Xo-'ka-de-onX language

‘Akko Va -ko\ or Acre X'a-kro, 'a-korX Seaport town (pop., 2000 est.: 45,737), northwestern Israel. First mentioned in an Egyptian text from the 19th century bc, it was long a Canaanite and Phoenician city. After its conquest by Alexander the Great (336 bc), it was a Greek polity (called Philadelphus), and for several centuries it remained part of the Roman Republic and Empire. The Persians (614) and Arabs (638) conquered the town, but it was ruled by the Turkish SeuOq dynasty when the Crusaders captured it in 1104. The Crusaders renamed the city St. Jean d’Acre and made it their last capital (see Crusades). Except for brief intervals, it was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire from 1516 until British forces took it in 1918. It was part of Palestine under the British mandate and became part of Israel in 1948, when most of its Arab inhabitants fled. Notable structures include the Great Mosque and the Crypt of St. John. It is the burial place of Baha’ Ullah, the founder of the Baha’i faith.

Akmola See Astana

Akron City (pop., 2000: 217,074), northeastern Ohio, U.S., on the Cuya¬ hoga River. At 1,200 ft (370 m) above sea level, Akron was named for its “high place” (Greek: acros) on the watershed between the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. Laid out in 1825, the town was assured substantial growth by the completion of two canals (1827, 1840). The abundant water supply and the arrival of the railroads prompted Benjamin Franklin Goo¬ drich to move a rubber factory there in 1871. Akron became known as “rubber capital of the world,” although by the 21st century much pro¬ duction had moved from the area.

Aksum or Axum X'ak-.siimX Ancient kingdom, northern Ethiopia. At its apogee (3rd-6th century ad), Aksum merchants traded as far as Alex¬ andria and beyond the Nile River. The modern town of Aksum (pop., 1994: 27,148), once the kingdom’s capital, is a religious centre best known for its antiquities. It has long been regarded as a holy city for the Ethiopian Orthodox church; according to tradition, King Menilek I, son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, brought the Ark of the Covenant there from Jerusalem. Aksum’s antiquities have made it a tourist centre.

Akwamu X'ak-wa-miiX Historical state of western Africa’s Gold Coast (now Ghana). Founded by an Akan people c. 1600, it grew rich on the sale of gold. At its height in the early 18th century, Akwamu stretched more than 250 mi (400 km) along the coast, from Whydah (now Ouidah, Benin) in the east to beyond Winneba (now in Ghana) in the west. By 1710 the state was being pressured by other groups (including the Asante) that had grown powerful in the area, and by 1731 it had ceased to exist.

Al Among Arab groups, a term denoting a tribe, clan, family, or other patrilineal filiation. It often refers to a ruling line or dynasty and gener¬ ally precedes a substantive name (e.g., Al Sa'ud) but is not connected by a hyphen; it is unrelated to the Arabic definite article, al-. In Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, entries for Arab tribal and dynastic groups are alphabetized under the substantive (e.g., for Al Sa'ud, see Sa'Gd dynasty).

al- Arabic definite article, meaning “the.” It prefixes Arabic nouns, from which it is generally separated by a hyphen when rendered in Latin script. In Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, entries are alphabetized under the noun the article modifies (e.g., see Azhar University, al-).

Al-JazTrah See Gezira

al-Khwarizmi Xal-'kwar-iz-meX Arabic in full Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (b. c. 780, Baghdad, Iraq—d. c. 850) Muslim mathematician and astronomer. He lived in Baghdad during the golden age of Islamic science and, like Euclid, wrote mathematical books that collected and arranged the discoveries of earlier mathematicians. His Al-Kitdb al-mukhtasar fi hisdb al-jabr wa’l-muqabala (“The Compendi¬ ous Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”) is a compila¬ tion of rules for solving linear and quadratic equations, as well as problems of geometry and proportion. Its translation into Latin in the 12th century provided the link between the great Hindu and Arab mathematicians and

Anna Akhmatova.

NOVOSTI PRESS AGENCY

36 I Alabama ► Alaska Highway

European scholars. A corruption of the book’s title resulted in the word algebra ; a corruption of the author’s own name resulted in the term algo¬ rithm.

Alabama State (pop., 2000: 4,447,000), southern central U.S. It is bor¬ dered by Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi; the Gulf of Mexico lies to the southwest. Covering 51,718 sq mi (133,950 sq km), its capital is Montgomery. Its original inhabitants included Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek Indians; evidence of their activity can be found near Tuscaloosa. Hernando de Soto traveled there, and the French founded a settlement at Fort Louis in 1702. The Alabama Territory was created in 1817, and statehood was granted in 1819. Alabama seceded from the Union in 1861, becoming part of the Confederacy; it was readmitted in 1868. Efforts during Reconstruction to include blacks in government failed, and Alabama remained segregationist until the 1960s. Dependent on cotton until the early 20th century, the state has since diversified its agricultural production and developed industrially, especially at Birming¬ ham; Mobile has become a major ocean terminal.

Alabama claims U.S. maritime grievances against Britain in the American Civil War. Although Britain had declared official neutrality in the war, it allowed the Confederate cruiser Alabama , which later destroyed 68 Union ships, to be constructed in England. U.S. ambassa¬ dor Charles Francis Adams demanded that the British take responsibility for these damages, and he advocated arbitration to settle the matter. In May 1871 the parties signed the Treaty of Washington, which established certain wartime obligations of neutrals. The tribunal also held Britain liable for losses and awarded the U.S. damages of $15.5 million.

Alabama River River, southern Alabama, U.S. Formed by the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers northeast of Montgomery, it winds westward to Selma and then flows southward. The river’s navigable length is 305 mi (491 km). It is joined above Mobile by the Tombigbee River to form the Mobile and Tensaw rivers, which flow into Mobile Bay. Mobile and Mont¬ gomery became major cities largely because they were on this important artery.

alabaster Fine-grained gypsum that has been used for centuries for statuary, carvings, and other ornaments. It normally is snow-white and translucent but can be artificially dyed; it may be made opaque and simi¬ lar in appearance to marble by heat treatment. Florence, Livorno, Milan, and Berlin are important centres of the alabaster trade. The alabaster of the ancients was a brown or yellow onyx marble.

Alaca Huyuk V.a-la-'ja-hoe-.yiBkX Ancient Anatolian site, north-central Turkey. It lies northeast of the old Hittite capital of Bogazkoy. Traces of a Hittite building were found in the early 20th century and below them a royal necropolis of tombs from c. 2500 bc. There is evidence of the advanced accomplishments of Copper Age metallurgy in the form of jew¬ elry, bowls, and jugs. Though the ethnic identity of the preliterate inhab¬ itants is uncertain, they probably belonged to the non-Indo-European population that preceded the Hittites.

Aladdin Hero of a well-known story in The Thousand and One Nights. The son of a poor widow, Aladdin is a lazy, careless boy who meets an African magician claiming to be his uncle. He sends Aladdin into a cave to find a magic lamp, but Aladdin refuses to hand over the lamp until he is safely out of the cave. The angry magician shuts the boy in the cave and departs, but Aladdin discovers that he can summon powerful genies (jinn) by rubbing the lamp. The genies grant his every wish, and Aladdin becomes rich, marries the sultan’s beautiful daughter, and reigns for many years.

Alamein, Battles of El See Battles of El Alamein

AlamgTr Val-3m- 1 ger\ II in full ( Az?z al-DTn 'Alamglr II (b. June 6, 1699, Multan, India—d. Nov. 29, 1769, Delhi) Mughal emperor of India (1754-59). He was placed on the throne by the imperial vizier Imad al-Mulk Ghazi al-Dln and was always the puppet of more powerful men, including the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani, whose agents occupied Delhi in 1757 and made Alamglr the nominal emperor of Hindustan. He was murdered by Ghazi al-Dln, who feared Alamglr might be captured and used against him in another Afghan invasion.

Alamo Eighteenth-century mission in San Antonio, Texas, site of a his¬ toric siege of a small group of Texans by a Mexican army (1836) during the Texas war for independence from Mexico. The abandoned mission was occupied occasionally by Spanish troops, who named it the Alamo

(“cottonwood”) after the surrounding trees. At the start of the war in December 1835, volunteers occupied the Alamo and vowed to fight to the death any attempt to recapture it. In February 1836 a Mexican army of several thousand began a siege that lasted 13 days. The Texan force of about 180, led by Jim Bowie and including Davy Crockett, was overrun; nearly all the defenders were killed (about 15 persons, mostly women and children, were spared). Mexican casualties were at least 600. “Remem¬ ber the Alamo!” became a rallying cry for Texans through the remainder of the war.

Alanbrooke (of Brookeborough), Alan Francis Brooke, 1 st Viscount (b. July 23, 1883, Bagneres-de-Bigorre, France—d. June 17, 1963, Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, Eng.) British military leader. He served in World War I and later became director of military training (1936-37) and an expert on gunnery. In World War II he began as com¬ mander of a corps in France and covered the Dunkirk evacuation. After serving as commander of the British home forces (1940-41), he was pro¬ moted to chief of staff (1941—46). He established good relations with the U.S. forces and exercised a strong influence on Allied strategy. He was promoted to field marshal in 1944 and created a viscount in 1946.

Aland \'o-,lan\ Islands Archipelago, southwestern Finland, constitut¬ ing Ahvenanmaan autonomous kunta (commune). It consists of about 35 inhabited islands (pop., 2002 est.: 26,000) and more than 6,000 uninhab¬ ited ones, with a total land area of 599 sq mi (1,552 sq km). Aland, the largest island, is the location of Mariehamn, the administrative capital and chief seaport. The islands were Christianized by 12th-century Swedish missionaries. When Finland declared its independence in 1917, the Alanders sought to become part of Sweden. Though the archipelago remains with Finland, it has been given unique autonomy.

alanine Va-lo-nenN Either of two organic compounds. Alpha-alanine is one of the nonessential amino acids, found in most proteins and particu¬ larly abundant in fibroin, the protein in silk. It is used in research and as a dietary supplement. Beta-alanine is a naturally occurring amino acid not found in proteins. It is an important constituent of the vitamin pantothenic acid and is used in its synthesis, as well as in biochemical research, elec¬ troplating, and organic synthesis.

Alaric Va-lo-rikV I (b. c. 370, Peuce Island—d. 410, Cosentia, Bruttium) Chief of the Visigoths (395-410). He commanded Gothic troops in the Roman army before leaving to become chief of the Visigoths. He led his tribe into Greece, sacking cities until placated by the Eastern emperor (397). He twice led invasions of Italy, the second time extorting a large payment from the Roman Senate. Alaric’s forces grew after the Romans massacred the wives and children of Visigoths serving in the Roman army. He besieged Rome (408, 409), proclaiming Priscus Attalus as Western emperor. In 410 Alaric occupied and plundered Rome, the first time the city had been captured by a foreign enemy in 800 years. See also Goths.

Alaska State (pop., 2000: 626,932) of the U.S., lying at the northwest extremity of North America. It is the largest in area of the U.S. states, covering 587,875 sq mi (1,522,595 sq km). Bordered by Canada to the east and southeast and facing Siberia across the Bering Strait and Bering Sea to the west, it has the highest point on the continent, Mount McKin¬ ley. Its capital is Juneau. The original inhabitants, Indians and Eskimos, are thought to have migrated over the Bering Land Bridge as well as from the Arctic. The first European settlement was established in the late 18th century by Russian fur traders on Kodiak Island. Hudson's Bay Co. traders were also interested in the same area, and Russian-Canadian trade rivalry lasted well into the 19th century. In 1867 William Seward negotiated Alas¬ ka’s sale from the Russians to the U.S., and the subsequent discovery of gold stimulated American settlement. Alaska was a U.S. territory from 1912 until it was admitted as the 49th state in 1959. Its economy has become increasingly centred on oil and natural gas: since the opening of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in 1977, Alaska has become second only to Texas in the U.S. production of crude oil.

Alaska, Gulf of Broad inlet, southern Alaska, U.S. Situated between the Alaska Peninsula and the Alexander Archipelago, it receives the Susitna and Copper rivers. Ports on the gulf include Anchorage, Seward, and Val¬ dez; the last is North America’s northernmost year-round harbour and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline’s terminal. In 1741 a Russian expedition led by Vitus Bering, a Dane, became the first Europeans to enter the Gulf.

Alaska Highway formerly Alcan Highway Road through the Yukon, connecting Dawson Creek, British Columbia, with Fairbanks,

Alaska Peninsula ► Albania I 37

Alaska, a distance of 1,523 mi (2,451 km). It was constructed by U.S. Army engineers in 1942 as an emergency war measure to provide an overland military supply route to Alaska. It is a scenic route now open year-round.

Alaska Peninsula Peninsula, southwestern Alaska, U.S. It stretches about 500 mi (800 km) between the Pacific Ocean and Bristol Bay. The volcanic Aleutian Range runs along its entire length. It is the site of Katmai National Park and Preserve, Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, and the Becherof, Alaska Peninsula, and Izembek national wildlife refuges.

Alaska Pipeline See Trans-Alaska Pipeline

Alaska Purchase Acquisition in 1867 by the U.S. from Russia of 586,412 sq mi (1.5 million sq km) at the northwestern tip of North America, comprising the current U.S. state of Alaska. The territory, held by Russia since 1741, was considered an economic liability, and in 1866 it was offered for sale. Pres. Andrew Johnson’s secretary of state, William Seward, negotiated its purchase for $7.2 million, or about two cents per acre. Critics labeled the purchase “Seward’s Folly.” Congressional oppo¬ sition delayed the appropriation until 1868, when extensive lobbying and bribes by the Russian minister to the U.S. secured the required votes.

Alaska Range Mountain range, southern Alaska, U.S. A segment of the Pacific mountain system, it extends in an arc from the Aleutian Range on the Alaska Peninsula to the Yukon Territory boundary. Mount McKinley, near the centre of the range, in Denali National Park and Preserve, is the highest point in North America. Many nearby peaks exceed 13,000 ft (4,000 m), including Mounts Silverthrone, Hunter, Hayes, and Foraker. The range is crossed at Isabel Pass by the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

Alaskan king crab See king crab

Alaskan malamute Sled dog developed by the Malemiut, an Eskimo group. It 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, the colours frequently forming a caplike or masklike marking on the head. It stands 23-25 in. (58-64 cm) tall and weighs 75-85 lbs (34-39 kg). Characteristically loyal and friendly, it has served on expeditions to the Antarctic.

Alaungpaya \a- I la-uq- , pI-3\ dynasty or Konbaung \ 1 kon-ba- , uq\ dynasty (1752-1885) Last ruling dynasty of Myanmar. In the face of the fragmentation of the Toungoo dynasty, Alaungpaya (1714-60), head¬ man in a village near Mandalay, raised an army and subdued the sepa¬ ratist Mon people in southern Myanmar and then conquered the northeastern Shan states. He attacked the Siamese capital of Ayutthaya (now in Thailand) but was forced to retreat. His son Hsinbyushin, the third king of the dynasty (r. 1763-76), sent armies into neighbouring kingdoms and successfully rebuffed four retaliatory Chinese invasions. The sixth king, Bodawpaya (r. 1782-1819), mounted a number of unsuccessful cam¬ paigns against the Siamese and moved the capital to Amarapura. He also conquered the kingdom of Arakan. His incursions into Assam aroused the ire of the British, and under Bagyidaw (r. 1819-37) Myanmar (subse¬ quently Burma) was defeated in the first Anglo-Burmese War. From then on the dynasty’s hold on Myanmar gradually declined, ending in total annexation by the British in 1885.

Alawites See 'Alawiyyah

'Alawiyyah Va-la-we-'ya\ or Alawite \a-b-'wet\ or Nusayriyyah

\nii-sl-re-'ya\ Minority sect of ShTite Islam. The sect, which exists mainly in Syria, traces its roots to the teachings of Muhammad ibn Nusayr al-Namlri (fl. 850) and was chiefly established by Husayn ibn Hamdan al-KhasIbl (d. 957/958). Its basic doctrine includes a deification of ‘Ali and an interpretation of the five Pillars of Islam as symbolic. Some of the group’s religious practices are secret; it celebrates some Islamic and some Christian holidays.

Alba, Fernando Alvarez de Toledo (y Pimentel), 3rd duke

de (b. Oct. 29, 1507, Piedrahita, Old Castile, Spain—d. Dec. 11, 1582, Lisbon) Spanish soldier. He commanded Charles V’s imperial armies to defeat the Schmalkaldic League in 1547, and he served as viceroy of Naples (1556-59). As a chief minister to Philip II, Alba became notorious for his tyranny as governor-general of the Netherlands (1567-73), where he insti¬ tuted the Council of Troubles. That court set aside local laws and con¬ demned some 12,000 people for rebellion. Recalled to Spain in 1573, Alba later conducted a brilliant campaign against Portugal (1580) but never regained Philip’s favor. See photograph above.

Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, 3rd duke de Alba, oil painting by Sir Antony More, 1549; in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels.

COURTESY OF THE MUSSES ROYAUX DES BEAUX-ARTS, BRUSSELS

paintings, and idyllic landscapes, logical and poetic subjects.

albacore Large oceanic tuna (Thunnus alalunga ) that is noted for its fine flesh. The streamlined bodies of these voracious predators are adapted to fast and continuous swim¬ ming. They occur in both the Atlan¬ tic and Pacific oceans and migrate long distances. The bluefin tuna is also sometimes called albacore.

Albani, Francesco or Fran¬ cesco Albano (b. March 17, 1578, Bologna, Papal States—d. October 1660, Bologna) Italian painter. He trained with the Carracci family in Bologna then moved to Rome in 1601 and collaborated with Annibale Carracci and Domenichino on the decoration of the Farnese Pal¬ ace. While in Rome he established his own studio and painted frescoes in various churches and palaces. In 1617 he returned to Bologna and produced altarpieces, allegorical s best-known paintings are of mytho-

Albania officially Republic of Albania Country, Balkan Peninsula, southeastern Europe. Area: 11,082 sq mi (28,703 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 3,130,000. Capital: Tirane. Language: Albanian (official).

Mount Jezerct

j Roman •? A/ Reserve: # Kukes

Puke / / Rreshen

it Korab

ADRIATIC

SEA

Jirane'

Durres*

Elbasan

^ Qorovode.

%^fepklenS 1

Tkyy Permet ■X \ Gjirokaster* ^“V.Sarandii

Mount Gramoz 8,275 ft.

GREECE

CORFU

IONIAN

SEA

3 2002 Encyclopaedia Britanni

ALBANIA

Albanians comprise two major subgroups:

Gegs (Ghegs) and Tosks. Religions: Islam,

Christianity. Currency: lek. Albania may be divided into two major regions: a mountain¬ ous highland and, to the west, an Adriatic coastal lowland that contains the country’s agricultural lands and most of its population. Albania has a developing free-market economy that until 1991 was shaped by a socialist system of state ownership. The Albanians are descended from the Illyrians, an ancient Indo-European people who lived in central Europe and migrated south by the beginning of the Iron Age (see Illyria). The Gegs settled in the north and the Tosks in the south, along with Greek colonizers. The area was under Roman rule by the 1st century bc; after ad 395 it was connected administratively to Constanti¬ nople. Turkish invasion began in the 14th century and continued into the 15th; though the national hero, Skanderbeg, was able to resist them for a time, after his death (1468) the Turks consolidated their rule. The coun-

38 I Albanian language ► Albert the Great

try achieved independence in 1912 and was admitted into the League of Nations in 1920. It was briefly a republic (1925-28), then became a mon¬ archy under Zog I, whose initial alliance with Italy deteriorated into that country’s invasion of Albania in 1939. After the war a socialist govern¬ ment under Enver Hoxha was installed, and gradually Albania cut itself off from the nonsocialist international community and eventually from all other countries, including China, its last political ally. By 1990 economic hardship had fomented antigovernment demonstrations that led to the election of a noncommunist government in 1992 and the end of Albania’s international isolation. Early in the 21st century, Albania continued to experience economic uncertainty and ethnic turmoil, the latter involving Albanian minorities in Serbia and Montenegro (see Kosovo conflict) and Macedonia.

Albanian language Indo-European language spoken by five to six million people in Albania, Kosovo in Serbia and Montenegro, western Macedonia, and enclaves elsewhere, including southern Italy and south¬ ern Greece. There are two main dialect groups, Gheg (Geg) in the north, including Kosovo and Macedonia, and Tosk in the south. Albanian is the only extant representative of a distinct branch of Indo-European, whose pre-Roman Balkan ancestry is uncertain. The earliest written attestation is from the 15th century, though a standard orthography using the Latin alphabet was not adopted until 1909. The core vocabulary of Albanian is native, though in the course of its history it has absorbed many loanwords from Greek, Latin, Balkan Romance languages (see Romanian), Slavic lan¬ guages, and Turkish.

Albany Vol-bo-neV City (pop., 2000: 95,658), capital of New York state, U.S. It lies along the Hudson River 145 mi (230 km) north of New York City. The first permanent settlement, named Beverwyck, was built in 1624 by the Dutch. When the British took the area in 1664, the village was renamed to honour the duke of York and Albany. In 1754 the Albany Con¬ gress adopted Benjamin Franklin’s “Plan of Union.” In the 19th century Albany became a major transportation centre. Its focal point today is Empire State Plaza, a governmental, cultural, and convention complex.

Albany Congress Conference convened by the British Board of Trade in 1754 at Albany, N.Y. They advo¬ cated a union of the British colonies in North America, in part to secure a defensive union against the French before the outbreak of the French and Indian War. In addition to colonial delegates, several representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy were present. Delegates including Ben¬ jamin Franklin supported a plan to unify the seven colonies, but it was never adopted. The plan became a model for proposals made during the American Revolution.

albatross Any of more than a dozen species of large seabirds (fam¬ ily Diomedeidae). Albatrosses are among the most spectacular gliders of all birds; in windy weather they can stay aloft for hours without flapping their wings. They drink seawa¬ ter and usually eat squid. Albatrosses come ashore only to breed, in colo¬ nies typically established on remote oceanic islands. Adults of common species attain wingspans of 7-11 ft (200-350 cm). Albatrosses live long and may be among the few birds to die of old age. They were once held in awe by seamen, who held that killing one would bring bad luck.

albedo \al-'be-do\ Fraction of light reflected by a body or surface, com¬ monly used in astronomy to describe the reflective properties of planets, natural satellites, and asteroids. “Normal” albedo (the relative brightness of a surface when illuminated and observed from directly above) is often used to determine the surface compositions of satellites and asteroids. The albedo, diameter, and distance of such objects together determine their brightness.

Albee \'ol-be\, Edward (Franklin) (b. March 12, 1928, Virginia, U.S.) U.S. playwright. He was the adopted grandson and namesake of a well-known vaudeville theatre manager. His first one-act play, The Zoo Story (1959), and other early plays, including The Sandbox (I960) and The American Dream (1961), were characteristic of the Theatre of the Absurd. His Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962; film, 1966) was widely

acclaimed. He won Pulitzer prizes for A Delicate Balance (1966), Sea¬ scape (1975), and Three Tall Women (1991). He has also adapted other writers’ works for the stage, including Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita (1981).

Albemarle Val-bo-.marL Sound Coastal inlet, northeastern North Carolina, U.S. Protected from the Atlantic Ocean by the Outer Banks, it is about 50 mi (80 km) long and 5-14 mi (8-23 km) wide. It is connected with Chesapeake Bay by the Dismal Swamp Canal and the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal. Elizabeth City is its chief port. Explored by Ralph Lane in 1586, it was later named for George Monck, duke of Albemarle.

Albeniz\al-'ba-neth\, Isaac (Manuel Francisco) (b. May 29,1860, Camprodon, Spain—d. May 18, 1909, Cambo-les-Bains, France) Span¬ ish composer. A piano prodigy by age four, he later studied in Leipzig and Brussels, returned to Spain to teach in Barcelona and Madrid, and then moved to France in 1893. His fame rests on his piano pieces, which, under the influence of Felipe Pedrell, utilize the melodic styles, rhythms, and har¬ monies of Spanish folk music. Iberia (1905-09) is a set of 12 virtuoso piano pieces; other piano works include the Suite espahola (1886), Can¬ tos de Espaha (1896), and five sonatas. He also wrote several operas.

Albers, Josef (b. March 19, 1888, Bottrop, Ger.—d. March 25, 1976, New Haven, Conn., U.S.) German- U.S. painter, poet, teacher, and theo¬ retician. He studied and taught at the Bauhaus and in 1933 became one of the first Bauhaus teachers to immi¬ grate to the U.S., where he taught at Black Mountain College and later at Yale. He developed a painting style characterized by abstract rectilinear patterns and primary colours as well as black and white. His best-known series of paintings, Homage to the Square (begun in 1950 and contin¬ ued until his death), restricts its rep¬ ertory of forms to coloured squares superimposed onto each other. The arrangement of these squares is care¬ fully calculated so that the colour of each square optically alters the sizes, hues, and spatial relationships of the others. His research into colour theory was published in the influential Interaction of Color (1963).

Albert, prince consort of Great Britain and Ireland orig. Franz Albrecht August Karl Emanuel, prince von Sachsen- Coburg-Gotha (b. Aug. 26, 1819, Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha—d. Dec. 14, 1861, Windsor Castle, Berkshire, Eng.) Prince consort of Queen Victoria of Britain and father of Edward VII. Albert married Victoria, his first cousin, in 1840 and became in effect her private secretary and chief confidential adviser. Their domestic happiness helped assure the continuation of the monarchy, which had been some¬ what uncertain. Though the German-born Albert was undeservedly unpopular, the British public belatedly recognized his worth after his death at age 42 from typhoid fever. In the ensuing years the grief-stricken queen made policy decisions based on what she thought Albert would have done.

Albert, Lake Lake, east-central Africa. Lying at an altitude of 2,021 ft (616 m), it is 100 mi (160 km) long and has an average width of about 20 mi (32 km). In the southwest, the Semliki River brings into the lake the waters of Lake Edward; at its northeastern corner, just below Murchison Falls, it receives the Victoria Nile from Lake Victoria. In 1864 the lake’s first European visitor, Samuel Baker, named it after Queen Victoria’s consort. Initially part of Uganda, it now forms part of the Uganda-Congo border.

Albert I (b. April 8, 1875, Brussels, Belg.—d. Feb. 17, 1934, Marche- les-Dames, near Namur) King of the Belgians (1909-34). He succeeded his uncle, King Leopold II, in 1909. He strengthened the army while reaf¬ firming Belgian neutrality in 1914, rejecting William ll’s demand (Aug. 2, 1914) for free passage of German troops across Belgium. Following the Armistice he sought to abolish Belgian neutrality, supported universal male suffrage, and guided the country’s rebuilding effort.

Albert National Park See Virunga National Park Albert the Great, Saint See Saint Albertus Magnus

"Join, or Die," the first known Ameri¬ can cartoon, published by Benjamin Franklin in his Pennsylvania Gazette ,

1754, to support his plan for colonial union presented at the Albany Con¬ gress

THE GRANGER COLLECTION, NEW YORK

Josef Albers, photograph by Arnold Newman, 1948.

©ARNOLD NEWMAN

Alberta ► Albuquerque I 39

Alberta Province (pop., 2001: 2,974,807), Canada, westernmost of three Prairie Provinces. With an area of 255,287 sq mi (661,190 sq km), Alberta is bordered by Saskatchewan, British Columbia, the Northwest Territo¬ ries, and the U.S. Its capital is Edmonton. Long inhabited by various Indian peoples, the area was explored by Europeans in the 1750s. It even¬ tually came under the rule of the Hudson's Bay Co., which transferred it to the Dominion of Canada in 1870. It was made part of the Northwest Territories in 1882. Its population grew with the coming of the railroads and the expansion of wheat farming. Alberta was made a province in 1905. Once dependent on agriculture, it underwent economic growth with the discovery of oil in 1947 and the ensuing discovery of other major oil and gas deposits.

Alberta, University of Canadian public university in Edmonton. Opened in 1908, it is one of Canada’s five largest research universities. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs in liberal arts, agriculture and forestry, science and engineering, business, law, education, and the health professions. Special programs include the School of Native Stud¬ ies and the Faculte Saint-Jean, which conducts all study in French and also offers a bilingual Bachelor of Commerce degree.

Alberti, Leon Battista (b. Feb. 14, 1404, Genoa—d. April 25, 1472, Rome) Italian architect, art theorist, and humanist. After pursuing a lit¬ erary career as papal secretary, in 1438 Alberti was encouraged to direct his talents toward the field of architecture. His designs for the Palazzo Rucellai (c. 1445-51) and the facade of Santa Maria Novella (1456-70), both in Florence, are noted for their harmonic proportions. His central- plan church of Sant’Andrea, Mantua (begun 1472), with its triumphal- arch motif, is an early Renaissance masterpiece. Alberti was one of the foremost theorists on Renaissance architecture and art, known for codi¬ fying the principles of linear perspective (in On Painting, 1436). A pro¬ totype of the Renaissance man, he also made contributions to moral philosophy, cartography, and cryptography.

Albertus Magnus, Saint (b. c. 1200, Lauingen on the Danube, near Ulm, Bavaria—d. Nov. 15, 1280,

Cologne; canonized Dec. 16, 1931; feast day November 15) German cleric, theologian, and philosopher.

Son of a wealthy German lord, he studied at Padua, where he joined the Dominican order (1223). At the Uni¬ versity of Paris he was introduced to the works of Aristotle and to Aver- roes’ commentaries and decided to present to his contemporaries the entire body of human knowledge as seen by Aristotle and his commenta¬ tors. For 20 years he worked on his Physica, which encompassed natural science, logic, rhetoric, mathematics, astronomy, ethics, economics, poli¬ tics, and metaphysics. He believed that many points of Christian doc¬ trine were recognizable both by faith and by reason. In 1248 he organized the first Dominican studium generale (“general house of studies,” a pre¬ cursor to the university) in Germany, at Cologne. Thomas Aquinas, who had been with Albertus in Paris and joined him in Cologne, was his chief disciple at this time. His works represented the entire body of European knowledge of his time, and he contributed greatly to the development of natural science.

Albigensian X.al-bo-'jen-shonV Crusade (1209-29) Crusade called by Pope Innocent III against the heretical Cathari of southern France. The war pitted the nobility of northern France against that of southern France, and it eventually involved the king of France who established his authority over the south. The Crusade ended with the Treaty of Paris (1229), which took away the independence of the southern princes and largely destroyed the culture of Provence. The Crusade caused much devastation and injus¬ tice, which Innocent came to regret, but did not bring about the extirpa¬ tion of the Albigensian heresy (named for its center in the town of Albi, France). The heresy lingered on into the 13th—14th centuries and became the object of the Inquisition.

Albigensians See Cathari

albinism Val-bo-.ni-zom, al-'bl-.ni-zoirA Absence of the pigment mela¬ nin in the eyes, skin, hair, scales, or feathers. It arises from a genetic defect and occurs in humans and other vertebrates. Because they lack the pig¬ ments that normally provide protective coloration and screen against the sun’s ultraviolet rays, albino animals rarely survive in the wild. Humans have long intentionally bred certain albino animals (e.g., rabbits) for their appearance. In humans with generalized, or total, albinism, the affected person has milk-white skin and hair; the iris of the eye appears pink, the pupil red. Vision abnormalities such as astigmatism, nystagmus (rapid involuntary oscillation of the eye), and photophobia (extreme sensitivity to light) are common. Generalized albinism occurs throughout the world in about one in 20,000 persons.

Albinoni \,al-b3-'no-ne\, Tomaso (Giovanni) (b. June 8/14, 1671, Venice—d. Jan. 17, 1751, Venice) Italian composer. Born to a wealthy Venetian family, he was not obliged to work for a living and became a highly prolific composer. He had more than 50 operas successfully pro¬ duced between 1694 and 1741, though few survive. His approximately 60 concertos became popular; he also wrote more than 80 sonatas for vari¬ ous instrumental combinations and many solo cantatas. These works are distinguished above all by their melodic charm.

Albinus \al-'be-n3s\, Bernard Siegfried (b. Feb. 24, 1697, Frank¬ furt an der Oder, Brandenburg—d. Sept. 9, 1770, Leiden, Neth.) German- bom Dutch anatomist. A professor at the University of Leiden, he is best known for the excellent engravings in his Tables of the Skeleton and Muscles of the Human Body (1747). He was the first to show the con¬ nection of the vascular systems of mother and fetus. With Hermann Boer- haave, he edited the works of Andreas Vesauus and William Harvey.

albite Common feldspar mineral, a sodium aluminosilicate (NaAlSi 3 0 8 ) that occurs most widely in pegmatites and acid igneous rocks such as gran¬ ites. It may also be found in low-grade metamorphic rocks (those formed under relatively low temperature and pressure conditions) and in certain sedimentary rocks. Albite usually forms brittle, glassy crystals that may be colourless, white, yellow, pink, green, or black. It is used in the manu¬ facture of glass and ceramics, but its primary geologic importance is as a rock-forming mineral.

Albright, Ivan (Le Lorraine) (b. Feb. 20, 1897, North Harvey, Ill., U.S.—d. Nov. 18, 1983, Woodstock, Vt.) U.S. painter. He was the son of a painter. Independently wealthy, he studied at various institutions, devel¬ oping a meticulously detailed style and often spending several years of painstaking work on a single painting. With pinpoint exactness and hal¬ lucinatory hyperclarity, he repeatedly depicted decay, corruption, and the wreckage of age, often with great emotional intensity. Among his impor¬ tant works is That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do (1931-41). He gained fame with his portrait (1943-44) of the title character in the film The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), depicting the final stage of Gray’s dissolute life.

albumin Val-'byti-monX Any of a diverse class of proteins historically defined by their ability to dissolve in water and in a half-saturated (see saturation) solution of ammonium sulfate. They are readily coagulated by heating. Examples include serum albumin, a major component of plasma; a-lactalbumin, found in milk; ovalbumin, which makes up about half the proteins of egg white; and conalbumin, another egg-white protein. Oval¬ bumin is used commercially in the food, wine, adhesives, paper coatings, pharmaceutical, and other industries and in research.

Albuquerque Val-bo-jkor-keN City (pop., 2000: 448,607), New Mexico, U.S. The state’s largest city, it lies on the Rio Grande southwest of Santa Fe. Founded by the governor of New Mexico, it was named for the duke de Alburquerque (the first r was later dropped), the viceroy of New Spain. After 1800 growing commerce on the Santa Fe Trail brought an influx of settlers; an army post was established following U.S. occu¬ pation in 1846. With the coming of the railroad in 1880, the population expanded. The characteristically Spanish “old town” and its mission church (1706) have survived. Since the 1930s many defense-related fed¬ eral agencies have been established there.

Albuquerque V.al-bu-'kor-koN, Afonso de or Afonso the Great

(b. 1453, Alhandra, near Lisbon—d. Dec. 15, 1515, at sea, off Goa, India) Portuguese soldier, conqueror of Goa (1510) and of Melaka (1511). He gained military experience as a soldier in North Africa for 10 years but made his reputation fighting in Asia. He paved the way for Portuguese domination in Southeast Asia through efforts to gain control of all the

Albertus Magnus, detail of a fresco by Tommaso da Modena, c. 1352; in the Church of San Nicolo, Treviso, Italy.

AUNARI—ART RESOURCE/EB INC.

40 I Alcaeus ► alcohol

main maritime trade routes of the East and to build permanent fortresses with settled populations. His conquests were inspired by the Crusading spirit of King John II, rather than by considerations of mercantile gain.

Alcaeus \al-'se-9s\ or Alkaios \al-'ka-9s\ (b. c. 620 bc, Mytilene, Lesbos—d. c. 580 bc) Greek lyric poet. Only fragments and quotations survive from his work, consisting of hymns in honour of gods and heroes, love poetry, drinking songs, and political poems. Many reflect Alcaeus’s vigorous involvement in the life of his native Mytilene, particularly its political life. His poetry was a favorite model for Horace, who adapted from him his own alcaic stanza.

Alcala Zamora, Niceto (b. July 6, 1877, Priego, Spain—d. Feb. 18, 1949, Buenos Aires, Arg.) Spanish politician. After serving as minister of works (1917) and minister of war (1922), he opposed the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera and joined the Republican movement. As leader of the revolutionary committee that successfully demanded the abdication of Alfonso XIII, he became head of the government in 1931 and was elected president of Spain’s Second Republic that same year. He tried to moderate the policies of the extremist factions, but he was deposed in 1936 after the election of the Popular Front and went into exile to France and then to Argentina.

Alcamenes or Alkamenes yal-'kam-o-.nezV (b. 5th century bc, Lem¬ nos, in the Aegean Sea, and Athens) Greek sculptor. A younger contem¬ porary of Phidias, he was noted for the delicacy and finish of his works, among which a Hephaestus and an Aphrodite of the Gardens are note¬ worthy. A copy of the head of his Hermes Propylaeus at Pergamum has been identified by an inscription, and he is said by the Greek traveler Pau- sanias (2nd century ad) to have been the creator of one of the pediments of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia.

Alcan Highway See Alaska Highway

Alcatraz Island Rocky island in San Francisco Bay, California, U.S. It has an area of 22 acres (9 hectares) and is located 1.5 mi (2 km) off¬ shore from the city of San Francisco. The site of the first lighthouse (1854) on the California coast, it became an army garrison (1859) and a military prison (1868). From 1934 to 1963 it served as a federal prison for dan¬ gerous civilian prisoners. Its famous inmates included Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, and Robert Stroud, the “Birdman of Alcatraz.” It is now open to the public.

alcazar \al-'ka-z3r\ Spanish alcazar Form of military architecture of medieval Spain, generally rectangular with defensible walls and massive comer towers. Inside was an open space (patio) surrounded by chapels, salons, hospitals, and sometimes gardens. The finest surviving example from the Moorish period is Sevilla’s Alcazar Palace; begun in 1181 under the Almohads and continued by the Christians, it exhibits both Moorish and Gothic features, including a decagonal brick tower, the Torre del Oro.

Toledo alcazar, 14th century, renovated 16th century, severely damaged during the Spanish Civil War and later restored.

Alcestis \al-'ses-tos\ In Greek legend, the beautiful daughter of Pelias, king of Ioclos. Admetus, son of the king of Pherae, sought her hand. To win her he was required to harness a lion and a boar to a chariot, and he succeeded with the aid of Apollo. When Apollo learned that Admetus had not long to live, he persuaded the Fates to prolong his life, on condition someone else die in his stead. As a loyal wife Alcestis consented to do so, but was rescued by Heracles, who wrestled with Death at her grave. Her story is told in Euripides' Alcestis.

alchemy Pseudoscience focused on the attempt to change base metals into gold. Ancient alchemists believed that, under the correct astrological conditions, lead could be “perfected” into gold. They tried to hasten this transformation by heating and refining the metal in a variety of chemical processes, most of which were kept secret. Alchemy was practiced in much of the ancient world, from China and India to Greece. It migrated to Egypt during the Hellenistic period and was later revived in 12th- century Europe through translations of Arabic texts into Latin. Medieval European alchemists made some useful discoveries, including mineral acids and alcohol. The revival led to the development of pharmacology under the influence of Paracelsus and to the rise of modem chemistry. Not until the 19th century were the gold-making processes of alchemists finally discredited.

Alcibiades N.al-so-'bl-o-.dezV (b. c. 450 bc, Athens—d. 404, Phrygia) Athenian politician and commander. Pericles was his guardian, his father having died in battle. Alcibiades grew up without much guidance, but as a youth he was drawn to Socrates’ moral strength and keen mind. Socrates, in turn, was attracted to the youth’s physical beauty and intel¬ lectual promise. They served together in the Peloponnesian War, saving each other’s life in battle, yet eventually Alcibiades was led by his own unscrupulous ambition. By 420 he was a general. Recalled from a Sicil¬ ian expedition in 415 on charges of sacrilege, he fled to Sparta. Though he aided the Spartan cause against Athens, he was eventually rejected and sought haven with the Persian governor at Sardis. The Athenian fleet eventually recalled him, and he directed Athenian victories 411-408. Though he achieved hero status, his enemies forced him to leave. From Thrace he warned Athens presciently of danger at the Battle of Aegospot- ami. He fled from Thrace to Phrygia, where the Spartans conspired to have him murdered. His political agitation was a decisive factor in the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War. His notorious behaviour helped strengthen the charges brought against Socrates in 399.

Alcmaeon or Alcmeon \alk-'me-3n\ In Greek mythology, the son of the seer Amphiaraus. The seer had been persuaded by his wife to join the expedition of the Seven Against Thebes. On realizing that he would die, he charged Alcmaeon and his other sons with avenging his death. Alc¬ maeon led the sons of the seven in the destruction of Thebes and then obeyed his father’s injunction to kill his mother, a crime for which the Furies drove him mad. He was purified by King Phegeus of Psophis, whose daughter he married but subsequently killed. Following the advice of an oracle, he settled on an island at the mouth of the Achelous River, where he married again, but was killed by Phegeus and his sons.

Alcmaeonid family \alk-'me-9n-id\ Athenian family important in the 6th-5th century bc. During the archonship (magistracy) of the Alcmae¬ onid Megacles (632? bc), the family was banished for murder; it returned twice to oust the tyrant Peisistratus before again being exiled. Megacles’ son Cleisthenes became archon in 525/524, but in 514 Peisistratus’ son Hippias again exiled the family for murdering his brother. The family reestablished itself after the Spartans drove out the Peisistratids in 510. The next generation may have aided the Persians at the Battle of Mara¬ thon (490). Alcibiades and Pericles were both Alcmaeonids.

Alcoa U.S. company, the world’s largest producer of aluminum. Estab¬ lished in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1888, it adopted the name Aluminum Co. of America in 1907. Alcoa introduced aluminum foil in 1910 and found uses for aluminum in the emerging aviation and automobile industries. In 1913 it established the town of Alcoa in eastern Tennessee as a planned indus¬ trial community. A 1945 federal antitrust ruling obliged it to sell its Cana¬ dian subsidiary (now Alcan Aluminum Ltd., its strongest competitor). In 1998 Alcoa acquired Alumax Inc. Alcoa’s other products include plastic containers and packaging equipment.

alcohol Any of a class of common organic compounds that contain one or more hydroxyl groups (—OH) attached to one or more of the carbon atoms in a hydrocarbon chain. The number of other substituent groups (R) on that carbon atom make the alcohol a primary (RCH 2 OH), second-

alcoholic beverage ► Aldrich I 41

ary (R 2 CHOH), or tertiary (R 3 COH) alcohol. Many alcohols occur natu¬ rally and are valuable intermediates in the synthesis of other compounds because of the characteristic chemical reactions of the hydroxyl group. Oxidation (see oxidation-reduction) of primary alcohols yields aldehydes and (if taken further) carboxylic acids; oxidation of secondary alcohols, ketones. Tertiary alcohols break down on oxidation. Alcohols generally react with carboxylic acids to produce esters. They may also be converted to ethers and olefins. Products of these numerous reactions include fats and waxes, detergents, plasticizers, emulsifiers, lubricants, emollients, and foaming agents. Ethanol (grain alcohol) and methanol (wood alcohol) are the best-known alcohols with one hydroxyl group. Glycols (e.g., ethylene glycol, or antifreeze) contain two hydroxyl groups, glycerol three, and polyols three or more. See also alcoholic beverage, alcoholism.

alcoholic beverage Any fermented liquor, such as wine, beer, or dis¬ tilled liquor, that contains ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, as an intoxicating agent. When an alcoholic beverage is ingested, the alcohol is rapidly absorbed in the stomach and intestines because it does not undergo any digestive processes. It is distributed to the rest of the body through the blood and has a pronounced depressant action on the brain. Under the influence of alcohol, the drinker is less alert, less able to discern objects in the environment, slower in reacting to stimuli, and generally prone to sleep.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Voluntary fellowship of people suf¬ fering from alcoholism who seek to become and stay sober through mutual self-help by meeting in local, independent groups to share their common experience. Anonymity, confidentiality, and understanding of alcoholism as a disease free members to speak frankly. Many consider AA to be the most successful method of coping with alcoholism; participation raises the chances of success of other treatments. Its 12 steps to recovery include acknowledgment of the problem, faith in a “higher power” as understood by each individual, self-examination, and a desire to change for the bet¬ ter and to help others recover. Begun in 1935 by two alcoholics, AA has grown to some 2 million members worldwide. Similar organizations for abusers of other substances and for habitual gamblers and debtors are based on its principles.

alcoholism Excessive habitual consumption of alcoholic beverages despite physical, mental, social, or economic harm (e.g., cirrhosis, drunk driving and accidents, family strife, frequently missing work). Persons who drink large amounts of alcohol over time become tolerant to its effects. Alcoholism is usually considered an addiction and a disease. The causes are unclear, but there may be a genetic predisposition. It is more common in men, but women are more likely to hide it. Treatment may be physiological (with drugs that cause vomiting and a feeling of panic when alcohol is consumed; not an effective long-term treatment), psycho¬ logical (with therapy and rehabilitation), or social (with group therapies). Group therapies such as Alcoholics Anonymous are the most effective treatments. Suddenly stopping heavy drinking can lead to withdrawal symptoms, including delirium tremens.

Alcott, (Amos) Bronson (b. Nov. 29, 1799, Wolcott, Conn., U.S.—d. March 4, 1888, Concord, Mass.) U.S. teacher and philosopher. The self- educated son of a poor farmer, Alcott worked as a peddler before estab¬ lishing a series of innovative but ultimately unsuccessful schools for children. He traveled to Britain with money borrowed from Ralph Waldo Emerson and came back with the mystic Charles Lane, with whom he founded the short-lived utopian community Fruitlands outside Boston. Alcott is credited with establishing the first parent-teacher association in Concord, Mass., while he was superintendent of schools there. A promi¬ nent member of the Transcendentalists, he wrote a number of books but did not become financially secure until his daughter Louisa May Alcott achieved success.

Alcott, Louisa May (b. Nov. 29, 1832, Germantown, Pa., U.S.—d. March 6, 1888, Boston, Mass.) U.S. author. Daughter of the reformer Bronson Alcott, she grew up in Transcendentalist circles in Boston and Concord, Mass. She began writing to help support her mother and sisters. An ardent abolitionist, she volunteered as a nurse during the American Civil War, where she contracted the typhoid that damaged her health the rest of her life; her letters, published as Hospital Sketches (1863), first brought her fame. With the huge success of the autobiographical Little Women (1868-69), she finally escaped debt. An Old-Fashioned Girl (1870), Little Men (1871), and Jo’s Boys (1886) also drew on her expe¬ riences as an educator. See photograph above.

Alcuin \'al-,kwen\ (b. c. 732, in or near York, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. May 9, 804, Tours, France) Anglo-Latin poet, educator, and cleric. As head of Charlemagne’s Palatine school, he introduced the traditions of Anglo- Saxon humanism into western Europe and was the foremost scholar of the revival of learning known as the Carolingian Renaissance. He also made important reforms in the Roman Catholic liturgy, prepared an important new edition of the Vulgate Bible, wrote a number of poems, and left more than 300 Latin letters, a valuable source for the history of his time. Although traditionally identi¬ fied as the author of the Caroline books and as the creator of Carolin¬ gian miniscule, Alcuin is now recog¬ nized as having played a less important role in the creation of both. He was also an important political adviser and confidant of Charlemagne.

aldehyde Any of a class of organic compounds that contain a carbo¬ nyl group (—C=0; see functional group) in which the carbon atom is bonded to at least one hydrogen atom. Many have characteristic odours. Oxidation (see oxidation-reduction) of aldehydes yields acids; reduction produces alcohols. They participate in many chemical reactions and readily undergo polymerization into chains containing tens of thousands of the monomer molecule. The combination of aldehydes (e.g., formaldehyde) with other molecules results in several familiar plastics. Many aldehydes are large-scale industrial materials, useful as solvents, monomers, per¬ fume ingredients, and intermediates. Many sugars are aldehydes, as are several natural and synthetic hormones and compounds such as retinal (a derivative of vitamin A, important in vision) and pyridoxal phosphate (a form of vitamin B 6 ).

Alden, John (b. 1599?, England—d. Sept. 12, 1687, Duxbury, Mass.) British-born American pilgrim. He was hired as a cooper by the London merchants who funded the Mayflower’ s expedition to the New World in 1620. Alden signed the Mayflower Compact and held various civic posi¬ tions in the colony, including assistant to the governor (1623-41, 1650- 86). He was mythologized as the first Pilgrim to set foot on Plymouth Rock and as the stand-in for Myles Standish in his suit for Priscilla Mullens’s hand in marriage in the poem “The Courtship of Miles Standish” (1858) by Henry W. Longfellow. Alden in fact married Mullens in 1623.

alder Any of about 30 species of ornamental shrubs and trees in the genus Alnus, of the birch family, found throughout the Northern Hemisphere and western South America on cool, wet sites. Alders are distinguished from birches by their usually stalked winter buds and by cones that remain on the branches after the small, winged nutlets are released. Alders have scaly bark, oval leaves that fall without chang¬ ing colour, and separate male and female flowers (catkins) borne on the same tree. Some familiar North American alders are the red alder (A. rubra or A. oregonaf, the white, or Sierra, alder (A. rhombifoliaf and the speckled alder (A. rugosa). Alder wood is fine-textured and durable, even under water; it is useful for fur¬ niture, cabinetry, and lathe work and in charcoal manufacture and mill- work. Alders’ spreading root systems and tolerance of moist soils lend them to planting on stream banks for flood and erosion control.

Aldrich, Nelson W(ilmarth) (b. Nov. 6, 1841, Foster, R.I., U.S.—d. April 16, 1915, New York, N.Y.) U.S. senator and financier. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1879-81) and the Senate (1881-1911). His work as chair of the National Monetary Commission (1908-12)

Louisa May Alcott, portrait by George Healy; in the Louisa May Alcott Memo¬ rial Association collection, Concord, Mass.

Alder (Alnus glutinosa)

EARL L KUBIS-ROOT RESOURCES

42 I Aldrich ► Aleut

helped prepare the way for the Federal Reserve System (1913). He also invested profitably in banking, electricity, gas, rubber, and sugar.

Aldrich V61-drich\, Robert (b. Aug. 9, 1918, Cranston, R.I., U.S.—d. Dec. 5, 1983, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. film director and producer. He held various jobs at RKO from 1941, working under such directors as Jean Renoir and Charlie Chaplin. After directing his first feature film, The Big Leaguer (1953), he formed his own production company and earned a reputation for socially conscious yet often violent films, including Apache (1954), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), and The Dirty Dozen (1967).

Aldrich Vol-drichV, Thomas Bailey (b. Nov. 11, 1836, Portsmouth, N.H., U.S.—d. March 19, 1907, Boston, Mass.) U.S. poet, short-story writer, and editor. Aldrich left school at age 13 and soon began to con¬ tribute to newspapers and magazines. He was editor of The Atlantic Monthly 1881-90. He drew on his childhood for his classic children’s novel The Story of a Bad Boy (1870). His use of the surprise ending influ¬ enced the development of the short story in the U.S. Aldrich’s poems reflect New England culture and his experiences visiting Europe.

Aldrin Vol-dronX, Edwin Eugene, Jr. known as Buzz Aldrin (b.

Jan. 20, 1930, Montclair, N.J., U.S.) U.S. astronaut. He graduated from West Point and flew 66 combat missions in the Korean War. In 1963 he received a Ph.D. from MIT and was chosen as an astronaut. In 1966 he joined James A. Lovell, Jr. (b. 1928) on the four-day Gemini 12 flight. Ald¬ rin’s SV^-hour walk in space proved that humans can function effectively in the vacuum and weightlessness of space. In July 1969, on the Apollo 11 mission, he became the second human to walk on the Moon.

ale Fermented malt beverage, full-bodied and somewhat bitter, with strong flavour of hops. Until the 17th century it was an unhopped brew of yeast, water, and malt, beer being the same brew with hops added. Mod¬ ern ale (now largely synonymous with beer) is made with top-fermenting yeast and processed at higher temperatures than lager beer. Pale ale has up to 5% alcohol content; the darker strong ale contains up to 6.5%.

Alea \a-'la-3\, Tomas Gutierrez (b. Dec. 11,1928, Havana, Cuba—d. April 16, 1996, Havana) Cuban film director. After earning a law degree in Cuba, he studied filmmaking in Rome (1951-53). A supporter of Fidel Castro, he helped develop Cuba’s film industry after 1959 and made the Communist regime’s first official feature film, Stories of the Revolution (1960). Later he worked within the restrictions of the regime to satirize and explore various aspects of life in postrevolutionary Cuba in such internationally acclaimed films as Death of a Bureaucrat (1966), Memo¬ ries of Underdevelopment (1968), The Survivors (1978), and Strawberry and Chocolate (1993). He is regarded as the finest director Cuba has pro¬ duced.

aleatory Va-le-s-.tor-eV music (from Latin, alea : “dice game”) Any 20th-century music, particularly that of the 1950s and ’60s, the compo¬ sition or performance of which incorporates elements of chance. In alea¬ tory music aspects such as the ordering of a piece’s sections, its rhythms, and even its pitches are decided at the moment of performance. When not purely improvising, players follow lists of arbitrary rules or interpreted “graphic” notation that merely suggest the sounds. Charles Ives and Henry Cowell had used such techniques, but John Cage became the principal figure in aleatory; other aleatory composers include Earle Brown (1926- 2002), Morton Feldman (1926-87), and Pierre Boulez.

Aleichem, Sholem See Sholem Aleichem

Aleixandre \,a-la-'san-dra\, Vicente (b. April 26, 1898, Sevilla, Spain—d. Dec. 14, 1984, Madrid) Spanish poet. A member of the group of Spanish writers known as the Generation of 1927, he was strongly influenced by Surrealism. His first major book, Destruction or Love (1935), won the National Prize for Literature. Other works include Historia del corazon (1954), En un vasto dominio (1962), and Dialogos del cono- cimiento (1974). He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1977.

Aleksandrovsk See Zaporizhzhya

Alekseyev \3-lyi-'ksya-yif\, Vasiliy (b. Jan. 7, 1942, Pokrovo- Shishkino, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet weight lifter. A superheavyweight, he broke 80 world records between 1970 and 1978 and won Olympic gold medals in 1972 and 1976. He was the first man ever to lift more than 500 lbs (227 kg) in the clean and jerk. He retired after failing to win a third gold medal in the 1980 Olympics.

Aleman V.a-la-'manX, Mateo (baptized Sept. 28, 1547, Sevilla, Spain—d. c. 1614, Mexico) Spanish novelist. Descended from Jews who had been forcibly converted to Roman Catholicism, he expressed many aspects of the experiences and feelings of the New Christians in 16th- century Spain. His most important literary work is Guzman de Alfarache (1599, 1604), one of the earliest picaresque novels, which brought him fame throughout Europe but little profit.

Alembert \a-la n -'ber\, Jean Le Rond d' (b. Nov. 17, 1717, Paris, France—d. Oct. 29, 1783, Paris) French mathematician, scientist, phi¬ losopher, and writer. In 1743 he published a treatise on dynamics contain¬ ing “d’Alembert’s principle,” relating to Isaac Newton’s laws of motion. He developed partial differential equations and published findings of his research on integral calculus. He was associated with the Encyclopedie of Denis Diderot from c. 1746 as editor of its mathematical and scientific articles; he contributed articles on music as well, and he also published treatises on acoustics. He was elected to the Academie Fran^aise in 1754.

Alentejo \a-la n n-‘ta-zhu\ formerly Alemtejo Historical province, Por¬ tugal. Lying southeast of the Tagus River, it borders Spain and the Atlan¬ tic Ocean. The region produces two-thirds of the world’s cork. Until the Portuguese revolution of 1974, Alentejo contained vast estates, mostly owned by absentee landlords; many have since been divided among the Alentejanos.

alenu \a-'la-nii\ (Hebrew: “it is our duty”) Opening words of a Jewish prayer recited at the end of the three periods of daily prayer since the Middle Ages. The first section is a prayer of thanks for Israel’s being cho¬ sen for God’s service; the second expresses hope for the coming messi¬ anic age. Though traditionally ascribed to Joshua, it is often credited to Abba Arika, a Jewish scholar in Babylonia in the 3rd century ad.

Aleppo \9-'le-po\ Arabic Halab \'ha-lab\ City (pop., 2004 est.: 1,975,200), northwestern Syria. Syria’s largest city, it is about 30 mi (48 km) from the Turkish border. Lying at the crossroads of great commer¬ cial routes, it has long been inhabited and is first mentioned at the end of the 3rd millennium bc. It subsequently came under the control of many kingdoms, including the Hittites (17th—14th centuries bc). Controlled by the Persian Achaemenian dynasty in the 6th-4th centuries bc, it soon came under the control of the Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty, under which it was renamed Beroea. It was absorbed into the Roman Empire in the 1st cen¬ tury bc and it prospered for several centuries. In ad 637 it was conquered by the Arabs, under whom it reverted to its old name, Halab. The city successfully defended itself from the Crusaders (1124), fell to the Mon¬ gols (1260), and finally was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire (1516). Modem Aleppo is an industrial and intellectual centre rivaling the Syrian capital, Damascus. Its historic structures were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986.

Alessandri Palma \a-la-'san-dre-'pal-ma\, Arturo (b. Dec. 20, 1868, Longavi, Chile—d. Aug. 24, 1950, Santiago) President of Chile (1920- 25, 1932-38). He was the son of an Italian immigrant, and his election in 1920 represented the urban classes’ first successful challenge to Chile’s oligarchy. When he defended workers’ groups and attempted liberal reforms, he encountered stiff opposition in Congress. A coup led by Car¬ los IbAnez forced him into exile, but he was soon recalled and drafted a new constitution that increased the president’s power. He became presi¬ dent again in 1932 during the Great Depression, dependent for support on the political right. His declaration of a state of siege in response to wide¬ spread strikes cost him his labour and middle-class support.

Alessandro de' Medici See Alessandro de’ Medici

Aleut \,a -le-'ut\ Any native of the Aleutian Islands and western portion of the Alaska Peninsula. The name Aleut, used in 1745 by Russian fur traders from the Kamchatka Peninsula, refers primarily to the people of the Aleutian Islands, who call themselves Unangan or Unangas, but also by extension to the Pacific Yupik, who call themselves Alutiit (plural of Alutiiq), an adaptation of the Russian name. Aleuts speak two main dia¬ lects and are physically and culturally closely related to the Eskimo. Tra¬ ditional Aleut villages were located on the seashore near fresh water, where the people hunted marine mammals, fish, birds, caribou, and bear. Aleut women wove fine grass basketry; stone, bone, and ivory were also worked. After the arrival of the Russians in the 18th century, their popu¬ lation declined drastically. Some 6,600 people claimed sole Aleut ances¬ try in the 2000 U.S. census.

Aleutian ► Alexander Island I 43

Aleutian \9-Tu-shon\ Islands Chain of small islands, Alaska, U.S. They form a border of the Bering Sea, extending in an arc about 1,100 mi (1,800 km) west from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula to Attu Island. The major island groups, from east to west, are the Fox Islands (including Unimak and Unalaska), Islands of the Four Mountains, Andreanof Islands (including Adak), and Near Islands (including Attu). The main settlements are on Unalaska and Adak. Originally inhabited by Aleuts, the islands were explored by Russian-sponsored ships in 1741. As Siberian fur hunt¬ ers moved eastward through the islands, the Russians gained a foothold in North America but nearly caused the extinction of the Aleuts. Russia sold the islands, with the rest of Alaska, to the U.S. in 1867.

alewife Important North American food fish ( Pomolobus , or Alosa, pseudoharengus ) of the herring family. The alewife grows to about 1 ft (30 cm). Most populations spend several years along North America’s Atlantic coast before ascending freshwater streams to spawn each spring in ponds or sluggish rivers.

Alexander, Harold (Rupert Leofric George) Alexander, 1 st Earl (b. Dec. 10, 1891, London, Eng.—d. June 16, 1969, Slough, Buck¬ inghamshire) British field marshal in World War II. In 1940 he helped direct the Dunkirk evacuation and was the last man to leave the beaches. Appointed British commander in chief in the Mediterranean theatre in 1942, he helped lead the North Africa Campaign against the Germans. He directed the invasions of Sicily and Italy, then became commander in chief of Allied forces in Italy. After the war, he served as governor-general of Canada (1946-52) and as Britain’s minister of defense (1952-54).

Alexander, Severus See Severus Alexander

Alexander, William See William Alexander, 1st earl of Stirling

Alexander I Russian Aleksandr Pavlovich (b. Dec. 23, 1777, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. Dec. 1, 1825, Taganrog) Tsar of Russia (1801— 25). He became tsar in 1801 after the assassination of his father, Paul I. He and his advisers corrected many of the injustices of the preceding reign but failed to carry out the abolition of serfdom. During the Napoleonic Wars he alternately fought and befriended Napoleon and helped form the coalition that finally defeated him. Alexander also participated in the Con¬ gress of Vienna (1814-15) and formed the Holy Alliance (1815). After his sudden death in 1825, a legend sprang up that he had simply “departed” to a Siberian retreat.

Alexander I (b. Dec. 4, 1888, Cetinje, Montenegro —d. Oct. 9, 1934, Marseille, France) King of Yugoslavia (1921-34). After commanding Ser¬ bian forces in World War I, Alexander succeeded his father, Peter I, as king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes in 1921. In 1929 he abolished the constitution and established a royal dictatorship. As part of his efforts to unify his subjects, he changed the name of the country to Yugoslavia; outlawed political parties based on ethnic, religious, or regional distinctions; reorganized the state; and standardized legal sys¬ tems, school curricula, and national holidays. In 1934 he was assassinated by an agent of Croatian separatists.

Alexander II Russian Aleksandr Nikolayevich (b. April 29, 1818, Moscow, Russia—d. March 13, 1881, St. Petersburg) Tsar of Rus¬ sia (1855-81). He succeeded to the throne at the height of the Crimean War, which revealed Russia’s backwardness on the world stage. In response, he undertook drastic reform, improving communications, gov¬ ernment, and education, and most importantly, emancipating the serfs (1861). His reforms reduced class privilege and fostered humanitarian progress and economic development. Though sometimes described as a liberal, Alexander was in reality a firm upholder of autocratic principles, and an assassination attempt in 1866 strengthened his commitment to conservatism. A period of repression after 1866 led to a resurgence of revolutionary terrorism, and in 1881 he was killed in a plot sponsored by the terrorist organization People’s Will.

Alexander II (b. Aug. 24, 1198, Haddington, Lothian—d. July 8, 1249, Kerrera Island) King of Scotland (1214—49). He came to the throne on the death of his father, William I (the Lion). In 1215 he supported the rebellious English barons against King John, hoping to regain land in northern England. After the rebellion collapsed (1217), he did homage to Henry III and in 1221 married Henry’s sister, Joan. He consolidated royal authority in Scotland and subdued Argyll in 1222. In 1237 he concluded the Peace of York with Henry by which he abandoned his claim to land in England and received in exchange several English estates.

Alexander III See Alexander the Great

Alexander III orig. Rolando Bandinelli (b. c. 1105, Siena, Tuscany—d. Aug. 30, 1181, Rome) Pope (1159-81). A member of the group of cardinals who feared the growing strength of the Holy Roman Empire, he helped draw up an alliance with the Normans (1156). As the rep¬ resentative of Pope Adrian IV, he angered Frederick I (Frederick Bar- barossa) by referring to the empire as a “benefice,” implying that it was a gift of the pope. On Alexander’s election as pope in 1159, a minority of cardinals supported by Frederick elected the first of several antipopes, and imperial opposition obliged Alexander to flee to France (1162). A vigorous defender of papal authority, he supported St. Thomas Becket against Henry II of England. He returned to Rome in 1165 but was exiled again the fol¬ lowing year. He gained support with the formation of the Lombard League, which defeated Frederick at Legnano in 1176, paving the way for the Peace of Venice and the end of the papal schism. Alexander stood in the reform tradition and presided at the third Lateran Council (1179).

Alexander III Russian Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (b. March 10, 1845, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. Nov. 1, 1894, Livadiya, Crimea) Tsar of Russia (1881-94). He assumed the throne after the assassination of his father, Alexander II. The internal reforms he instituted were designed to correct what he saw as the too-liberal tendencies of his father’s reign. He thus opposed representative government and ardently supported Russian nationalism. His political ideal was a nation containing a single nation¬ ality, language, religion, and form of administration, and accordingly he instituted programs such as the Russification of national minorities in the Russian Empire and the persecution of non-Orthodox religious groups.

Alexander III (b. Sept. 2, 1241—d. March 18/19, 1286, near Kinghorn, Fife, Scot.) King of Scotland (1249-86). Son of Alexander II, he came to the throne at age 7. In 1251 he was married to Margaret, daughter of England’s King Henry III, who sought to gain control over Scotland. In 1255 Alex¬ ander was seized by a pro-English party in Scotland; in 1257 the anti- English party gained control of the government until he came of age (1262). In 1263 he repulsed a Norwegian invasion, and in 1266 he acquired the Hebrides and the Isle of Man from Norway. His reign was later viewed as a golden age by Scots caught up in the long conflict with England.

Alexander VI orig. Rodrigo de Borja y Dorns (b. 1431, Jativa, Aragon—d. Aug. 18, 1503, Rome)

Pope (1492-1503). Bom into the Spanish branch of the Borgia family, he amassed great wealth and lived scandalously, fathering four illegiti¬ mate children (before his election as pope), who played an important role in his complicated dynastic plans. He warred against the Ottoman Turks and forced the French to abandon their effort to seize Naples. The mur¬ der of his son Juan (1497) prompted Alexander’s short-lived attempt to restrain the corruption of the papal court. His political ambitions, how¬ ever, were revived with the marriage of his son Cesare, whose military campaigns brought northern Italy under Borgia control. He concluded an alliance with Spain and negotiated the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494). A patron of the arts, he embellished the Vatican palaces and commissioned Michelangelo to draw up plans for the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica.

Alexander Archipelago Group of about 1,100 islands, southeastern Alaska, U.S. Extending southward from Glacier Bay, the chief islands are Chichagof, Admiralty, Baranof, Kupreanof, Prince of Wales, and Revil- lagigedo. The chief towns are Sitka (on Baranof) and Ketchikan (on Revil- lagigedo). The islands are separated from the mainland by deep, narrow channels that form part of the Inside Passage. The archipelago’s name, given in 1867, honours Tsar Alexander II.

Alexander Island Island in Bellingshausen Sea, separated from the Antarctic mainland by George VI Sound. An extremely rugged region with peaks as high as 9,800 ft (3,000 m), it is 270 mi (435 km) long and up to 125 mi (200 km) wide, with an area of 16,700 sq mi (43,250 sq km). The Russian explorer F.G. von Bellingshausen discovered the land in 1821 and named it after Tsar Alexander. It was believed part of the

Alexander VI, detail of a fresco by Pin- turicchio, 1492-94; in the Vatican.

AUNARI/ART RESOURCE, NEW >ORK

44 I Alexander Nevsky ► Alexis

mainland until 1940, when a U.S. expedition proved it to be an island, connected to the continent by a huge floating ice shelf. It has been claimed by Britain (since 1908), Chile (1940), and Argentina (1942).

Alexander Nevsky \'nev-ske\, Saint (b. c. 1220, Vladimir, Grand Principality of Vladimir—d. Nov. 14, 1263, Gorodets) Prince of Novgorod (1236-52) and Kiev (1246-52) and grand prince of Vladimir (1252-63). He fought off invading Swedes in 1240 at the Neva River (resulting in the epithet Nevsky). He was called back to service to defeat the Teutonic Knights in 1242 and also won victories over the Lithuanians and Finns. He collaborated with the Golden Horde in imposing Mongol rule on Russia, and the Great Khan made him grand prince of Vladimir. Alexander continued to rule Novgorod through his son. He helped the Mongols impose taxes, interceding with the Khan to prevent reprisals when rebellions broke out. A national hero, he was canonized by the Rus¬ sian Orthodox church.

Alexander the Great or Alexander III (b. 356 bc, Pella, Macedonia—d. June 13, 323 bc, Babylon) King of Macedonia (336-323) and the greatest military leader of antiquity. The son of Philip II of Mace¬ donia, he was taught by Aristotle. He soon showed military brilliance, helping win the Battle of Chaeronea at age 18. He succeeded his assas¬ sinated father in 336 and promptly took Thessaly and Thrace; he brutally razed Thebes except for its temples and the house of Pindar. Such destruc¬ tion was to be his standard method, and other Greek states submitted meekly. In 334 he crossed to Persia and defeated a Persian army at the Granicus River. He is said to have cut the Gordian knot in Phrygia (333), by which act, according to legend, he was destined to rule all Asia. At the Battle of Issus in 333, he defeated another army, this one led by the Per¬ sian king Darius III, who managed to escape. He then took Syria and Phoenicia, cutting off the Persian fleet from its ports. In 332 he completed a seven-month siege of Tyre, considered his greatest military achievement, and then took Egypt. There he received the pharaohs’ double crown, founded Alexandria, and visited the oracle of the god Amon, the basis of his claim to divinity. In control of the eastern Mediterranean coast, in 331 he defeated Darius in a decisive battle at Gaugamela, though Darius again escaped. He next took the province of Babylon. He burnt Xerxes' palace at Persepolis, Persia, in 330, and he envisioned an empire ruled jointly by Macedonians and Persians. He continued eastward, quashing real or imag¬ ined conspiracies among his men and taking control to the Oxus and Jax- artes rivers, founding cities (most named Alexandria) to hold the territory. Conquering what is now Tajikistan, he married the princess Roxana and embraced Persian absolutism, adopting Persian dress and enforcing Per¬ sian court customs. By 326 he reached the Hyphasis in India, where his weary men mutinied; he turned back, marching and pillaging down the Indus, and reached Susa with much loss of life. He continued to promote his unpopular policy of racial fusion, a seeming attempt to form a Persian- Macedonian master race. When his favourite, Hephaestion (324), died, Alexander gave him a hero’s funeral and demanded that divine honours be given at his own funeral. He fell ill at Babylon after long feasting and drinking and died at age 33. He was buried in Alexandria, Egypt. His empire, the greatest that had existed to that time, extended from Thrace to Egypt and from Greece to the Indus valley.

Alexanderson, Ernst F(rederik) W(erner) (b. Jan. 25, 1878, Uppsala, Swed.—d. May 14, 1975, Schenectady, N.Y., U.S.) Swedish- born U.S. electrical engineer and television pioneer. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1901 and spent most of the next five decades at General Electric; from 1952 he worked for RCA. He developed a high-frequency alterna¬ tor that was capable of producing continuous radio waves, revolutioniz¬ ing radio communication. His completed alternator (1906) greatly improved transoceanic communication and firmly established the use of wireless devices in shipping and warfare. He also developed a sophisti¬ cated control system (1916) used to automate intricate manufacturing processes and operate antiaircraft guns. He was awarded his 321st patent in 1955 for the colour TV receiver he developed for RCA.

Alexandra Russian Aleksandra Fyodorovna orig. Alix, Prin¬ cess von Hesse-Darmstadt (b. June 6, 1872, Darmstadt, German Empire—d. July 16/17, 1918, Yekaterinburg, Russia) Consort of Russia’s Tsar Nicholas II. A granddaughter of Queen Victoria, she married Nicho¬ las in 1894 and sought to restore absolute power in the monarchy. Des¬ perate to help her hemophiliac son, Alexis, she turned to the hypnotic powers of Grigory Rasputin, who became her spiritual adviser. In 1915 Nicholas left Moscow to command Russian forces in World War I, and Alexandra dismissed capable ministers and replaced them with nonenti¬

ties favored by Rasputin. Her misrule contributed to the collapse of the imperial government. After the Bolshevik takeover in the Russian Revo¬ lution of 1917, the royal family was imprisoned and later executed.

Alexandria Arabic Al-lskandarlyah City (metro, area pop., 2004 est.: 3,755,900) and chief seaport, northern Egypt. It lies on a strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mareotis. The ancient island of Pharos, whose lighthouse was one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is now a peninsula connected to the mainland. Alexandria’s modem harbour is west of the peninsula. The city was founded in 332 bc by Alexander the Great and was noted as a centre of Hellenistic culture. Its library (destroyed early centuries ad) was the greatest in ancient times; a new library was opened in 2002. The city was captured by the Arabs in ad 642 and by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. After a long period of decline, caused by the rise of Cairo, Alexandria was revived commercially when Muhammad ‘AlT joined it by a canal to the Nile River in the early 19th century. Modem Alexandria is a thriving commercial community; cotton is its chief export, and important oil fields lie nearby. Other cultural insti¬ tutions include the Museum of Alexandria.

Alexandria City (pop., 2000: 128,283), northern Virginia, U.S., on the Potomac River. The site was settled in the late 17th century, and in 1749 it was named for John Alexander, the land’s original grantee. It was part of Washington, D.C., from 1801 to 1847, after which it was ceded back to Virginia. Many colonial buildings survive in Alexandria’s Old Town; George Washington’s estate, Mount Vernon, is nearby.

Alexandria, Library of Most famous library of classical antiquity. It was part of the Alexandrian Museum, a research institute at Alexandria, Egypt. The museum and library were founded and maintained by a suc¬ cession of Ptolemies from the early 3rd century bc. The library aspired to the ideal of an international library—incorporating all Greek literature and also translations into Greek—but it is uncertain how close this ideal came to being realized. A bibliography of the library compiled by Calli¬ machus, lost in the Byzantine period, was long a standard reference work. The museum and library were destroyed in civil war in the late 3rd cen¬ tury ad; a subsidiary library was destroyed by Christians in ad 391.

Alexandria, Museum of Ancient centre of Classical learning at Alexandria, Egypt. It was a research institute, organized into faculties and headed by a president-priest, with a renowned library. It was built near the royal palace either by Ptolemy II Philadelphus c. 280 bc or by his father, Ptolemy I Soter. The best surviving description is by Strabo. In ad 270 its buildings were destroyed, although its educational and research functions seem to have continued until the 5 th century.

Alexandrina X.a-lig-.zan-'dre-noV Lake Lagoon, southeastern South Australia. The lake covers 220 sq mi (570 sq km) and is about 23 mi (37 km) long and 13 mi (21 km) wide. With Lake Albert and the Coorong lagoon, it forms the mouth of the Murray River. In 1830 the explorer Charles Sturt named the lake after Princess Alexandrina (later Queen Vic¬ toria). Five barrages built in the 1940s across the lake’s exits prevent the intrusion of seawater upstream, allowing for the development of irrigated agriculture in that area.

alexandrine X.al-ek-'zan-dronX Verse form that is the most popular measure in French poetry. It consists of a line of 12 syllables with a pause after the sixth syllable, major stresses on the sixth and the last syllable, and one secondary accent in each half line. It is a flexible form, adapt¬ able to a wide range of subjects. It became the preeminent French verse form for dramatic and narrative poetry in the 17th century and reached its highest development in the tragedies of Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine.

Alexandrists Italian Renaissance philosophers, led by Pietro Pompon- azzi (1462-1525), who followed the explanation of Aristotle’s De anima given by Alexander of Aphrodisias (2nd-3rd century ad). Alexander held that De anima denied individual immortality, considering the soul a mate¬ rial and therefore a mortal entity, organically connected with the body. The Alexandrists disagreed with Thomas Aquinas and his followers, who interpreted Aristotle as saying that the individual soul is immortal, and with the Latin Averroists (see Averroes), who held that the individual intellect is reabsorbed after death into the eternal intellect.

Alexis Russian Aleksey Mikhaylovich (b. March 9, 1629, Mos¬ cow, Russia—d. Jan. 29, 1676, Moscow) Tsar of Russia (1645-76). Son of Michael, the first Romanov monarch of Russia, Alexis acceded to the throne at age 16. He encouraged trade with the West, which brought an upsurge in foreign influences. During his reign the peasants were enserfed,

Alexius I Comnenus ► Alfonso XIII I 45

the land assemblies fell into gradual disuse, the professional bureaucracy and regular army grew in importance, and patriarch Nikon’s reforms of the Russian Orthodox church were adopted. Though reportedly warm¬ hearted and popular, Alexis was a weak ruler who sometimes entrusted matters of state to incompetent favourites.

Alexius I Comnenus \kam-'ne-n9s\ (b. 1048, Constantinople—d. Aug. 15, 1118) Byzantine emperor (1081-1118). An experienced mili¬ tary leader, he seized the Byzantine throne in 1081, driving back the invading Normans and Turks and founding the Comnenian dynasty.

Alexius increased Byzantine strength in Anatolia and in the eastern Medi¬ terranean but failed to curb the power of the landed magnates who had divided the empire in the past. He protected the Eastern Orthodox church but did not hesitate to seize its assets when in financial need. His appeal for Western support in 1095 was a factor in Pope Urban II’s call for the First Crusade. Alexius’s relations with the Crusaders were difficult, and from 1097 onward the Crusades frus¬ trated his foreign policy.

Alexius V Ducas Mourt- zouphlus \thu-kas-'murt-su-fl6s\

(d. 1204, Constantinople) Byzantine emperor. In 1204 he led a Greek revolt against his coemperors Isaac II and Alexius IV, who had been sup¬ ported by the Fourth Crusade, and he became the last Greek emperor of united Byzantium before its over¬ throw and partition by the Crusaders.

He imprisoned Alexius IV and demanded the Crusaders leave Con¬ stantinople, but they instead besieged the city. He fled to join the fugitive Alexius III (his father-in- law), who, instead of allying with him, had him blinded. Captured by the Crusaders, he was thrown from the top of a column to his death.

alfalfa Perennial, CLOVER-like legume ( Medicago sativa). It is widely grown primarily for hay, pasturage, and silage. It is known for its toler¬ ance of drought, heat, and cold, and for its improvement of soil by nitri¬ fication (see nitrifying bacteria) due to bacteria associated with its roots. The plant, which grows 1-3 ft (30-90 cm) tall, develops numerous stems that arise from a much-branched crown at soil level, each bearing many three-leaved leaflets. Its long primary root —as long as 50 ft (15 m) in some plants—accounts for its unusual ability to tolerate drought. Its remarkable capacity for regeneration of dense growths of new stems and leaves following cutting makes possible as many as 13 crops of hay in one growing season. Alfalfa hay is very nutritious and palatable, high in protein, minerals, and vitamins.

Alfasi \al-'fa-se\, Isaac ben Jacob (b. 1013, near Fes, Mor.—d. 1103, Lucena, Spain) Moroccan Jewish scholar. He spent most of his life in Fes, but in 1088 he was denounced to the government and was obliged to flee to Spain. He became head of the Jewish community in Lucena and estab¬ lished a noted Talmudic academy, provoking a rebirth of Talmudic study in Spain. His codification of the Talmud, Sefer ha-Halakhot (“Book of Laws”), deals with Halakhah (Hebrew law) and ranks with the works of Maimonides and Karo. It was crucial in establishing the primacy of the Babylonian Talmud over the Palestinian Talmud.

Alferov, Zhores (Ivanovich) (b. March 15, 1930, Vitebsk, Belorus- sia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet physicist. He received a Ph.D. from the A.F. Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute in 1970 and became director of the institute in 1987. With a research team, he developed the first practical hetero¬ structure electronic device in 1966 and went on to pioneer electronic components made from heterostructures, including the first heterostruc¬

ture laser. His work led to great advances in communications technology. In 2000 he shared the Nobel Prize for Physics with Herbert Kroemer and Jack S. Kilby.

Alfieri \al-'fya-re\, Vittorio, Count (b. Jan. 16, 1749, Asti, Piedmont—d. Oct. 8, 1803, Florence) Italian tragic poet and playwright. Through his lyrics and dramas he helped revive the national spirit of Italy. After a period of travel in which he experienced English political liberty and read the works of Montesquieu and other French writers, he left the military and began writing. His tragedies almost always present the struggle between a champion of liberty and a tyrant. Of the 19 tragedies that he approved for publication in an edition of 1787-89, the best are Filippo, Antigone, Oreste, Mirra, and his masterpiece, Saul, often con¬ sidered the most powerful drama in the Italian theatre. His autobiography (1804) is his chief prose work.

Alfonsm \al-fon-'sen\ (Foulkes), Raul (Ricardo) (b. March 13, 1926/7, Chascomus, Buenos Aires, Arg.) Civilian president of Argentina (1983-89). He took a degree in law and founded a newspaper before entering politics in 1953. After Argentina lost the Falkland Islands War, the discredited military permitted free elections, and Alfonsm defeated the Peronist candidate. He prosecuted members of the armed forces for human rights violations, but military pressure (including several armed revolts) led him to pardon most convicted officers. His presidency was plagued by high inflation, a huge national debt, labour disputes, and a discontented military. Constitutionally barred from a second term, he was succeeded by Carlos Menem.

Alfonso I (Portugal) See Afonso I Alfonso III (Portugal) See Afonso III

Alfonso V known as Alfonso the Magnanimous (b. 1396—d. June 27, 1458, Naples) King of Aragon (1416-58) and of Naples (as Alfonso I, 1442-58). He followed a policy of Mediterranean expansion, pacifying Sardinia and Sicily and attacking Corsica (1420). Taken pris¬ oner by the Genoese (1435) while preparing to attack Naples, he per¬ suaded his captors into an alliance and conquered Naples (1442), to which he transferred his court. He engaged in much diplomatic and military activity in Africa, the Balkans, and the eastern Mediterranean in order to protect his commerce with the East and defend Christendom against the Turks. He died during an assault on Genoa.

Alfonso VI known as Alfonso the Brave (b. before June 1040—d. 1109, Toledo, Castile) King of Leon (1065-70) and of Castile and Leon (1072-1109). He inherited Leon from his father, Ferdinand I, and warred with his envious brother Sancho II. On Sancho’s death he inherited Castile (1072); he also occupied Galicia and imprisoned his brother Garcia, its rightful ruler. In 1077 Alfonso proclaimed himself emperor of all Spain. He took Toledo from the Muslims, but his demands for tribute led to the invasion of Spain by the North African Almoravids, and he was defeated at Zallaqah (1086). The ClD became an ally and defended eastern Spain, but Alfonso continued to lose ground against the Berber armies.

Alfonso X known as Alfonso the Wise (b. Nov. 23, 1221, Burgos, Castile—d. April, 2, 1284, Sevilla) King of Castile and Leon (1252-84). He crushed revolts by Muslims (1252) and nobles (1254), and he annexed Murcia after repelling an invasion by Morocco, Granada, and Murcia (1264). He claimed the title of Holy Roman emperor (1256), but Gregory X persuaded him to renounce the claim. His second son became his suc¬ cessor as Sancho IV. Alfonso’s court was a center of culture, producing an influential law code, the Siete Partidas, and establishing the form of modern Castilian Spanish.

Alfonso XII (b. Nov. 28, 1857, Madrid, Spain—d. Nov. 25, 1885, Madrid) Spanish king whose reign (1874-85) inspired hopes for a stable constitutional monarchy. Alfonso followed his mother, Isabella II, into exile following her deposition by the revolution of 1868. He was proclaimed king in 1874 and returned to Spain the next year. His reign was marked by unaccustomed tranquillity. The most urgent problems—ending the civil war with the Carlists (see Carlism) and drafting a constitution—were settled in 1876. Alfonso was popular, and his early death from tubercu¬ losis disappointed those who desired a constitutional monarchy.

Alfonso XIII (b. May 17, 1886, Madrid, Spain—d. Feb. 28, 1941, Rome, Italy) Spanish king (1886-1931). The posthumous son of Alfonso XII, he was immediately proclaimed king under his mother’s regency and assumed full authority at 16. He relished power, and after World War I

Alexius I Comnenus, detail of an illumi¬ nation from a Greek manuscript; in the Vatican Library (Cod. Vat. Gr. 666)

BIBLIOTECA APOSTOUCA VATICANA

46 I Alfred ► Algeria

he moved toward a system of more personal rule, even seeking to rid himself of the Cortes (parliament). He associated himself with the dicta¬ torship of Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923-30), but after the latter’s fall the freely elected Republicans demanded Alfonso’s abdication, and he was forced to leave Spain. His grandson became Spain’s sovereign as Juan Carlos I in 1975.

Alfred known as Alfred the Great (b. 849—d. 899) King of Wes- sex (871-99) in southwestern England. He joined his brother Ethelred I in confronting a Danish army in Mercia (868). Succeeding his brother as king, Alfred fought the Danes in Wessex in 871 and again in 878, when he was the only West Saxon leader to refuse to submit to their authority and was driven from the kingdom to the island of Athelney. He defeated the Danes at the Battle of Edington (878) and saved Kent from another Danish invasion in 885. The next year he took the offensive and captured London, a success that brought all the English not under Danish rule to accept him as king. The conquest of the Danelaw by his successors was enabled by his strategy, which included the construction of forts and a naval fleet and the reformation of the army. Alfred drew up an important code of laws (see Anglo-Saxon law) and promoted literacy and learning, personally translating Latin works by Boethius, Pope Gregory I, and St. Augustine of Hippo into Anglo-Saxon. The compilation of the Anglo- Saxon Chronicle was begun under his reign.

algae \'al-je\ Members of a group of mostly aquatic, photosynthetic organisms (see photosynthesis) that defy precise definition. They range in size from the microscopic flagellate Micromonas to giant kelp that reach 200 ft (60 m) in length. Algae provide much of Earth’s oxygen, serve as the food base for almost all aquatic life, and provide foods and industrial products, including petroleum products. Their photosynthetic pigments are more varied than those of plants, and their cells have features not found among plants and animals. The classification of algae is changing rapidly because new taxonomic information is being discovered. Algae were formerly classified into three major groups—the red, brown, and green seaweeds—based on the pigment molecules in their chloroplasts. Many more than three groups are now recognized, each sharing a com¬ mon set of pigment types. Algae are not closely related to each other in an evolutionary sense. Specific groups can be distinguished from proto¬ zoans and fungi (see fungus) only by the presence of chloroplasts and by their ability to carry out photosynthesis; these specific groups thus have a closer evolutionary relationship with the protozoa or fungi than with other algae. Algae are common on “slimy” rocks in streams (see diatoms) and as green sheens on pools and ponds. Use of algae is perhaps as old as humankind; many species are eaten by coastal societies.

Algardi, Alessandro (b. 1595, Bologna, Papal States—d. June 10, 1654, Rome) Italian sculptor. He trained in Bologna under the Car¬ racci family and in 1625 moved to Rome, where he designed the stucco decorations in San Silvestro al Quiri- nale. He later became the most out¬ standing Baroque sculptor in Rome after Gian Lorenzo Bernini. He was a prolific sculptor of portrait busts, and his colossal marble relief of the Meeting of Attila and Pope Leo (1646-53) in St. Peter’s Basilica influenced the development and popularity of illusionistic reliefs. His work as a restorer of antique statu¬ ary brought him some notoriety.

algebra, linear See linear algebra

algebra and algebraic struc¬ tures Generalized version of arith¬ metic that uses variables to stand for unspecified numbers. Its purpose is tO Solve ALGEBRAIC EQUATIONS Or SYSTEMS of equations. Examples of such solu¬ tions are the quadratic formula (for solving a quadratic equation) and Gauss-Jordan elimination (for solv¬ ing a SYSTEM OF EQUATIONS in MATRIX form). In higher mathematics, an “algebra” is a structure consisting of a

class of objects and a set of rules (analogous to addition and multiplica¬ tion) for combining them. Basic and higher algebraic structures share two essential characteristics: (1) calculations involve a finite number of steps and (2) calculations involve abstract symbols (usually letters) represent¬ ing more general objects (usually numbers). Higher algebra (also known as modem or abstract algebra) includes all of elementary algebra, as well as group theory, theory of rings, field theory, manifolds, and vector spaces.