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A C Gibbs was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Oregon from 1862 until 1866.
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Andrew G Curtin was an American politician. He was born in 1815 at Pennsylvania and died in 1894. He was a Presidential elector in 1848, and Republican Governor of Pennsylvania from 1861 to 1865. He was one of the 'war governors' who supported the National Government, and furnished 25,000 men known as the 'Pennsylvania Reserve'. He was appointed Minister to Russia in 1869 and was elected to Congress by the Democratic party, serving from 1881 to 1887.
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A G Sorlie was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of North Dakota from 1925 until 1928.
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A H L Fizeau was a French physicist. He was born in 1819 at Paris and died in 1896. In 1847, working with J B L Foucault, he showed that infrared radiation has the same properties as visible light, that is it is reflected, refracted and is capable of forming interference patterns. Then in 1849 he measured the speed of light using a toothed wheel to interrupt the light.
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A H Roberts was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Tennessee from 1919 until 1921.
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A Harry Moore was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of New Jersey from 1926 until 1929.
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A Linwood Holton Jr was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Virginia from 1970 until 1974.
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A M Scales was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of North Carolina from 1885 until 1889.
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A Victor Donahey was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Ohio from 1923 until 1929.
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A W Hockenhull was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of New Mexico from 1933 until 1935.
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A W Norblad was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Oregon from 1929 until 1931.
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Aaron was a Jewish patriarch and the brother and assistant of Moses. Together with Moses he led the Israelites out of Egypt, and became the first Jewish high priest. Aaron was of the tribe of Levi. At Sinai, when the people became impatient at the long-continued absence of Moses, he complied with their request in making a golden calf, and thus became involved with them in the guilt of gross idolatry. The office of high-priest, which he first filled, was made hereditary in his family. He died at Mount Hor, allegedly at the age of 123, and was succeeded by his son Eleazar.
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Aaron Arrowsmith was an English geographer and map maker. He was born in 1750 and died in 1823. He published major world maps in 1790 and 1794; maps of North America in 1796, the Pacific Ocean in 1798 and published an Atlas of South India in 1822.
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Aaron Burr was an American lawyer and politician. He was born in 1756 at Newark, New Jersey and died in 1836. After graduating from Princeton in 1772 he joined the army at the outbreak of the revolution and served in Arnold's expedition through Maine to Canada, afterwards rising to the rank of colonel. He was a Republican Senator for New York from 1791 until 1797 and later a member of the New York Assembly. He was Vice-President to Thomas Jefferson from 1801 to 1805, having achieved the same number of votes for President as Thomas Jefferson, but having not been chosen for President by the House of Representatives which preferred Thomas Jefferson. In 1804 he fought a duel with Hamilton which resulted in Hamilton being mortally wounded. After retiring from the position of Vice-President he allegedly plotted the formation of an independent state in the Southwest, and was arrested and charged with treason, but was acquitted and subsequently left the USA for Europe, returning some years later to obscurity and poverty.
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Aaron Copland was an American composer. He was born in 1900 and died in 1990. He composed Appalachian Spring, Fanfare for the Common Man, Lincoln Portrait.
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Aaron Ogden was an American politician. He was a Federalist governor of New Jersey from 1812 until 1813.
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Aaron A Sargent was an American politician. He was born in 1827 and died in 1887. He represented California in the US Congress as a Republican from 1861 to 1863, and from 1869 to 1873, and was a US Senator from 1873 to 1879. He was Minister to Germany from 1883 to 1884.
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Aaron T Bliss was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Michigan from 1901 until 1904.
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Aaron V Brown was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Tennessee from 1845 until 1847.
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The Abada (Ababdeh) are a nomadic African tribe of Hamitic origin. They extend from the Nile at Assuan to the Red Sea, and reach northward to the Kena-Kosseir road, thus occupying the southern border of Egypt east of the Nile. They call themselves 'sons of the Jinns'. With some of the clans of the Bisharin and possibly the Hadendoa they represent the Blemmyes of classic geographers, and their location today is almost identical with that assigned them in Roman times. They were constantly at war with the Romans, who at last subdued them. In the middle ages they were known as the Beja, and conveyed pilgrims from the Nile valley to Aidhab, the port of embarkation for Jedda. From time immemorial they have acted as guides to caravans through the Nubian desert and up the Nile valley as far as Sennar.
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An abandonee is an underwriter to whom the salvage of a wreck is abandoned.
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Abbas was the Uncle of Mohammed. He was born in 566 and died in 652.
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Abbas I (Abbas The Great) was a Shah of Persia. He was born in 1557 and died in 1629. In 1597 he crushed the Uzbek rebels, advanced into Afghanistan and in 1605 defeated the Turks. Under his rule, which lasted from 1587 to 1629, Persian territory was extended from the Tigris to the Indus.
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Abbas II (Hilmi Pasha) was khedive of Egypt. He was born in 1874 and died in 1944. He became in 1892 and held the position until he was deposed by the British in 1914 under suspicion of plotting with Turkey against British rule in Egypt.
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Abbas Himi Pasha was the last Khedive of Egypt. He was born in 1874 at Alexandria and died in 1944. He attempted to rule Egypt independently of British influence and in 1914 with the outbreak of war sided with Turkey, being deposed and exiled later that year when Britain made Egypt a protectorate.
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An Abbasid was a member of a dynasty of caliphs who ruled in Baghdad from 750 until 1258. They claimed to be descended from Abbas.
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The Abbassides were an Arabian dynasty, descendents of Mahomet's uncle, Abbas-Ben-Abdul-Motalleb. Thirty-seven Abbasside caliphs reigned from 750 to 1258. They settled at Baghdad.
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An Abbess is the female superior of a community of nuns in certain religious orders. An abbess has administrative jurisdiction equivalent to that of the abbot of a monastery but does not exercise the rights and duties of the priesthood. The title dates from the 6th century. Most of the original secular privileges of the position, such as membership in the king's council and rank of nobility equivalent to that of temporal peers, were abolished in the 16th century, at the time of the Reformation.
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An abbot is the superior of a community of monks. The word abbot ultimately derives from the Syriac abba, meaning father. The lady of similar rank to an abbot being called abbess. An abbess, however, was not, like the abbot, allowed to exercise the spiritual functions of the priesthood, such as preaching, confessing, etc; nor did abbesses ever succeed in freeing themselves from the control of their diocesan bishop.
In the early age of monastic institutions between about 300 and 600 the monks were not priests, but simply laymen who retired from the world to live in common, and the abbot was also a layman. In the course of time the abbots were usually ordained, and when an abbey was directly attached to a cathedral the bishop was also abbot.
At first the abbeys were more remarkable for their numbers than for their magnitude, but latterly many of them were large and richly endowed, and the heads of such establishments became personages of no small influence and power, more especially after the abbots succeeded - by the eleventh century - in freeing themselves from the jurisdiction of the bishop of their diocese. Hence families of the highest rank might be seen eagerly striving to obtain the titles of abbot and abbess for their members. The great object was to obtain control over the revenues of the abbeys, and for this purpose recourse was had to the device of holding them under a kind of trust, or, as it was called, in commendam.
According to the original idea the abbot in commendam, or 'commendator,' was merely a temporary trustee, who drew the whole or part of the revenues during a vacancy, and was bound to apply them to specific purposes; but ultimately the commendator or lay abbot in many instances held the appointment for life, and was allowed to apply the whole or a large portion of the revenues to his own private use. Many of the abbots latterly vied with the bishops and nobility in rank and dignity, wearing a mitre and keeping up a great style. In England twenty-seven abbots long sat in the House of Lords. The Reformation introduced vast changes, not only in Protestant countries, where abbeys and all other monastic establishments were generally suppressed, but even in countries which still continued Roman Catholic; many sovereigns, whilst displaying their zeal for the Roman Catholic Church by persecuting its opponents, not scrupling to imitate them in the confiscation of church property.
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Abbott Lawrence was an American politician. He was born in 1792 and died in 1855. He represented Massachusetts in the US Congress as a Whig from 1835 to 1837. He was Minister to Great Britain from 1847 to 1852. He founded the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard College.
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The ABC Club was a name adopted by certain republican enthusiasts in Paris, professing to relieve the depressed. Their insurrection on the 5th of June 1832 was suppressed with bloodshed the next day. The events of the insurrection are described by Victor Hugo in 'Les Miserables'.
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Abd-el-Krim ('The Wolf Of The Rif Mountains') was a Moroccan Berber chief, revolutionary and founder of the North African Liberation Committee. He was born in 1880 at Adjir and died in 1963. Leading unsuccessful revolts against the Spanish and French occupiers of Morocco during the early 1920's he formed the Republic of the Rif and served as its President from 1921 to 1926 before being defeated by a Franco-Spanish army and exiled on the island of Reunion. He was granted amnesty in 1947 and went to Egypt where he formed the North African Liberation Committee.
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Abd-ul-Aziz was a Sultan of Turkey. He was born in 1830 at Constantinople (now Istanbul) and died in 1876. In 1861 he succeeded his brother as Sultan, and continued his brother's liberal and westernising reforms which resulted in the first Ottoman civil code. In 1871 he visited western Europe, afterwards becoming somewhat of a dictator and after revolts in Bosnia, Herzegovina and in Bulgaria he was deposed in May, 1876, and committed suicide, or was more probably was assassinated, in June, the same year. He was succeeded by his son Murad V.
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Abd-ul-Hamid II also known as Abdul Hamid II ('The Great Assassin') was the last Sultan of Turkey. He was born in 1842 at Constantinople (now Istanbul) and died in 1918. He succeeded his brother Murad V, who was deposed on proof of his insanity in 1876, as Sultan.
Abd-ul-Hamid passed the first Ottoman constitution in 1876. At that time Turkey, which was at war with Serbia, was compelled to agree to an armistice at the demand of Russia. The persecution and oppression of the Christian population of Bulgaria had roused remonstrances from other European countries, and a congress met at Constantinople (Istanbul) to consider a constitution which the Porte had proclaimed. The conference was a failure, and in April, 1877, war was declared by Russia. During the sanguinary struggle which ensued the Turks fought with great bravery, but they had ultimately to sue for peace. A treaty was signed at San Stefano in February 1878, but its provisions were modified by a congress of the great powers which met at Berlin. Turkey was compelled to part with some of its choicest provinces, while the sultan also ceded the island of Cyprus to be occupied and administered by Britain, which in turn agreed to guarantee his Asiatic dominions to the sultan.
Abd-ul-Hamid suspended the Ottoman constitution in 1878 and thereafter ruling as absolute monarch. Abd-ul-Hamid's reign was further disturbed in 1885 by a revolution in Eastern Rumelia, and was stained by the massacre of many thousands of Armenians.
Revolution in Turkey forced him to restore the constitution in 1908 and summon a parliament, in 1909 he attempted a counter-revolution and was deposed and exiled.
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Abd-ul-Medjid was a Sultan of Turkey. He was born in 1823 and died in 1861. Under his rule Turkey continued to liberalise, and he reorganised the courts and education and granted citizen rights. In 1854 he secured an alliance with Great Britain and France resisting Russian demands which subsequently precipitated the Crimean War.
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Abd-ur-Rahman was an Ameer of Afghanistan. He was born in 1830 and died in 1901. Driven out of Afghanistan when he claimed the succession, in 1880 at the end of the second Afghan War he was the candidate acknowledged by the British.
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The Abdals were Persian religious fanatics who considered it meritorious to kill anyone of a different religion, and if to die in the attempt to become a martyr them self. In the late 20th century the same principle of the Abdals became prominent among many Muslims, later known as Islamists in an attempt to prevent offence to those of the Muslim faith, with suicide terrorist attacks being carried out against civilian targets in Britain and Europe.
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Abdul Azziz Ibn Saud was King of Saudi Arabia. He was born in 1880 in Central Arabia and died in 1953.
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Abdul Rahman was the first Prime Minister of the Federation of Malaya. He was born in 1903 in Alor Setar and died in 1990. He was the son of the sultan of Kedah, and was educated in Malaya, Thailand, and England. As head of the United Malay National Organization, he became chief minister of Malaya after an election victory in 1955, and when Malaya attained sovereignty in 1957, he became its Prime Minister. He was the principal architect of the alliance of Malaya with Singapore, Sarawak, and Sabah, which in 1963 resulted in the creation of Malaysia.
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Abdullah ibn Hussein was the first king of Jordan. He was born in 1882 at Mecca and died in 1951. After taking a prominent part in the Arab revolt against Turkey from 1916 to 1918, he was appointed emir of the British mandated territory of Transjordan in 1921, and in 1946 with the end of the mandate became king, in 1948 being also proclaimed king of Palestine though with the formation of the state of Israel he lost sovereignty of Palestine. He was assassinated by Arab nationalists in 1951.
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Abdullhak Hamid Tarhan was a Turkish playwright. He was born in 1852 at Bebek and died in 1937.
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Abe Atell was an American boxer. He was born in 1884 and died in 1970. He was world featherweight champion from 1905 to 1912, first winning the title when he was seventeen.
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Abe Kobo was a Japanese writer. He was born in 1924 at Tokyo and died in 1993. A trained doctor, he turned to literature winning the Akutagawa prize in 1951 for 'The Wall'.
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Abebe Bikila was an Ethiopian athlete. He was born in 1932 and died in 1973. He won the marathon in the 1960 Rome Olympics, running barefoot, and again at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, becoming the first athlete to win the Olympic marathon twice. He was partially paralysed in a motoring accident in 1969 and subsequently competed as an archer in the paraplegic games at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, England.
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The Abecedarian were the followers of Nicholas Storck, a 16th century German Anabaptist. They were so called because they rejected all worldly knowledge including learning the alphabet.
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In the bible, Abel was the second son of Adam. He was killed by his brother Cain.
Abel was king of Denmark in 1250. He was killed in an expedition against the Frisons.
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Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch explorer. He was born in 1602 near Groningen and died in 1659. He became a sailor while still a child and made several voyages in eastern waters before being given command of his own expedition in 1642. Circumnavigating Australia he discovered the land he named Van Diemen's Land in 1642, which was later renamed Tasmania in 1853. He also discovered New Zealand, the Friendly Islands and the Fiji islands. In 1644 he made another voyage and discovered the Gulf of Carpentaria. After other expeditions in 1647 and 1648 he retired and settled in Batavia.
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Abel Pupshur was an American jurist and politician. He was born in 1790 and died in 1844 in the Princeton accident. He was a member of the Virginia Legislature from 1834 to 1826, a Judge of the General Court of Virginia from 1826 to 1841, and a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1829. He was Secretary of the Navy in Tyler's Cabinet from 1841 to 1843, and Secretary of State from 1843 to 1844, when he was killed on board the Princeton. He wrote an important exposition of the Staterights theory of the American Constitution.
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The Abelites were a Christian sect of the 4th century chiefly found in Hippo in North Africa. They married, but remained celibate affirming this was what Abel, in Christian mythology, had done. The sect maintained itself by adopting children from outside.
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The Abenaki are an Algonquin tribe originally of North American Indians of central Maine, they were almost wiped out in occasional wars with the New Englanders in 1702, 1722 and 1724 and were afterwards moved to French Canada later in the 18th century.
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The Abencerrages were a Moorish tribe of Granada opposed to the Zegris. From 1480 to 1492 they constantly fought. They were exterminated by Boabdil.
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In English history the Abhorrers was a name given to the court party in 1679-1680, who, on petitions being presented to Charles II praying him to summon parliament, signed counter-petitions expressing abhorrence for those who were thus attempting to encroach on the royal prerogative.
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Abigail Adams (born Abigail Smith) was the wife of John Adams, the second president of the USA. She was born in 1744 and died in 1818. She strongly influenced her husband during his political career, proposing to her husband that the government guarantee women's rights. Letters written by Abigail Adams to her husband were published in 1848 and provide an important insight into America of that time.
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The Abkasians are a race of Russian people originally found in the western and southern area of the Caucasus Mountains. At one time they were Christians, but around 1900 adopted Islam and many of them have migrated into Turkish territory.
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Abner Coburn was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Maine from 1863 until 1864.
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Abner Doubleday was an American soldier. He was born in 1819 at New York and died in 1893. He was a general in the American army and aimed the first gun in the defence of Fort Sumter, and also served with distinction at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He retired from the army in 1873.
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Abner Nash was an American politician. He was a governor of North Carolina from 1780 until 1781.
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An aborigine is a member of an indigenous people or the earliest known inhabitants of a country. The term was first applied to the earliest inhabitants of Italy. In 1838 the Aborigines Protection Society was established in Britain.
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Abraham, originally Abram, was the greatest of the Hebrew patriarchs. He was born in 2153 BC at Ur in Chaldea according to Hales, in 1996 BC according to Ussher, while Bunsen says he lived 2850 BC. He migrated, accompanied by his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot, to Canaan, where he led a nomadic life, which according to myth extended over 175 years. His two sons Isaac and Ishmael were, according to myth, the progenitors of the Jews and Arabs respectively.
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Abraham a Santa Clara (real name Uleich Megeele) was a German pulpit orator. He was born in 1642 and died in 1709. As a preacher he acquired so great a reputation that in 1669 he was appointed court-preacher in Vienna, where he died in 1709. His sermons are full of homely, grotesque humour, often of coarse wit, and impartial severity towards all classes of society.
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Abraham Anquetil-Duperron was a French orientalist. He was born in 1731 and died in 1805. He studied theology for some time, but soon devoted himself to the study of Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian. His zeal for the Oriental languages induced him to set out for India, where he prevailed on some of the Parsee priests to instruct him in the Zend and Pehlevi and to give him some of the Zoroastrian books. In 1762 he returned to France with a valuable collection of manuscripts. In 1771 he published his Zend-Avesta, a translation of the Yendidad, and other sacred books, which excited great sensation. Among his other works are L'lnde en Rapport avec l'Europe published in 1790, and a selection from the Vedas. His knowledge of the Oriental languages was by no means exact.
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Abraham Bloemaart was a Dutch painter. He was born in 1565 and died in 1657. He was the son of an architect and sculptor, who sent him to Paris, where he studied for three years, subsequently returning to Amsterdam and Utrecht, where he settled and painted all sorts of subjects, his landscapes being the most esteemed.
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Abraham Clark was an American statesman. He was born in 1726 at New Jersey and died in 1794. He was a signer of the American Declaration of Independence. At the beginning of the American Revolution he was an active member of the New Jersey Committee of Safety. Later he was a member of the Continental Congress from June, 1776, until 1783, except in 1779, and also in 1787 and 1788; he was a member of the New Jersey Legislature from 1782 until 1787 and of the US Congress from 1791 until his death. He was chosen to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, but did not attend.
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Abraham Cooper was an English painter. He was born in 1787 at London and died in 1868. He became famous for his battle paintings, including his Battle of Waterloo and Gebhard Blucher at the Battle of Ligny.
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Abraham Cowley was an English poet. He was born in 1618 and died in 1667. He was one of the metaphysical school of poets who followed John Donne in his use of far-fetched conceits. He was a royalist and secretary to the Queen and Lord Jermyn during their exile.
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Abraham Duquesne (Marquis Duquesne) was a French admiral. He was born in 1610 at Dieppe and died in 1688. He took part in the defeat of the Spanish at Lerins Island in 1637 and again before Tarragona in 1641. His greatest exploit was his defeat of the united Dutch and Spanish fleets off Stromboli in 1676. This battle, in which the heroic Ruyter fell, gave France complete control of the Mediterranean for a time.
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Abraham Hayward was an English essayist. He was born in 1801 and died in 1884. He wrote 'The Art of Dining' in 1852, 'Juridical Tracts' in 1856, 'Biographical and Critical Essays' in 1858, and 'Sketches of Eminent Statesmen and Writers' in 1880.
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Abraham J Williams was an American politician. He was a Democratic-Republican governor of Missouri from 1825 until 1826.
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Abraham K Allison was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Florida during 1865.
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Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the USA. He was born in 1809 at Hardin County, Kentucky and died in 1865 when he was assassinated at a theatre by John Wilkes Booth. Both in Kentucky and in Indiana, to which in 1816 the family removed, as well as in Illinois, whither they went in 1830, Abraham Lincoln had the privations and also the training of a backwoodsman's life.
In his youth he earned money to educate himself by splitting rails for a neighbour, and so earned the nickname 'rail-splitter'. About this time he also made a flat-boat voyage to New Orleans.
In the Black Hawk War of 1832 he served as captain and private. He tried keeping store and failed, studied law, was postmaster of New Salem in Illinois, and deputy surveyor of the county. As a politician he had better success, and after one defeat served in the Legislature from 1834 to 1842. Meanwhile he removed to Springfield and built up a law practice. From 1847 to 1849 he was a Whig Congressman, but was not notably prominent.
His importance dates from the Kansas-Nebraska controversy. In its progress he became the Republican State leader, and in 1858 he took part with Stephen A Douglas in a series of joint debates in canvassing for the US Senatorship. Abraham Lincoln was defeated, but the discussion had aroused great interest, and his utterances, e.g.: 'a house divided against itself cannot stand', brought him into national prominence. In February, 1860, he delivered a remarkable political speech at the Cooper Institute, New York.
He was pressed for the Presidency by many Western Republicans in the Chicago Convention in May, though Seward was in the lead at the outset. Amid great excitement Abraham Lincoln was nominated on the third ballot, and elected, by 180 electoral votes, over Douglas, Breckenridge and Bell. This first victory of the Republicans decided the Secessionists, and when the new President delivered his conciliatory inaugural address the country was drifting toward civil war.
In the Cabinet Seward had the Department of State, Chase the Treasury, Cameron, and soon afterward Stanton, War, Welles the Navy, Caleb B. Smith the Interior, Edward Bates was Attorney-General, and Montgomery Blair Postmaster-General. Immediately on the fall of Port Sumter the President, on April the 15th, 1861, called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the Rebellion. He soon issued a call for additional troops, instituted a blockade, and summoned Congress to meet in extra session on July the 4th.
As the 'War President' Abraham Lincoln is identified with a great part of the history of the struggle. Foreign complications, military and naval movements, domestic politics, as well as routine administrative duties, all claimed his attention; to the people and the armies he was endeared as 'Father Abraham' innumerable anecdotes are related bearing on his humour, strong common sense and sympathy.
On September the 22nd, 1862, profiting by the partial success of Antietam, he issued a preliminary proclamation fixing the coming January the 1st as the date for freeing slaves in insurgent States. The Emancipation Proclamation to that effect accordingly appeared at the opening of 1863. On the nineteenth of November 1863, he pronounced on the battlefield of Gettysburg his short but famous eulogy.
He was renominated by the Republicans on June the 8th, 1864, and elected over McClellan, receiving 212 electoral votes. 'Malice toward none, charity for all' was the burden of his second inaugural. He had visited Richmond after its fall, and was pondering the questions of reconstruction, when on the night of April the 14th he was shot in Ford's Theatre at the capital, and died the next morning.
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Abraham Viktor Rydberg was a Swedish poet, novelist and archaeologist. He was born in 1828 at Jonkoping and died in 1895. From 1855 to 1877 he edited the Handelstidning of Gothenburg; in 1884 he was appointed professor of the history of civilization at Stockholm, and in 1877 was elected to the Swedish academy.
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Abraham Whipple was an American sailor. He was born in 1733 at Rhode Island and died in 1819. He commanded the privateer Gamecock during the French War from 1759 to 1760. He headed the expedition which burned the Gaspe in Narragansett Bay in 1772. In 1775 he was placed in command of two Rhode Island vessels and fought one of the first naval engagements of the American War of Independence. In 1776 he commanded the Providence, which captured more prizes than any other American vessel.
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The Abraham-men were originally a set of mendicant-lunatics from Bethlehem Hospital, London; but as many people assumed, without right, the badge worn by them the term came to signify an impostor who travelled about the country seeking alms, under the pretence of lunacy.
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Abram A Hammond was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Indiana from 1860 until 1861.
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Abram M Scott was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Mississippi from 1832 until 1833.
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Absalom was the third and favourite son of David. He was killed leading a rebellion against his father.
Absalom, or Axel, was a Danish prelate, statesman, and warrior. He was born in 1128 and died in either 1201 or 1202. He became the intimate friend and counsellor of his sovereign Waldemar I, who appointed him Archbishop of Lund. He cleared the sea of the Slavonic pirates who had long infested it, secured the independence of the kingdom by defeating a powerful fleet of the Emperor Barbarossa, and built the castle of Axelborg, the nucleus of Copenhagen. Turning his thoughts to literature he caused the History of Denmark to be drawn up by Saxo Grammaticus and Sueno Aagesen.
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Abu Al-Fida (Abulfida) was an Arabian historian and geographer. He was born 1273 at Damascus and died in 1331 He took part in the siege of Tripoli in 1289 and the siege of Acre in 1291. In 1310 he was appointed governor of the city of Hamah, which he ruled over with almost absolute power. In 1312 he was made prince, and in 1320 he was given the title of sultan and the right to transmit the title to his descendants. His most important work was 'An Abridgment of the History of the Human Race', a book that traces human history until 1329 and is especially valuable as a source for the period of the Crusades.
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Abu Bakr was the first caliph from 632 to 634. He was born in 573 at Mecca and died in 634. He was the father of Aisha, the wife of the prophet Mohammed. He became Mohammed's most trusted follower, accompanying him on the Hegira. After Mohammed died, Abu Bakr was made caliph, or successor to the Prophet, by an assembly of the faithful. As caliph, he prevented some tribes from reverting to heathenism and fought successfully against Persia and the Byzantine Empire. He was succeeded by Umar I.
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Abulfeda was an Arab writer and sultan of Hamah. He was born in 1273 and died in 1331. He achieved successes against the Crusaders and Mongols on the battlefield and wrote various books.
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The Acacians were followers of Acacius, bishop of Caesarea, in the 4th century, who held peculiar doctrines respecting the nature of Christ. The
Acacians were partisans of Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople, promoter of the Henoticon.
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The Accadians were the primitive inhabitants of Babylonia described in the cuneiform inscriptions.
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An accountant is someone who keeps accounts.
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The Achaeans were one of the four races into which the ancient Greeks were divided. In early times they inhabited a part of Northern Greece and of the Peloponnesus. They are represented by Homer as a brave and warlike people, and so distinguished were they that he usually calls the Greeks in general Achaeans. Latterly they were settled in the district of the Peloponnesus, called after them Achaia, and forming a narrow belt of coast on the south side of the Gulf of Corinth. From very early times a confederacy or league existed among the twelve towns of this region. After the death of Alexander the Great it was broken up, but was revived again, in 280 BC, and from this time grew in power until it spread over the whole Peloponnesus. It was finally dissolved by the Romans, in 147 BC, and after this the whole of Greece, except Thessaly, was called Achaia or Achgea. *Acholi
The Acholi are a farming and pastoral people of northern Uganda and southern Sudan.
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The term acolyte was used in the ancient Latin and Greek Churches, for a person of ecclesiastical rank next in order below the sub-deacons, whose office it was to attend to the officiating' priest. The name is still retained in the Roman Catholic Church.
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An acrobat is someone who performs daring gymnastics.
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An actress is a female dramatic performer (actor). A woman who performs in plays. Samuel Pepys, a keen spectator of plays, describes first seeing women performing in a play - 'Beggars Bush' which had previously opened in Autumn 1660 with an all-male cast - in early January 1661, previous to that date, in England and western Europe, the parts of women in plays were played by men.
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An acutiator was a person in the Middle Ages who attended armies and knights to sharpen their weapons and instruments of war.
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Ada Negri was an Italian poet. She was born in 1870 and died in 1945. Her first book of verses, 'Fatalita/Destiny', was published in 1892 and her success was rapid. Her early poetry was that of an authentic daughter of the people, and was filled with a sense of revolt. The later work lost some of its spontaneity and became more classical in form although her themes were still humanitarian and feminist. Among her books of poems are 'Tempeste' published in 1895, 'Maternita' published in 1904, 'Esilio' published in 1914, 'Il libro di Mara' published in 1919, 'I canti dell'isola' published in 1925, and 'Vespertina' published in 1931. In the novel 'Stella Mattutina' published in 1921 she gave a lyrical description in poetic prose of her childhood.
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Adam Afzelius was a Swedish naturalist. He was born in 1750 and died in 1837. He was a pupil of Linnaeus; demonstrator of botany at Upsala in 1785, visited Sierra Leone in 1792 and lived for a time in London as secretary to the Swedish Ambassador. From 1812 he was professor of materia medica at Upsala.
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Adam Bell was a northern British outlaw, reputedly an excellent archer from whence evolved the term Adam Bell meaning a good archer.
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Adam Clarke was an Irish Methodist divine and scholar. He was born in 1762 in county Londonderry, Ireland and died in 1832 of cholera. He became an itinerant Methodist preacher, and continued to travel in various circuits until 1805, after which he resided chiefly in London, dying of cholera at Bayswater in 1832. He was learned in the Oriental languages, and published a commentary on the Scriptures (1810-26), a Bibliographical Dictionary, and other works.
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Adam De La Halle (Adam le Bossu) was a French trouvere. He was born in 1237 at Arras and died in 1287. He was a member of the retinue of Charles of Anjou, later King Charles II of Naples. His prose drama, Le jeu de la feuillee (The Play of the Greensward), a satirical fantasy, is commonly considered the earliest comedy in French. His musical play Le jeu de Robin et Marion (The Play of Robin and Marion), a pastoral comedy to his own music and text, is regarded as a precursor of comic opera. He also composed motets and polyphonic songs.
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Adam McMullen was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Nebraska from 1925 until 1929.
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Adam Sedgwick was an English geologist. He was born in 1785 and died in 1873. He mapped the rocks of the Lake District in 1822.
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Adam Smith was a Scottish economist. He was born in 1723 at Kirkcaldy and died in 1790. Educated at Kirkcaldy and the University of Glasgow in 1740 he went to Balliol College, Oxford. In 1748 he began to lecture in Edinburgh, and in 1751 was chosen professor of logic at Glasgow, where from 1752 until 1763 he was professor of moral philosophy. In 1764 he went abroad with a pupil, the duke of Buccleuch, after which he gave ten years mainly to writing and study. In 1776 the result of his labour appeared in the first scientific work on the principles of economy, 'The Wealth of Nations'. Two years later he was appointed a commissioner of customs, a post he held until his death.
Although remembered as an economist, Adam Smith also enunciated a philosophy of his own, that all our sentiments arise from sympathy, and published his thoughts in 1759 in a book entitled 'Theory of Moral Sentiments'.
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The Adamites were a Gnostic sect in Africa about 130, who appeared naked in their religious assemblies, asserting that if Adam had not sinned there would have been no marriages. Their chief was named Prodicus and they defied the elements, rejected prayer and said it was not necessary to confess Christ.
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Adda was the eldest son of Ida and king of Bernicia in 560.
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Adela was queen of England. She was born in 1062 and died in died 1137. She was the fourth daughter of William The Conqueror, wife of Stephen, Earl of Blois and Chartres, and mother of Stephen, King of England. In her husband's absence in the first crusade, and after his death as regent for her sons she proved herself an able ruler and a generous patroness of learning.
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Adelaide was queen of England. She was born in 1792 and died in 1849. The daughter of George, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Meiningen, and wife of the Duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV, King of England whom she married on the 11th of July, 1818. She had two daughters, who died in infancy. She became queen-consort on William attaining the throne in 1830, and was for a time unpopular from being supposed to be averse to reform. On the death of William she passed into private life, with an allowance of 100,000 pounds a year.
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Adelaide Phillips was an American singer. She was born in 1833 and died in 1882. She went to America from England in 1840. She was for many years the leading contralto singer in America. Her voice had a compass of two and a half octaves.
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Adelard of Bath was an English philosophical writer of the twelfth century. He travelled through Spain, north Africa, Greece, and Asia Minor, and acquired much knowledge from the Arabs, which he put in systematic shape. His chief works were Perdifficiles Quaestiones Naturales, and De Eodem et Diverso.
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Adelbert Ames was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Mississippi from 1874 until 1876.
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Adelbert de Chamisso was a French-born German poet. He was born in 1781 at the castle of Boncourt, in Champagne and died in 1838. His family being driven to Berlin by the revolution, he became, from 1796 to 1798, page to the queen-mother, and afterwards entered the Prussian service, where he remained until 1808. He then revisited France but shortly after returned to Prussia, and for three years devoted himself to the study of natural science at Berlin. In 1815 he accompanied as naturalist an expedition for the discovery of the north-west passage, and on his return took up his residence at Berlin, where he was appointed superintendent of the botanic garden.
He wrote several works on natural history and botany, and an account of his voyage, but his reputation as a naturalist has been somewhat eclipsed by that which he acquired as a poet. In 1804-1806, in concert with Varnhagen von Ense, he published a collection of poems, under the name of the Muses' Almanac; and in 1813 appeared his famous tale, Peter Schlemihl, or the Shadowless Man, the plot suggested by a casual question of Fouque's.
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Adele Marie Emilie Filleul, Marquis de Souza-Botelho, was a French novelist. She was born in 1761 at Paris and died in 1836. In 1779 she married the Comte de Flahaut, and during the French Revolution her husband being executed she fled to England and Germany. While in exile she published the first of her novels, 'Adele de Senange' in 1794. In 1804 she returned to Paris and married the Portuguese minister, the marquez de Souza-Botelho.
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An adept is someone who is proficient at some thing.
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In English history, adjutators were representatives elected by the parliamentary forces in 1647 to act with the officers in compelling parliament to satisfy the demands of the army.
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Adlai E Stevenson was an American politician. He was a Democratic governor of Illinois from 1949 until 1953.
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An admiral is the commander-in-chief of a squadron or fleet of ships of war, or of the entire naval force of a country, or simply a naval officer of the highest rank. In the British navy admirals are of four ranks: admiral of the fleet, admiral, vice-admiral, and rear-admiral. They were also divided formerly into three classes, named after the colours of their respective flag's, admirals of the red, of the white, and of the blue. In 1864, however, this distinction was given up, and now there is one flag common to all ships of war, namely, the white ensign divided into four quarters by the cross of St George, and having the union in the upper corner next the staff.
The title admiral of the fleet is conferred on a few admirals, and carries an increase of pay along with it. A vice-admiral is next in rank and command to the admiral: he carries his flag at the foretop-gallant-mast head, while an admiral carries his at the main. A rear-admiral, next in rank to the vice-admiral, carries his flag at the mizzentop-gallant-mast head.
In Great Britain the title Lord high admiral is an officer who (when this rare dignity is conferred) is at the head of the naval administration of Great Britain. There have been few high admirals since 1632, when the office was first put in commission. James Duke of York (afterwards James II) held it for several years during Charles II's reign. In the reign of William and Mary it was vested in lords commissioners of the admiralty, and since that time it has been held for short periods only by Prince George of Denmark in the time of Queen Anne, and by William IV, then Duke of Clarence, in 1827 to 1828.
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Adolf Bastian was a German traveller and ethnologist. He was born in 1826 and died in 1905. His travels embraced various parts of Europe, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Australia and New Zealand, Southern and Western Africa, Egypt, Arabia, India, South-eastern Asia, the Asiatic Archipelago, Japan, China, Mongolia, Siberia, etc. His numerous writings threw light on almost every subject connected with ethnology or anthropology, as well as psychology, linguistics, non-Christian religions, geography, etc. One of his chief works is Die Volker des ostlicben Asien (Peoples of Eastern Asia; published in six volumes, 1866-1871).
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Adolf Hitler was a German dictator. He was born in 1889 at Braunau and died in 1945 when he committed suicide. He was responsible for the Second World War and the murder of millions of Jews, Cripples, Homosexuals, Blacks, Gypsies and Communists throughout Europe.
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Adolf Schreyer was a German painter. He was born in 1828 at Frankfort-on-Main and died in 1899. He notably painted battle scenes and animals.
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Adolf Stieler was a German cartographer. He was born in 1775 at Gotha and died in 1836.
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Adolf Von Henselt was a German composer. He was born in 1814 and died in 1890.
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Adolph O Eberhart was an American politician. He was a Republican governor of Minnesota from 1909 until 1915.
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Adolphe Charles Adam was a French composer, more especially of comic operas. He was born in 1803 and died in 1856. He wrote Le postilion de Lonjumeau and Le Brasseur de Preston (Brewer of Preston).
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Adolphse Bernard Granier de Cassagnac was a French journalist and politician. He was born in 1806 and died in 1880. He began his career at Paris as contributor of literary criticisms to the Journal des Debats, and soon made himself known, and latterly notorious, as editor of various papers, the Globe, the Pouvoir, the Pays, etc, and as being involved in many controversies and duels. He published various books, chiefly historical. Amongst the principal are: Portraits Litteraires, Histoire des Causes de la Revolution Francaise, Histoire des Girondins, L'Empereur et la Democratie moderne.
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Sir Adolphus William Ward was an English scholar. He was born in 1837 and died in 1924. He was master of Peterhouse from 1900, president of the British Academy from 1911 to 1913 and was knighted in 1913.
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Adriaan Brouwer (Adriaan Brauwer) was a Flemish painter. He was born in 1605 at Oudenaarde and died in 1638. He was probably a student and associate of Frans Hals and also was influenced by Pieter Brueghel the Younger. Brouwer worked in Dutch cities and in Antwerp. One of the best of the Flemish genre painters, he is noted for his bright paintings of peasant life, especially raucous tavern scenes. Examples are Smokers and Tavern Interior. In Antwerp he produced fine landscapes, such as Twilight, in subdued earth tones.
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Adrian I was pope from 772 to 794. He established the temporal power of the papacy. A Roman aristocrat by birth, Adrian was elected pope by unanimous acclamation when he was only a deacon. After papal territory was attacked by the Lombard king Desiderius, Adrian called for assistance of Charles, king of the Franks. Charles defeated the Lombards and confirmed the pope in possession of many parts of Italy previously granted by Pepin.
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Adrian II was Pope. He was born in 792 and died in 872. A Roman, he was elected pope in 867, at the age of seventy-five years. He died in the midst of conflicts with the Greek Church.
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Adrian III was Pope. He was a Roman, and was elected in 884, was pope for one year and four months only. He was the first pope that changed his name on the occasion of his exaltation.
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Adrian IV was the only ever English born pope. He was born in 1100 and died in 1159. He was born Nicholas Breakspear and entered the monastery of Saint Rufus near Avignon in France. He was successively appointed abbot of the monastery in 1137, cardinal bishop of Albano in 1150, and papal legate to Scandinavia in 1152, holding the post until 1154. When he returned to Rome, he was unanimously elected pope upon the death of Anastasius IV in 1154, and held the post until his death in 1159.
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Adrian V was Pope. He was born Ottoboni da Fiesco. A native of Genoa, he settled, as legate of the pope, the dispute between King Henry III of England and his nobles, in favour of the former; but died a month after his election to the papal chair in 1276.
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Adrian Van Ostade was a Dutch painter. He was born in 1610 at Haarlem and died in 1685. He was a pupil of Franz Hals and was later influenced by Rembrandt.
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Adrian VI was the only ever Dutch born pope. He was born in 1459 and died in 1523. He was Born Adrian Florensz and became a theologian and teacher. He was appointed tutor to the future Charles V, Holy Roman emperor, and in 1516 became administrator of Castile. He was unanimously elected pope, even though he was not present at the conclave in 1522 and held the post until 1523.
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Adrian Willaert was a Venetian composer and the founder of the Venetian school of musical composers. He was born in 1480 at Bruges in Belgium and died in 1562. In 1527 he was appointed music-master of St Mark's in Venice. He was a prolific composer of motets and madrigals.
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Adrien Balbi was a Venetian geographer and statistician. He was born in 1782 at Venice and died in 1848. In 1808 his first work on geography procured his appointment as professor of geography in the College of San Michele at Murano, and he became in 1811 professor of natural philosophy in the Lyceum at Fermo. In 1820 he proceeded to Portugal, and collected there materials for his Essai Statistique sur Le Boyaume de Portugal et d'Algarve and Varietes Politiques et Statistiques de la Monarchic Portugaise, both published in 1822 at Paris, where he resided until 1832. He then settled in Padua, where he died in 1848. Balbi's admirable Abrege de Geographie was written at Paris, and translated into the principal European languages.
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Adrien Francois Boieldieu was a French composer. He was born in 1775 at Rouen and died in 1834 of pulmonary disease. He early displayed great musical talent, his first opera, La Famille Suisse, being well received in 1795 at Rouen. In 1795 he repaired to Paris, and rose rapidly in reputation, producing several operas, of which the best was Le Calife de Baghdad (1799). Domestic difficulties drove him in 1802 to Russia, where he became musical director to the emperor.
On his return to Paris in 1811 he produced, among other works, his two masterpieces, Jean de Paris (1812) and La Dame Blanche (1825), which place him in the first rank of composers of French comic opera. For some years he was professor of composition and the piano-forte at the Conservatoire.
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Adscripti Glebae (persons attached to the soil) was a term applied to a class of Roman slaves attached in perpetuity to and transferred with the land they cultivated. Colliers and salt workers in Scotland were in a similar position until 1775.
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Adventists are those Christians whose most important belief is in the imminent and literal second coming of Christ. They have occurred in most places in history. A separate movement began in the USA with William Miller, who predicted Christ's return and the end of the world in 1843 - 1844. His followers formed the denomination called Seventh Day Adventists who believe that the second coming of Christ is delayed only by a failure to keep the Sabbath (Friday evening to Saturday evening).
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Aedh was King of Scotland from 877 to 878.
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Aediles were Roman magistrates who had the supervision of the national games and spectacles; of the public edifices, such as temples (the name comes from aedes, a temple); of private buildings, of the markets, cleansing and draining the city, etc.
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The Aedui (Haedui) were a Celtic people of central Gaul between the Arar (Saone) and the Liger (Loire). They were conquered by Caesar in 52 BC.
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Aelfric was a British ecclesiastical biographer. He was born in 955 and died in 1020. He wrote 'Lives of the Saints'.
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The Aequi were an Italian race subdued by the Romans and their lands annexed between 471 and 302 BC. The Aequi were conspicuous in the early wars of Rome, and inhabiting the mountain district between the upper valley of the Anio (Teverone) and Lake Fucmus. They were probably akin to the Yolscians, with whom they were in constant alliance. They were defeated by Cincinnatus in 458 BC, and again by the dictator Postumus Tubertus in 428 BC, and were finally subdued about 302 BC. Soon after they were admitted to Roman citizenship.
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The Aerians were followers of Aerius, a presbyter, in the 4th century, who held that there was no distinction between a bishop and a presbyter and that prayers should not be offered for the dead.
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Aesc was king of the Heptarchy in 488. He was a son of Hengist. In honour of
Aesc the kings of Kent were sometimes called Aescings.
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Aeschylus was a Greek poetic dramatist. He was born in 525 BC and died in 456 BC.
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Aesop was a Greek writer of fables. Aesop is said to have been a contemporary of Croesus and Solon, and thus probably lived about the middle of the sixth century BC. But so little is known of his life that his existence has been called in question. He is said to have been originally a slave, and to have received his freedom from a Samian master, Iadmon. He then visited the court of Croesus, and is also said to have visited Pisistratus at Athens. Finally he was sent by Croesus to Delphi to distribute a sum of money to each of the citizens. For some reason he refused to distribute the money, whereupon the Delphians, enraged, threw him from a precipice, and killed him. No works of Aesop are extant, and it is doubtful whether he wrote any. Bentley inclined to the supposition that his fables were delivered orally and perpetuated by repetition. Such fables are spoken of both by Aristophanes and Plato. Phaedrus turned into Latin verse the Aeopian fables current in his day, with additions of his own. In modern times several collections bearing to be Aesop's fables have been published.
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Aetius Flavius was a Roman general of the western Roman Empire. He was born in 396 and died in 454. As commander in the reign of Valentinian III he defended the empire against the Huns, Visigoths, Franks, Burgundians, etc, completely defeating the first in particular under Attila in a great battle at Chalons in 451. For twenty years he was at the head of public affairs, and latterly was murdered by Yalentinian from jealousy of his power.
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Affonso de Albuquerque was a Portuguese admiral. He was born in 1452 and died in 1515. He was viceroy of Portuguese West Africa in 1503. Portugal having subjected to its power a large part of the western coast of Africa, and begun to extend its sway in the East Indies, Affonso de Albuquerque was appointed viceroy of the Portuguese acquisitions in this quarter, and arrived in 1503 with a fleet on the coast of Malabar. His career here was extremely successful, he having extended the Portuguese power over Malabar, Ceylon, the Sunda Islands, and the Peninsula of Malacca, and made the Portuguese name respected by all the nations and princes of India. Notwithstanding his services and his virtues, he was unjustly superseded in his commands, and so severely did he feel, that he died a few days later.
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An Afghan is an inhabitant of Afghanistan.
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An African is an inhabitant of Africa.
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The Afridis are a tribe or clan on the north-west frontier of India, about the Khyber Pass, who have at various times in history given trouble to the British when India was occupied as part of the British Empire. In 1897-98 a campaign (known as the 'the Tirah campaign') had to be undertaken against them, costly both in men and money before British authority was asserted. In 1905 the Afridis of the force called the Khyber Rifles formed an escort for the Prince and Princess of Wales on their visit to the famous pass, which was then entrusted to their charge.
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The Aga was the title of the leader of the Ottoman empire.
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Aga Khan is the title of the hereditary spiritual leader of the Isma'ili sect of Islam. The Aga Khan claims descendancy from Fatima.
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Agesilaus was a king of Sparta. He was born in 442 BC and died about 360 BC. He was elevated to the throne after the death of his brother Agis II. He acquired renown By his exploits against the Persians, Thebans, and Athenians. Though a vigorous ruler, and almost adored by his soldiers, he was of small stature and lame from his birth. Xenophon, Plutarch, and Cornelius Nepos are among his biographers.
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Agha Mohammed was Shah of Persia and founder of the Kajar Dynasty. He was born in 1740 and died in 1797. Agha Mohammed was the son of the Kajar chief Mohammed Hasan. Mutilated while a child by Adil Shah he became known as the Eunuch. After his father's death he surrendered to the Zend chief Karim Khan by whom he was kept in honourable captivity at Shiraz. At Karim's death in 1779 Agha Mohammed escaped from Shiraz and began his struggle for the crown. In 1795 he took Kerman, massacred the inhabitants, murdered the reigning sovereign, Lutf Ali Khan, and almost exterminated his family. Agha Mohammed was crowned shah in 1796 at Teheran, which he made his capital. The following year he was assassinated by two of his slaves.
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Agis IV was a king of Sparta. He succeeded to the throne in 244 BC, and reigned for four years. He attempted a reform of the abuses which had crept into the state - his plan comprehending a redistribution of the land, a division of wealth, and the cancelling of all debts. Opposed by his colleague Leonidas, advantage was taken of his absence in an expedition against the Aetolians, to depose him. Agis at first took sanctuary in a temple, but he was entrapped and hurriedly executed by his rival.
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Agnes Bernauer was the daughter of a poor Augsburg citizen, whom Duke Albert of Bavaria, only son of the reigning prince, secretly married. He conducted her to his own castle of Vohburg; but his father wishing to marry him to Anne, daughter of the Duke of Brunswick, he was compelled to proclaim his marriage with Agnes, giving her for residence the castle of Straubing on the Danube. The incensed Duke of Bavaria, however, caused her to be seized in her castle during the absence of his son, accused her of sorcery, and had her drowned in the Danube in 1435. Albert in revenge took arms against his father, but the Emperor Sigismund finally reconciled them. The Duke Ernest raised a chapel to the memory of Agnes, and Albert married the Princess of Brunswick.
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Agnes Sorel was the mistress of king Charles VII of France. She was born in 1409 at Fromenteau in Touraine and died in 1450. After entering the service of the duchess of Anjou in 1431 she was taken to the royal court where she attracted the attention of Charles VII and in 1444 became his mistress, remaining so until her sudden and suspicious death in 1450 which the dauphin, afterwards Louis IX, was thought to be responsible.
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Agnes Strickland was an English historian. She was born in 1796 at London and died in 1874. Educated at home, in 1818 following the death of her father she took up writing for a living, producing historical fiction and non-fiction works both alone and in conjunction with her sister Elizabeth.
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Agostino Di Duccio was an Italian sculptor. He was born in 1418 at Florence and died in 1481. He was an original sculptor, who unlike the other 15th century Florentine sculptors did not follow the work of either Donatello or Ghiberti. Among his early works are reliefs at Moderna Cathedral.
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Cneius Julius Agricola was a Roman consul, general and colonial governor. He was born in 37 and died in 93. A Roman consul under the Emperor Vespasian, and governor in Britain, the greater part of which he reduced to the dominion of Rome he distinguished himself as a statesman and general. His life, written by his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, gives the best extant account of Britain in the early part of the period of the Roman rule. He was the twelfth Roman general who had been in Britain, but was the only one who effectually subdued the southern portion of it and reconciled the Britons to the Roman yoke. This he did by teaching them the arts of civilization and to settle in towns. He constructed the chain of forts between the Forth and the Clyde, defeated Galgacus at the battle of the Grampians, and sailed round the island, discovering the Orkneys.
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Ahab was a king of Israel. he was born in 875 BC and died in 853 BC. The husband of Jezebel, he allowed the worship of Baal and defended the kingdom against the Syrians and Assyrians.
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Ahmad Ibn Baso was an architect. He was employed by the Almohad rulers of Southern Spain between 1160 and 1185 to produce fortifications and public works. In 1172 he began work on the Giralda minaret, now the bell tower of Seville Cathedral.
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Ahmad Shah was the first king of Afghanistan. He was born in 1724 and died in 1773. He founded the kingdom of Afghanistan.
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Ahmed Shah was the founder of the Durani dynasty in Afghanistan. He was born in born 1724 and died in 1773, On the assassination of Nadir he proclaimed himself shah, and set about subduing the provinces surrounding his realm. Among his first acts was the securing of the famed Koh-i-noor diamond, which had fallen into the hands of his predecessor. He crossed the Indus in 1748, and his conquests in northern India culminated in the defeat of the Mahrattas at Panipat on the 6th of January 1761. Affairs in his own country necessitated his withdrawal from India, but he extended his empire vastly in other directions far beyond the limits of modern Afghanistan. He was succeeded by his son Timur.
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Ahmed Bey Zogu Zog was king of Albania from 1928 to 1939. He was born in 1895 and died in 1961. He became prime minister of Albania in 1922, president of the republic in 1925, and proclaimed himself king in 1928. He was driven out by the Italians in 1939 and fled to England.
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Ahmose I was a king of Egypt. he was born in 1580 BC and died in 1558 BC. he founded the 18th dynasty and freed Egypt from the Hyksos.
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The Ahtnas are a tribe of North American Indians inhabiting the Copper River Valley in south-east Alaska.
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Aidan was king of the Dalriada around 600. He was crowned by St Columba at Iona and completed the separation of Dalriada from the parent kingdom in Ireland, and in 588 conquered the Isle of Man. He attempted to extend his kingdom south by attacking Ethelfrith, king of Bernicia, but was defeated in 603. He died in 606.
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Aime Bonpland was a French botanist. He was born in 1773 at Rochelle and died in 1858 in Brazil. He accompanied Alexander Von Humboldt on his expedition to the New World, during which he collected over 6000 plants, previously unknown and on his return to France in 1804 he was made director of the gardens at Navarre and Malmaison. He later returned to South America to study and live.
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Aime Millet was a French sculptor and painter. He was born in 1819 at Paris and died in 1891. He began to exhibit in 1842, and created a great sensation by his sculptor entitled 'Ariadne' in 1857.
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Aimo Kaarlo Cajander was a Finnish politician. He was born in 1879 and died in 1943. he was Prime Minister of Finland in 1922, 1924 and from 1937 to 1940.
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The Ainos were the aboriginal inhabitants of Japan. They were a short race, averaging about five feet in height with black hair and typically hairy bodies. As recently as 1900 they inhabited the island of Yesso.
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The Ainu are an aboriginal people of Japan noted for their hairiness, they now also live in neighbouring parts of | 
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