id
stringlengths
32
32
url
stringlengths
31
1.58k
title
stringlengths
0
1.02k
contents
stringlengths
92
1.17M
15abc06459f61afccff9b585f1bee11f
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anatolia/The-Middle-Kingdom
The Middle Kingdom
The Middle Kingdom Telipinus is ordinarily regarded as the last king of the Old Kingdom. His death marks the beginning of a more obscure period that lasted until the creation of the Hittite empire. The Syrian provinces, which Telipinus had been compelled to abandon, fell briefly into the hands of Hanigalbat, one of the...
ef09d0b637c3345dcfeb48432467ab7a
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anatom
Anatom
Anatom Anatom, also spelled Aneityum, southernmost inhabited island of Vanuatu, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Volcanic in origin, it has a circumference of 35 miles (56 km) and an area of 25 square miles (65 square km). It rises from a fertile coastal plain and valleys to a height of 2,795 feet (852 metres). Anat...
ee675ed07c5e539526a292d04228aedb
https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Egypt/Macedonian-and-Ptolemaic-Egypt-332-30-bce
Macedonian and Ptolemaic Egypt (332–30 bce)
Macedonian and Ptolemaic Egypt (332–30 bce) In the autumn of 332 bce Alexander the Great invaded Egypt with his mixed army of Macedonians and Greeks and found the Egyptians ready to throw off the oppressive control of the Persians. Alexander was welcomed by the Egyptians as a liberator and took the country without a ba...
64b205b996f84fe786f8fb07d884137a
https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Greece/Classical-Greek-civilization
Classical Greek civilization
Classical Greek civilization Between 500 and 386 bce Persia was for the policy-making classes in the largest Greek states a constant preoccupation. (It is not known, however, how far down the social scale this preoccupation extended in reality.) Persia was never less than a subject for artistic and oratorical reference...
f3a86da70d9a2d599ed754b8e303b5b2
https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Greece/Early-Archaic-Greek-civilization
Early Archaic Greek civilization
Early Archaic Greek civilization Before attempting to characterize Archaic Greece, one must admit candidly that the evidence is unsatisfactory. Only for Athens is anything like a proper political tradition known, and Athens’ development toward the democracy of the 5th century was amazingly and untypically rapid by comp...
d7e999692c95eca1e3b0571e7241ede7
https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Greece/From-386-bce-to-the-decline-of-Sparta
From 386 bce to the decline of Sparta
From 386 bce to the decline of Sparta The autonomy guaranteed to the Greek cities by the King’s Peace in 386 represented in principle an advance in interstate diplomacy; but then as now the word autonomy was elastic, and Sparta by its behaviour soon made clear its intention to interpret it in the way most favourable to...
498fb27e9ea7a958097838332c222bed
https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Iran/The-Hellenistic-and-Parthian-periods
The Hellenistic and Parthian periods
The Hellenistic and Parthian periods Between 334 and 330 bc Alexander completed the conquest of the whole Achaemenian Empire. (For the story of the conquest, see Alexander the Great and ancient Greek civilization: Alexander the Great.) Alexander’s burning of the royal palace at Persepolis in 330 symbolized the passing ...
d989d6f025c03886e7c8885aabf1ff99
https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Iran/The-Sasanian-period
The Sāsānian period
The Sāsānian period At the beginning of the 3rd century ad, the Arsacid empire had been in existence for some 400 years. Its strength had been undermined, however, by repeated Roman invasions, and the empire became once more divided, this time between Vologeses VI (or V), who seems to have ruled at Ctesiphon, on the le...
a0015d42e00062fbbbe93572f2bca627
https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Rome/Diocletian
Diocletian
Diocletian Diocletian may be considered the real founder of the late empire, though the form of government he established—the tetrarchy, or four persons sharing power simultaneously—was transitory. His reforms, however, lasted longer. Military exigencies, not the desire to apply a preconceived system, explain the succe...
86fc180b9a887639ad0813a90dde5d55
https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Rome/The-barbarian-invasions
The barbarian invasions
The barbarian invasions The Goths were Germans coming from what is now Sweden and were followed by the Vandals, the Burgundians, and the Gepidae. The aftereffect of their march to the southeast, toward the Black Sea, was to push the Marcomanni, the Quadi, and the Sarmatians onto the Roman limes in Marcus Aurelius’ time...
de247ba71abc4c6c98b58cbc543a458e
https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Rome/The-Later-Roman-Empire
The Later Roman Empire
The Later Roman Empire After the assassination of Commodus on Dec. 31, ad 192, Helvius Pertinax, the prefect of the city, became emperor. In spite of his modest birth, he was well respected by the Senate, but he was without his own army. He was killed by the praetorians at the end of March 193, after a three-month reig...
6ff1bc83edd837940cc134dbf7ced2aa
https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Rome/The-middle-republic-264-133-bc
The middle republic (264–133 bc)
The middle republic (264–133 bc) Rome’s rapidly expanding sphere of hegemony brought it almost immediately into conflict with non-Italian powers. In the south, the main opponent was Carthage. In violation of the treaty of 306, which (historians tend to believe) had placed Sicily in the Carthaginian sphere of influence,...
f0a644e7bd70299e11e75be127809b00
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ancon-Peru
Ancón
Ancón The Tank site at Ancón consists of a series of stone-faced platforms on a hill. Las Haldas has a platform and three plazas; two smaller similar sites are also known. The old centres at El Paraíso and Río Seco had been abandoned, but, in the highlands, Kotosh continued to…
6d0211b21d209d4cd0ca5e3ccb217da7
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ancud
Ancud
Ancud Ancud, town and commune, southern Chile. It lies on the northern coast of Chiloé Island, across the Strait of Chacao from the mainland. Founded in 1768 as San Carlos de Chiloé and renamed as Ancud in 1834, it was one of the last strongholds of royalist forces during Chile’s struggle for independence from Spain i...
061b2741c2ef82fc7f16cc4598e14a49
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ancylus-Lake
Ancylus Lake
Ancylus Lake …northern Sweden, leaving the freshwater Ancylus Lake stretching from Arctic Sweden and Finland to the present southern Baltic. Later changes, about 4500 bc, led to a breach of the land bridge between the present Baltic and North seas and to fragmentation of the Jutland peninsula by The Sound (Øresund), th...
fd53918352e449dd2ca8e628e76a36b4
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andalusia-Alabama
Andalusia
Andalusia Andalusia, city, seat (1841) of Covington county, southern Alabama, U.S., near the Conecuh River, about 85 miles (135 km) south of Montgomery. It originated in 1841 as New Site, when the county seat of Montezuma relocated to higher ground because of floods, at a point along the Three Notch Trail (used by And...
3d507e09ab501a75d80435dc0950f815
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andaman-and-Nicobar-Islands/People
People
People Although the Andaman and Nicobar Islands territory consists of hundreds of islands, very few of them are inhabited. Roughly two dozen of the Andaman Islands support human settlements, while only 12 of the Nicobar Islands are populated. The vast majority of the population of the Andamans consists of immigrants fr...
ffa093b2b1c091edd664875d0fa13177
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andaman-Nicobar-Ridge
Andaman-Nicobar Ridge
Andaman-Nicobar Ridge …submarine valleys east of the Andaman-Nicobar Ridge, depths exceed 14,500 feet (4,400 metres). The sea’s northern and eastern third is less than 600 feet (180 metres) deep, in part because vast quantities of silt have been deposited by the Irrawaddy River at its delta. The western and central hal...
3d0df5b2e16261439541ffec7de67fa5
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andaman-Sea
Andaman Sea
Andaman Sea Andaman Sea, marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean. It is bounded to the north by the Irrawaddy River delta of Myanmar (Burma); to the east by peninsular Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia; to the south by the Indonesian island of Sumatra and by the Strait of Malacca; and to the west by the Andaman an...
8678b4a46d89af10f6e842343afcbc63
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anderida
Anderida
Anderida …towers of a Roman fort, Anderida (c. 250 ce), rank among the best extant examples of Roman building in England. After the Norman Conquest (1066) a castle was built within the Roman walls. Pop. (2001) 2,997; (2011) 3,153.
d2e3da12fd223373fdfa78b76d91aa68
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andernach
Andernach
Andernach At Andernach, where the ancient Roman frontier left the Rhine, the basaltic Seven Hills rise steeply to the east of the river, where, as the English poet Lord Byron put it, “the castle crag of Dachenfels frowns o’er the wide and winding Rhine.”
360388a61d4a9dfd918df43cc18f4291
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anderson-county-South-Carolina
Anderson
Anderson Anderson, county, northwestern South Carolina, U.S. It consists of a piedmont region in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains between the Saluda River to the northeast and the Savannah River border with Georgia to the southwest. Part of that border is Hartwell Lake, created by the Hartwell Dam on the Sava...
407daa19dc8d317e160969682fb2404a
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andersonville-Georgia
Andersonville
Andersonville Andersonville, village in Sumter county, southwest-central Georgia, U.S., that was the site of a Confederate military prison from February 1864 until May 1865 during the American Civil War. Andersonville—formally, Camp Sumter—was the South’s largest prison for captured Union soldiers and was notorious fo...
f3898ecbe81651d5fcbf8d1318856d4b
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andersonville-National-Cemetery
Andersonville National Cemetery
Andersonville National Cemetery …and its environs and includes Andersonville National Cemetery, containing some 18,000 graves, including those of prisoners who died at the camp. The cemetery continues to be used as a burial site for U.S. military veterans. The U.S. National Park Service has conducted archaeological exc...
fd09091a7fab17d449082ddaa61e271d
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anderton
Anderton
Anderton …were constructed in 1875 at Anderton, Eng., with a 50-foot lift for 60-ton vessels; in 1888 lifts were constructed at Les Fontinettes, Fr., for 300-ton vessels and at La Louvière, Belg., for 400-ton vessels. Similar hydraulic lift locks were constructed at Kirkfield and Peterborough in Ontario, Can.; the latt...
abb7eff2deeec997c3d89b27e4963b1c
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andhra-Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh, state of India, located in the southeastern part of the subcontinent. It is bounded by the Indian states of Tamil Nadu to the south, Karnataka to the southwest and west, Telangana to the northwest and north, and Odisha to the northeast. The eastern boundary is a 600-mile (970-km) coastli...
9bc3543f5d875ab741d9876999a1e692
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andhra-Pradesh/Government-and-society
Government and society
Government and society Andhra Pradesh is a constituent unit of the Republic of India, and, as such, its government structure, like that of most Indian states, is defined by the national constitution of 1950. A governor, appointed by the president of India, is the executive head of the state administration, but the real...
689d5e0638cc8ee584fe075e2b31350b
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andhra-Pradesh/History
History
History Although Sanskrit writings dating to about 1000 bce contain references to a people called “Andhras” living south of the central Indian mountain ranges, definitive historical evidence of the Andhras dates from the times of the Mauryan dynasty, which ruled in the north from the late 4th to the early 2nd century b...
e029d51cd3d45f4c6461e544651ac775
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andhra-Pradesh/People
People
People The population of Andhra Pradesh, like that of the other states of India, is highly diverse. In general, the state’s various communities are identified more readily by a combination of language, religion, and social class or caste than they are by specific ethnic affiliation. Telugu is the official and most wide...
88398d0aaf36c9258d39b6220340125f
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andhra-University
Andhra University
Andhra University …bay, is the site of Andhra University (founded 1926). The area surrounding the suburbs is dominated on the west by the well-forested Eastern Ghats and farther east is drained by numerous rivers, among them the Godavari and the Indravati. The Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone is a more than 500-acre...
15fb52683ba217473bf7e889b7faa733
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andijon
Andijon
Andijon Andijon, also spelled Andizhan, or Andižan, city, extreme eastern Uzbekistan. Andijon lies in the southeastern part of the Fergana Valley. The city, which stands on ancient deposits of the Andijon River, dates back at least to the 9th century. In the 15th century it became the capital of the Fergana Valley and...
0485ba9f87420fd5f9f657a0fc06219c
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andkhvoy
Andkhvoy
Andkhvoy …suffered a severe defeat at Andkhvoy (Andkhui) at the hands of the Khwārezm-Shah dynasty. News of the defeat precipitated a rebellion by some of the sultan’s followers in the Punjab, and, although the rebellion was put down, Muḥammad of Ghūr was assassinated at Lahore in 1206. The Ghūrids at the…
713fb2033ebe05ba38a5ff4f11b6d14f
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andover-Massachusetts
Andover
Andover Andover, town (township), Essex county, northeastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies in the Merrimack River valley just south of Lawrence and 20 miles (32 km) north of Boston. Settled in 1642, it was incorporated in 1646 and named for Andover, England, home of many of the early colonists. Textile mills were establ...
0435ab3417778426e7bbaa8005f2f259
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andreanof-Islands
Andreanof Islands
Andreanof Islands Andreanof Islands, one of several smaller groups of islands within the Aleutian Islands, southwestern Alaska, U.S. They lie between the Pacific Ocean (south) and the Bering Sea (north) and extend east-west for about 270 miles (430 km) east of Rat Islands. The largest islands in the group are Adak, Am...
d4de0012ff3d28bd212ce05b6f7c2ef3
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andringitra-Massif
Andringitra Massif
Andringitra Massif Farther south, Andringitra is a vast granite massif north of Tôlan̈aro (Faradofay); it rises to 8,720 feet (2,658 metres) at Boby Peak.
2b633fdfa273863b96f586a770b249e5
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andromeda-Galaxy
Andromeda Galaxy
Andromeda Galaxy Andromeda Galaxy, also called Andromeda Nebula, (catalog numbers NGC 224 and M31), great spiral galaxy in the constellation Andromeda, the nearest large galaxy. The Andromeda Galaxy is one of the few visible to the unaided eye, appearing as a milky blur. It is located about 2,480,000 light-years from ...
20a443a18582c47fbb6f827b70b60609
https://www.britannica.com/place/Andros-Island
Andros Island
Andros Island Andros Island, largest island of The Bahamas, West Indies. It lies 25 miles (40 km) west of New Providence Island and about 125 miles (200 km) east-southeast of the U.S. state of Florida. A flat, heavily forested island, Andros extends about 100 miles (160 km) from north to south and spans about 45 miles...
c5883ec8cd15209440c2bff21a88b1ad
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anegada
Anegada
Anegada Anegada, one of the British Virgin Islands and the northernmost of the Lesser Antilles, a chain separating the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. It lies about 80 miles (130 km) east-northeast of Puerto Rico. Annual rainfall averages a moderate 50 inches (1,275 mm). Unlike the other Virgin Islands, Anegada (Spa...
5ef46201e5a7a136e11a4991eaa3cf76
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ang-chu
Ang-ch’ü
Ang-ch’ü …southern Qinghai as two rivers—the Ang and Zha—which join near the Tibet border; the river then flows through eastern Tibet and western Yunnan and enters Laos and Thailand. The source of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) rises in southern Qinghai, near the Tibet border; after flowing through southern Qinghai, t...
c7c9c6586be01d9b4da3e9d387448fe8
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anga-historical-region-India
Aṅga
Aṅga … (Patna and Gaya districts) and Anga (northwest of the delta) were also interested in controlling the river and soon made their presence felt. The conflict eventually drew in the Vrijji state (Behar and Muzaffarpur districts). For a while, Videha (modern Tirhut), with its capital at Mithila, also remained powerfu...
31b8a5f3ade1ebc456cd04faa47dc533
https://www.britannica.com/place/Angara-River
Angara River
Angara River Angara River, river in southeast central Russia. It is the outlet for Lake Baikal and a major tributary of the Yenisey River, which it joins near Yeniseysk. The river flows for 1,105 miles (1,779 km) across the southern part of the Central Siberian Plateau and drains over 400,000 square miles (1,040,000 ...
180b4fd9c51d3f077f9622288f0f636d
https://www.britannica.com/place/Angaran-platform
Angaran platform
Angaran platform …the Precambrian outcrops of the Angaran and Indian platforms and in the North China paraplatform. They consist of primitive island-arc magmatic and sparse sedimentary rocks sandwiched between younger basaltic and ultrabasic rocks, exposed along what are called greenstone belts. The basement of the Ang...
b455036bb9082d844f005831762bf39d
https://www.britannica.com/place/Angaran-Shield
Angaran Shield
Angaran Shield In Asia the name Angaran Shield is applied to a large stable block bounded by the Lena and Yenisey rivers on the east and west and by the Arctic Ocean and Lake Baikal to the north and south. An area in China and North Korea is sometimes designated the… The Angaran Shield is exposed between the Khatanga a...
c7a096cdb464c7f41c9abbc609517c16
https://www.britannica.com/place/Angel-Falls
Angel Falls
Angel Falls Angel Falls, Spanish Salto Ángel, also called Salto Churún Merú, waterfall in the Guiana Highlands in Bolívar state, southeastern Venezuela, on the Churún River, a tributary of the Caroní, 160 miles (260 km) southeast of Ciudad Bolívar. The highest waterfall in the world, the cataract drops 3,212 feet (979...
1c7b01538236cc173f7809ca9d5fe1f4
https://www.britannica.com/place/Angeles-National-Forest
Angeles National Forest
Angeles National Forest The mountains are largely within Angeles National Forest. The southern foothills, which enter residential and agricultural communities of Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, are noted for citrus-fruit production.
c70d519dbe86aef814d8375f2ea726a4
https://www.britannica.com/place/Angelus-Temple
Angelus Temple
Angelus Temple …she was able to dedicate Angelus Temple in Los Angeles as the “mother church” of the Foursquare Gospel Association. From 1923 the organization grew to national and international importance.
4a38790b8b8fce89aefbe673261945a5
https://www.britannica.com/place/Angers-France
Angers
Angers Angers, city, capital of Maine-et-Loire département, Pays de la Loire région, western France. Angers is the former capital of Anjou and lies along the Maine River 5 miles (8 km) above the latter’s junction with the Loire River, northeast of Nantes. The old city is on the river’s left bank, with three bridges cr...
a8007250a14a1b9ba4d269b38630dd69
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anglo-America
Anglo-America
Anglo-America Anglo-America, cultural entity of North America whose common spoken language is English and whose folkways and customs historically have been those of northern Europe. It comprises most of the United States and Canada, with French-speaking Canada a notable exception. The term also designates a geographi...
61ad5ce4d59f358661f359baa51e907c
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anglo-Hindu-School
Anglo-Hindu School
Anglo-Hindu School In 1822 Roy founded the Anglo-Hindu School and four years later the Vedanta College in order to teach his Hindu monotheistic doctrines. When the Bengal government proposed a more traditional Sanskrit college, in 1823, Roy protested that classical Indian literature would not prepare the youth of Benga...
205dede63be5e9e8e36ad904484f42bb
https://www.britannica.com/place/Angola
Angola
Angola Angola, country located in southwestern Africa. A large country, Angola takes in a broad variety of landscapes, including the semidesert Atlantic littoral bordering Namibia’s “Skeleton Coast,” the sparsely populated rainforest interior, the rugged highlands of the south, the Cabinda exclave in the north, and th...
ce45203c01610c9062a3e2a276a1ed73
https://www.britannica.com/place/Angola/Cultural-life
Cultural life
Cultural life Precolonial culture in Angola was broadly similar from one end of the country to another, albeit with local variations and some differences stemming from the many, though mostly related, languages spoken in the area. A common traditional culture is still noticeable in Angola. Portuguese contact beginning ...
bd995d9cea09571f1c036c2052130ee1
https://www.britannica.com/place/Angola/Economy
Economy
Economy The Portuguese government regarded Angola as its overseas crown jewel during the colonial period. It made the colony a target of ambitious settlement schemes and encouraged investment in the economy. As a result of these efforts, the Angolan economy was growing rapidly by the 1970s, with commodities such as cof...
75fc14706d8ada8a29deb5023bc84829
https://www.britannica.com/place/Angostura-Dam
Angostura Dam
Angostura Dam Angostura Dam (impounding Angostura Reservoir), finished in 1949 as part of the Missouri River basin irrigation and flood-control project, is on the Cheyenne River near Hot Springs, South Dakota. The Cheyenne joins the Missouri at Lake Oahe, one of the largest man-made reservoirs in the…
e8357c2b3aec8e4213b57111e89d33c9
https://www.britannica.com/place/Angra-do-Heroismo
Angra do Heroísmo
Angra do Heroísmo Angra do Heroísmo, also called Angra, city and concelho (municipality) on the south coast of Terceira, an island of the Azores archipelago of Portugal in the North Atlantic Ocean. It lies at the base of Mount Brasil. Angra became a city in 1534. The words do heroísmo commemorate the island’s resistan...
1a5baeb393beac3fe4c1209ab5f8da85
https://www.britannica.com/place/Angra-I
Angra I
Angra I Angra I, opened in 1982 near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil’s second nuclear reactor, Angra II, began operating in 2000. In 1984 the Itaipú hydroelectric complex, the world’s largest power station at its completion, began operating on the Alto Paraná River between Brazil and Paraguay. Dozens…
4728732827bd3a7e21088b712930f334
https://www.britannica.com/place/Angsi
Angsi
Angsi …there are the Kubi, the Angsi, and the Chemayungdung. From its source the river runs for nearly 700 miles (1,100 km) in a generally easterly direction between the Great Himalayas range to the south and the Kailas Range to the north. Throughout its upper course the river is generally known…
88ed21d5e38f0ffe4a0e716e662f8777
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anguilla-island-West-Indies/Cultural-life
Cultural life
Cultural life The evolution of Anguilla’s society was, as elsewhere in the Caribbean, a legacy of plantation sugar and slavery, although conditions in Anguilla were somewhat anomalous for the region. The island’s thin soil and inadequate rainfall adversely affected the quantity and quality of its sugar crop; these fact...
97ba597ce082e084a2bed3f8a58c148e
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anguilla-island-West-Indies/History
History
History Long before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean, Anguilla had been settled by Arawakan-speaking Indians who called it Malliouhana. They were originally from the Orinoco River basin of South America and arrived on the island about 2000 bce. Anguilla was colonized in 1650 by British settlers from...
d9152c86bb2c71972a1be358bf03b6a3
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anhui/Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture Wheat is the predominant crop in the Huai basin to the north, and—more importantly—rice is grown in the Yangtze basin to the south. In the relatively wetter Yangtze valley most of the cultivable land is devoted to rice, while in the drier Huai basin about one-third of the land is under wheat. Most of the la...
64c4b7571b7985741f7d9ec9414f6eac
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anhui/Climate
Climate
Climate Anhui shares with much of the rest of China the seasonal monsoon climate characterized by hot, wet summers and cooler, dry winters. Because of its north-south extent, however, Anhui experiences appreciable variations in climate. Mean January temperatures in the north of the Huai basin range between 32 °F (0 °C)...
145703436e2ec8d3336069c8b8fe60c8
https://www.britannica.com/place/Aniakchak-River
Aniakchak River
Aniakchak River …drain, the flow forming the Aniakchak River. Access to the area is by float plane; raft trips also are made on the Aniakchak, which is designated a national wild river.
a927ca46453a9adf6a7ca610aba82993
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ankang
Ankang
Ankang Ankang, Wade-Giles romanization An-k’ang, formerly Xing’an, city in southeastern Shaanxi sheng (province), China. It is situated in the narrow valley of the Han River between the Qin (Tsinling) and Daba mountain ranges and has been an important trade centre since antiquity. Ankang first emerged as an independen...
5891e9e10c46fd71c426844c415dee62
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ankara
Ankara
Ankara Ankara, formerly known as Angora, city, capital of Turkey, situated in the northwestern part of the country. It lies about 125 miles (200 km) south of the Black Sea, near the confluence of the Hatip, İnce Su, and Çubek streams. Pop. (2000) 3,203,362; (2013 est.) 4,417,522. While the date of the city’s foundatio...
bb8c787e2990ee350230f661e83e4de1
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ankaratra
Ankaratra
Ankaratra Ankaratra, volcanic mountainous region in central Madagascar (Malagasy), covering an area of approximately 2,000 square miles (5,200 square km) and rising to 8,671 feet (2,643 m) in Mount Tsiafajavona, the nation’s second highest peak. The main range runs south-southwest from the town of Antananarivo. Antsi...
82fc631865f625cff5b3d63affe2fb17
https://www.britannica.com/place/Annaba
Annaba
Annaba Annaba, formerly Bône, or Bona, town and Mediterranean port, northeastern Algeria. It lies near the mouth of the Wadi Seybouse, close to the Tunisian border. Its location on a natural harbour (Annaba Gulf) between Capes Garde and Rosa early attracted the Phoenicians, probably in the 12th century bce. It passed ...
c896c0c7df3b3f2b6775940f8dc9b504
https://www.britannica.com/place/Annaberg-Sugar-Mill
Annaberg Sugar Mill
Annaberg Sugar Mill …plantation ruins, including the 1718 Annaberg Sugar Mill, can be seen in the park. Water activities such as snorkeling (Trunk Bay has an underwater trail), scuba diving, sailing, windsurfing, and fishing are popular, and there are several hiking trails. Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (...
1b3e1dbcda9362e1d04166efa3c9c1ea
https://www.britannica.com/place/Annapolis-Royal
Annapolis Royal
Annapolis Royal …parallel, including Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia), which he captured in 1614. He returned in that year to England, where he was cleared of charges of wrongdoing in his actions against the French. …lives of fewer men, at Annapolis Basin. During the summers he searched for an ideal site f...
3e3bde3cf00f8f2cabdb2008985dddec
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anniston
Anniston
Anniston Anniston, city, seat (1899) of Calhoun county, eastern Alabama, U.S. It lies in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, about 60 miles (95 km) east of Birmingham. Founded in 1872 by Samuel Noble, Daniel Tyler, and Tyler’s sons as a private industrial community (opened to the public in 1883), it was origin...
3b89def2e61ebd87841a4a9bf2813275
https://www.britannica.com/place/Annunciata-dei-Catalani
Annunciata dei Catalani
Annunciata dei Catalani …cathedral and the Church of Annunciata dei Catalani, possibly of Byzantine origin, both rebuilt by the Normans in the 12th century. The National Museum houses works of art saved from the 1908 earthquake. Among numerous noteworthy modern buildings is the campanile adjacent to the cathedral. Mess...
a448fca56f6db781276d3ed8553fae34
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anseba-River
Anseba River
Anseba River …are the Baraka and the Anseba. Both of these rivers flow northward into a marshy area on the eastern coast of Sudan and do not reach the Red Sea. Several seasonal streams that flow eastward from the plateau reach the sea on the Eritrean coast.
3c46b45d3ac952bddbadb367999c94bb
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ansley-Wilcox-Mansion
Ansley Wilcox Mansion
Ansley Wilcox Mansion The Ansley Wilcox Mansion, where Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office following the assassination, was dedicated a national historic site in 1966. Niagara Square, dominated by the McKinley Monument and site of the City Hall (1932) and federal buildings, is the focus of the city.
2de877327548d713b23678046110bd62
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ansongo
Ansongo
Ansongo Ansongo, town, southeastern Mali, West Africa, on the Niger River. It is a mining (antimony) and agricultural (grains, livestock) marketing centre. Prospecting for uranium began in the late 1970s. The Niger is navigable for about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) above Ansongo. Directly to the east is the Ansongo-Ménaka ...
e3c651f26839431ad5dba1b7246915c3
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ansonia
Ansonia
Ansonia Ansonia, city, coextensive with the town (township) of Ansonia, New Haven county, southwestern Connecticut, U.S., on the Naugatuck River. The area was a part of the township of Derby until it was incorporated as a separate township in 1889. Ansonia’s separate identity had been established in 1843, when Anson G...
d9f1c76aac4290bfcc2a43f0b650857d
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antalya-Plain
Antalya Plain
Antalya Plain The Antalya Plain extends inland some 20 miles (30 km) from the Gulf of Antalya; the Adana Plain, measuring roughly 90 by 60 miles (145 by 100 km), comprises the combined deltas of the Seyhan and Ceyhan rivers. The mountain system falls into two main parts.…
91684bdb0c222ffc7f7ac4692f481dfb
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antarctic-Circle
Antarctic Circle
Antarctic Circle Antarctic Circle, parallel, or line of latitude around the Earth, at 66°30′ S. Because the Earth’s axis is inclined about 23.5° from the vertical, this parallel marks the northern limit of the area within which, for one day or more each year, at the summer and winter solstices, the Sun does not set (D...
9145acd8197bdc083ce538e4ff6e1ffd
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antarctic-Peninsula
Antarctic Peninsula
Antarctic Peninsula Antarctic Peninsula, also called Palmer Peninsula, Graham Land, or Tierra de O’Higgins, peninsula claimed by the United Kingdom, Chile, and Argentina. It forms an 800-mile (1,300-km) northward extension of Antarctica toward the southern tip of South America. The peninsula is ice-covered and mountai...
355b32866ac29b9578ecc80c614598c4
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antarctica/Animal-life
Animal life
Animal life The native land fauna is wholly invertebrate. Apparently climatically less tolerant and less easily dispersed, the fauna follows plant colonization of newly deglaciated regions and therefore is not as widely distributed. The Antarctic microfauna includes heliozoans, rotifers, tardigrades, nematodes, and cil...
5bcae4f627d9f4a7aedec40a14fd16e8
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antarctica/Climate
Climate
Climate The unique weather and climate of Antarctica provide the basis for its familiar appellations—Home of the Blizzard and White Desert. By far the coldest continent, Antarctica has winter temperatures that range from −128.6 °F (−89.2 °C), the world’s lowest recorded temperature, measured at Vostok Station (Russia) ...
340140c804cfbec51755682c55b57b51
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antarctica/Discovery-of-the-Antarctic-poles
Discovery of the Antarctic poles
Discovery of the Antarctic poles National and personal prestige in attaining the Earth’s poles, as well as territorial acquisition and scientific inquiry, provided strong motivation for polar exploration in the early 1900s. The south magnetic pole, the point of vertical orientation of a magnetic dip needle, which was p...
238245ff84ae804689fdbca46fd4d021
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antarctica/History
History
History Many nations were involved in the discovery and early exploration of Antarctica. About 650 ce, however, long before European geographers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance were to conjecture about Terra Australis Incognita, a mythical land to the far south, Rarotongan oral tradition tells of Ui-te-Rangiora,...
dd4f037aece20fb1478e657a95bb13c5
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antarctica/IGY-and-the-Antarctic-Treaty
IGY and the Antarctic Treaty
IGY and the Antarctic Treaty The usefulness of coordinating polar science efforts was recognized in 1879 by the International Polar Commission meeting in Hamburg, Germany, and thus the 11 participating nations organized the First International Polar Year (1882–83). Most work was planned for the better-known Arctic, and...
b8fe8034563c3faf108a0e8f12a6c287
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antares-star
Antares
Antares Antares, also called Alpha Scorpii, red, semiregular variable star, with apparent visual magnitude about 1.1, the brightest star in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius and one of the largest known stars, having several hundred times the diameter of the Sun and 10,000 times the Sun’s luminosity. It has a fifth-...
4d761ea12dfedc88400d38e6eab25a4f
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antequera
Antequera
Antequera Antequera, city, Málaga provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Andalusia, southern Spain, northwest of Málaga, at the foot of the Sierra del Torcal. Neolithic dolmens (Menga, Viera, and El Romeral) attest to prehistoric occupation of the site. The city, known to the Romans ...
af8dd5cf225c21eb3dbab004dfb5715c
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anthracite-Belt
Anthracite Belt
Anthracite Belt …Mammoth coal bed of the Anthracite Belt in eastern Pennsylvanian has an average thickness of 10–12 metres (35–40 feet) throughout its extent. The Pittsburgh seam in western Pennsylvania averages 4 metres (13 feet) thick and is reported workable over 15,540 square km (6,000 square miles). More than 60 c...
372d3acac0aa97d39e39d626178d2294
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anticosti-Island
Anticosti Island
Anticosti Island Anticosti Island, French Île d’Anticosti, island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, part of the Côte-Nord region, southeastern Quebec province, Canada. The island is 140 miles (225 km) long, and its greatest width is 35 miles (56 km). It rises to 625 feet (191 metres) ...
39b1b8623ce69fc312523929045f9d18
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anticosti-Platform
Anticosti Platform
Anticosti Platform …three northern elongated platforms: the Anticosti Platform, near the island of the same name; another platform that skirts the low northern coast of the gulf; and finally, one lying between the Eskimo Channel and Newfoundland. The reefs on these surfaces, coupled with the hazards of fog and ice, hav...
758b833ce7116d9b10b751931b232d81
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antigua-and-Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda, islands that form an independent state in the Lesser Antilles in the eastern Caribbean Sea, at the southern end of the Leeward Islands chain. There is one dependency, the small island of Redonda. The capital is St. John’s, on Antigua. Antigua’s coastline is intricate, with bays...
6d7ea753821d0f680e50cf72ee21ebdf
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antigua-Guatemala
Antigua Guatemala
Antigua Guatemala Antigua Guatemala, city, southwestern Guatemala, at an elevation of 5,029 feet (1,533 metres). Capital of the former captaincy general, Antigua Guatemala was once the most important seat of Spanish colonial government between Mexico City and Lima, Peru. Founded as Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatem...
836d356cbf9ecc4cd3606ca32b612d8e
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antilles
Antilles
Antilles Antilles, group of islands located in the Caribbean Sea and comprising all of the West Indies except The Bahamas. They are divided into two major groups: the Greater Antilles, including Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic), Jamaica, and Puerto Rico; and the Lesser Antilles, comprising all the rest ...
a24014e9f1e5c3f60b2e00837fd8ddf0
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antioch-California
Antioch
Antioch Antioch, city, Contra Costa county, western California, U.S. Lying on the San Joaquin River, it was founded as Smith’s Landing in 1849. In 1851 it was renamed for the biblical Antioch, and it developed from a small agricultural community into a major industrial complex. Many national manufacturers have large p...
ccb11ea4d30679205fa15ee5f6aeddbe
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antioch-modern-and-ancient-city-south-central-Turkey
Antioch
Antioch Antioch, Turkish Antakya, populous city of ancient Syria and now a major town of south-central Turkey. It lies near the mouth of the Orontes River, about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of the Syrian border. Antioch was founded in 300 bce by Seleucus I Nicator, a former general of Alexander the Great. The new ci...
32a3175da1ad8063f7f3c08336108c2d
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antipodes-Islands
Antipodes Islands
Antipodes Islands Antipodes Islands, outlying island group of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean, 350 miles (560 km) southeast of South Island, comprising a central island (5 by 3 miles [8 by 5 km]) and several islets. The total land area is 24 square miles (62 sq km). Coastal cliffs flank an interior that rises ...
b21aa261bb555f5a726b0faf68e3414f
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antipolo
Antipolo
Antipolo Antipolo, city, central Luzon, Philippines. Lying 12 miles (19 km) east of Manila in the Sierra Madre foothills, it was founded in 1578. Antipolo is the home of the icon of Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje (“Our Lady of Peace and Safe Voyage”). The icon, after repeated safe journeys between New Spain (Me...
bcf7ae2647aac87ba88fd52a7fe4d36f
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antofagasta-Chile
Antofagasta
Antofagasta Antofagasta, city, capital of Antofagasta región, northern Chile, and a Pacific port on Bahía (bay) Moreno. A Bolivian town until 1879, it occupies a terrace at the base of bleak, arid coastal mountains. Its early growth resulted from the nitrate boom that began in 1866 and from the Caracoles silver discov...
8a0e815f29038253da06a0d737489f7e
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antofagasta-region-Chile
Antofagasta
Antofagasta Antofagasta, región, in an extremely arid part of northern Chile, bounded on the east by Bolivia and Argentina and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. Antofagasta is the second largest of Chile’s regions; about 98 percent of its population lives in urban areas, chiefly the capital city of Antofagasta, and in...
369989ab1215497f20a54bcd7a3629a5
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antrim-former-county-Northern-Ireland
Antrim
Antrim Antrim, former (until 1973) county, northeastern Northern Ireland, occupying an area of 1,176 square miles (3,046 square km), across the 13-mile- (21-kilometre-) wide North Channel from the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland. Antrim was bounded by the Atlantic Ocean (north), the North Channel and the Irish Sea (east)...
26c4b132905c076a6bb4867857110c38
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antwerp-Belgium
Antwerp
Antwerp Antwerp, Flemish Antwerpen, French Anvers, city, Flanders region, Belgium. It is one of the world’s major seaports. Antwerp is situated on the Schelde (Scheldt) River, about 55 miles (88 km) from the North Sea. The Schelde, together with the Meuse and the Rhine, forms the biggest estuary in western Europe, and...
df04133369ee87e4428fe3560b1d9ab0
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antwerp-province-Belgium
Antwerp
Antwerp Flemish Brabant, Antwerp, and Limburg). Just north of the boundary between Walloon Brabant (Brabant Walloon) and Flemish (Vlaams) Brabant lies the officially bilingual but majority French-speaking Brussels-Capital Region, with approximately one-tenth of the total population. (See also Fleming and Walloon.)
a5edeece8740437ffa6ee345a8e21d9e
https://www.britannica.com/place/Antwerp-Zoo
Antwerp Zoo
Antwerp Zoo Antwerp Zoo, Dutch Zoo Antwerpen, zoological garden in Antwerp, Belg., that has one of the largest and most diversified animal collections in Europe. It houses more than 6,000 specimens, including about 300 reptiles and 1,700 fish, which represent more than 1,160 different species. Among the most notable s...
3dee0629af43645b7eda71026fbfde31
https://www.britannica.com/place/Anyang-South-Korea
Anyang
Anyang Anyang, city, Kyŏnggi (Gyeonggi) do (province), northwestern South Korea, situated about 20 miles (30 km) southwest of Seoul. It was given the status of a municipality in 1973 and has become the largest industrial satellite of Seoul. Industries include brewing and the manufacture of textiles, pottery, paper, an...