General Knowledge Bank

719 Pages·2008·3.29 MB·English

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1 A is the first letter of the English alphabet.
2 A 1 is a term used to describe anything unusually good.
3 Aachen (pop. 238,587) is an industrial city in Germany.
4 Aalto, Alvar (1898-1976), was a Finnish architect, town planner, and furniture designer.
5 Aardvark is an African mammal that lives in the ground and eats ants and termites.
6 Aardwolf is an unusual type of hyena that lives on the plains of southern and eastern Africa.
7 Aaron, in the Bible and in the Quran, was the brother of Moses and Miriam.
8 Aaron, Henry (1934-...), an American baseball player, hit 755 regular-season home runs, more than any
other player in major league history.
9 Abaca is a plant grown in Borneo, the Philippines, and Sumatra for its fibre.
10 Abacus is an ancient device used in China and other countries to perform arithmetic calculations.
11 Abadan (pop. 294,068) is a refining centre for Iran's oil industry.
12 Abalone is a marine snail found in most mild and tropical seas.
13 Abalone fishing is an important commercial industry in all southern Australian states.
14 Abandonment is a legal term that has two chief meanings.
15 Abbas, Ferhat (1899-1985), served as president of Algeria's first elected legislature.
16 Abbey Theatre, in Dublin, is the national theatre of the Republic of Ireland.
17 Abbot is the religious superior of a monastery of an early religious order, such as the Benedictines and
Cistercians.
18 Abbotsbury is a village in Dorset famous for its swannery (a place where swans are bred).
19 Abbott, Lyman (1835-1922), an American Congregationalist preacher and editor, popularized the
reconciliation of evolution with the Biblical account of creation.
20 Abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or a phrase.
21 Abdomen is a large body cavity between the thorax (chest) and the pelvic cavity.
22 Abduh, Muhammad (1849-1905), an Egyptian lawyer, tried to bring Muslim thinking in line with the
findings of science and conditions of the modern world.
23 Abdul Aziz, Ungku (1922-...), a distinguished Malaysian economist, was vice chancellor of the University
of Malaya from 1968 to 1988.
24 Abdul Ghafar Baba, Tun (1925-...), a Malay politician, became deputy prime minister and minister of
national development of Malaysia in 1986.
25 Abdul-Hamid II, (1842-1918), was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
26 Abdul Rahim Kajai (1894?-1944) was the leading professional Malay journalist in the 1930's.
27 Abdul Rahman, Tuanku (1895-1960), the first king of independent Malaya, was yang di-pertuan agong
(paramount ruler) from 1957 to 1960.
28 Abdul Rahman, Tunku (1903-1990), was the first prime minister of the independent country of Malaya
from 1957 to 1963.
29 Abdul Rahman Yakub, Datuk Patinggi (1928-...), a Malay lawyer and politician, was chief minister of the
Malaysian state of Sarawak from 1970 to 1980.
30 Abdul Razak bin Hussein, Tun (1922-1976), the second prime minister of Malaysia, held the post from
1970 to 1976.
31 Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munshi (1795?-1854), is regarded as the first modern Malay writer.
32 Abdurahman, Abdullah (1872?-1940), was the main political leader of the coloured (mixed race) people
in South Africa from 1905 until his death.
33 Abel, in the Bible, the second son of Adam and Eve, was a shepherd (Genesis 4).
34 Abel, I. W. (1908-1987), served as president of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) from 1965
to 1977.
35
Abelard, Peter (1079-1142), was one of the leading philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages.
36 Aberconwy and Colwyn (pop. 54,100) was a unitary authority (local government district) in Wales
created in 1996.
37 Abercrombie, Lascelles (1881-1938), was a British poet and scholar.
38 Abercromby, Ralph (1842-1897), was a British meteorologist.
39
Aberdeen (pop. 201,099) is an ancient university centre and the principal city in the north of Scotland.
40 Aberdeen, Earl of (1784-1860), was the United Kingdom's prime minister when the Crimean War started
in 1854.
41 Aberdeen and Temair, Marquess of (1847-1934), a British politician, served as governor general of
Canada from 1893 to 1898.
42 Aberration, in optics, is the failure of light rays to focus properly after they pass through a lens or reflect
from a mirror.
43 Aberystwyth, a popular seaside resort in South Wales, is an important Welsh cultural and educational
centre.
44 Abidjan (pop. 1,850,000) is the capital and largest city of Ivory Coast and one of the busiest seaports in
western Africa.
45 Abnormal psychology is the scientific study of psychological disorders.
46 Abolition movement was activity that took place in the 1700's and 1800's to end slavery.
47 Abominable Snowman, also called Yeti, is a creature said to live on Mount Everest and other mountains
of the Himalaya range of Asia.
48 Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy before birth.
49 Abraham was the founder of Judaism and the ancestor of both the Arabs and the Jews.
50 Abraham, William (1842-1922), was a Welsh politician and trade union leader.
51 Abrahams, Harold Maurice (1899-1978), held the English native long-jump record for 32 years with his
jump of 7.378 metres, made in 1924.
52 Abrasive is a substance used to grind, smoothen, sharpen, and polish various materials.
53 Abruzzi, Duke of the (1873-1933), Luigi Amadeo, Prince of Savoy-Aosta, was an Italian naval officer,
mountain climber, and Arctic explorer.
54 Abscess is a collection of pus within an infected part of the body.
55 Absolute zero is the theoretical temperature at which the atoms and molecules of a substance have the
least possible energy.
56
Absolutism is a form of government in which one or more persons rule with power unlimited by law.
57 Absorption and adsorption are processes by which substances take in matter or energy, or both.
58 Abstract art is a style of art of the 1900's that discards identifiable subject matter.
59 Abu Bakar (1833-1895), ruled the state of Johor in Malaya from 1862 to 1895.
60 Abu Dhabi (pop. 242,975), also called Abu Zaby, is the capital of the United Arab Emirates, a
confederation of seven Arab states.
61 Abu Simbel, Temples of, are two ancient Egyptian temples that were carved in a rocky mountainside
beside the Nile River in southern Egypt.
62 Abuja is the capital of Nigeria.
63 Abul Fazl (1515-1602) was an Indian scholar.
64 Acacia is the name of a large group of plants related to peas and beans.
65 Academy is the general name for a group of people or an organization that promotes art, literature,
science, or some other field of knowledge.
66 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is an honorary nonprofit organization.
67
Acadia was a region in eastern Canada that became the site of the first European colony in Canada.
68 Acanthus is a group of shrubs or herbs that grow in Asia, Africa, and southern Europe.
69
Acapulco (pop. 515,374), officially known as Acapulco de Juarez, is a Mexican port and resort city.
70 Accent, in language, is a stress placed on a syllable in a word.
71 Accentor is a bird that looks like a bunting with a thin bill.
72
Acclimatization is the way in which an organism adjusts to changes in its environment (surroundings).
73 Accomplice, in law, is a person who participates with someone else in a crime, whether by planning it,
carrying out the criminal act itself, or as an aider or abettor.
74 Accordion is a reed-type musical instrument worn on straps around the shoulders.
75 Accountancy is the preparation and analysis of financial records for a commercial company,
government, or other organization.
76 Accra (pop. 964,879; met. area pop. 1,420,065) is the capital and largest city of Ghana.
77 Acculturation is the process by which cultural traits of one group change through the people's contact
with the culture of another group.
78 Acerola is the fruit of a bushy tree that grows 3 to 4.5 metres tall.
79 Acetic acid is an important organic acid and industrial chemical.
80 Acetone is an important industrial chemical.
81
Acetylene is a colourless, flammable gas used for welding and for preparing other chemical compounds.
82 Achaeans were people of ancient Greece who lived in the Peloponnesus (Greece's southern peninsula),
in east-central Greece, and on the islands of Crete, Rhodes, Cephalonia, and Ithaca.
83
Achebe, Chinua (1930-...), a Nigerian author, became one of the most outstanding African writers.
84 Achilles was one of the greatest heroes of Greek mythology.
85 Achilles' tendon is the tendon at the back of the ankle.
86 Acid is any of a group of chemical compounds with certain similar properties.
87 Acid rain is a popular term for rain, snow, sleet, or other precipitation that has been polluted by such
acids as sulphuric acid and nitric acid.
88 Acidosis is a condition in which the body fluids have a higher acid content than normal.
89 Ackermann, Rudolph (1764-1834), a German art publisher who settled in London, is believed to have
introduced lithography into Britain (see LITHOGRAPHY).
90 Acne is a skin disorder that occurs most commonly among teenagers.
91 Aconcagua is an extinct volcano and the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere.
92 Aconite is the name of a group of attractive plants that belong to the buttercup family.
93 Acorn is the nut produced by any of the various kinds of oak trees.
94 Acoustics is the science and technology of sound and of its effect on people.
95 Acre is a measure of land in the imperial system.
96 Acropolis was the religious and military centre of a city-state in ancient Greece.
97 Acrylic is any one of a group of synthetic products made primarily from petroleum.
98 ACTH is an abbreviation of the chemical substance adrenocorticotrophic hormone.
99 Actinium, a chemical element, is an extremely rare, silvery-white, radioactive metal that glows in the
dark.
100 Actinomycosis is a rare, infectious disease that affects human beings.
101 Actium, Battle of, was a naval battle that settled the struggle for control of ancient Rome between co-
rulers Gaius Octavian and Mark Antony.
102 Acton, Lord (1834-1902), is considered one of the greatest British historians of the 1800's.
103 Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the New Testament.
104 Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese method of relieving pain and treating a variety of diseases by
inserting needles into various parts of the body.
105 A.D. is the abbreviation for anno Domini, which is Latin for in the year of our Lord.
106 Adam is the family name of four Scottish brothers, Robert, James, John, and William, who were all
trained as architects.
107
Adam and Eve, according to the Bible and the Quran, were the first man and woman created by God.
108 Adams, Abigail Smith (1744-1818), was the wife of John Adams, who served as the second president of
the United States from 1797 to 1801.
109 Adams, Ansel (1902-1984), was an American photographer known for his dramatic photographs of the
West.
110 Adams, Sir Grantley Herbert (1898-1971), was a West Indian statesman who became the first premier of
Barbados and later, prime minister of the Federation of the West Indies.
111 Adams, James Truslow (1878-1949), an American historian, wrote The Epic of America, a best seller in
1931.
112 Adams, John (1735-1826), a United States political leader, served under George Washington as the first
U.S. vice president and followed him as the second president (1797-1801).
113 Adams, John Couch (1819-1892), was a British astronomer who predicted the existence of the planet
Neptune.
114 Adams, John Quincy (1767-1848), was the sixth president of the United States (1825-1829).
115 Adams, Roger (1889-1971), was an American chemist who became known for his work in the field of
organic chemistry.
116 Adams, Samuel (1722-1803), was an American patriot and politician who stirred opposition to British rule
in the North American Colonies.
117 Adams-Onis Treaty, or Transcontinental Treaty, was an agreement between the United States and
Spain.
118 Adamson, Joy (1910-1980), an author and painter, became famous with her book Born Free: A Lioness
of Two Worlds (1960).
119 Adaptation is a characteristic of an organism that makes it better able to survive and reproduce in its
environment.
120 Addams, Jane (1860-1935), was an American social worker and humanitarian.
121 Addax is an antelope that lives in the deserts of North Africa.
122 Adder is the name given to several species of snakes in various parts of the world.
123 Adding machine is a device that adds numbers.
124 Addington, Henry (1757-1844), was prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804.
125 Addis Ababa (pop. 1,412,577) is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia.
126 Addison, Joseph (1672-1719), was an English author and politician.
127 Addison, Thomas (1793-1860), was a British doctor famous for his description of Addison's disease (see
ADDISON'S DISEASE).
128 Addison's disease is a serious ailment of the adrenal glands.
129
Addition is a way of putting together two or more things to find out how many there are altogether.
130 Address, Forms of, are the courteous way to speak or write to someone.
131 Ade, George (1866-1944), was an American humorist, playwright, and journalist.
132 Adelaide (pop. 1,023,617) is the capital and chief port of South Australia.
133 Adelaide Festival is held every two years.
134
Adelaide Hills form a backdrop to the city of Adelaide and are part of the South Mount Lofty Ranges.
135 Aden (pop. 318,000) is the second largest city of Yemen.
136 Adenauer, Konrad (1876-1967), served as chancellor of the West German Republic from its formation in
1949 until he retired in 1963.
137 Adenoids, also known as pharyngeal tonsils, are a mass of glandlike tissue normally present in the
upper part of the throat, directly behind the nasal passages.
138 Adhesion is the property of two unlike substances that causes them to stick together.
139 Adhesion, in the body, is a name for new tissue that sometimes binds together internal and normally
separate organs of the body.
140 Adhesive is a substance that bonds surfaces together.
141 Adi Granth, meaning Original Scripture, is the holy book of the Sikhs.
142 Adirondack Mountains are a group of mountains that cover about 30,000 square kilometres in
northeastern New York state.
143 Adityavarman (?-1375?), was the first king of Melayu in central Sumatra in what is now Indonesia.
144 Adjective is a part of speech that describes, qualifies, or places limits on a noun or pronoun.
145 Adjutant is the name of two species of large birds in the stork family.
146 Adler, Alfred (1870-1937), an Austrian psychiatrist, developed important theories concerning the
motivation of human behaviour.
147 Adler, Dankmar (1844-1900), was a prominent member of the Chicago School of architecture.
148 Adler, Felix (1851-1933), was an American educator, reformer, and publicist.
149 Adler, Mortimer Jerome (1902-...), is an American critic and educator.
150 Admiral is the highest rank in a navy.
151 Admiralty is a traditional name for a department of a nation's government that directs naval affairs.
152 Admiralty Islands, a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, are part of the nation of Papua New
Guinea.
153 Adobe is the Spanish name for sun-dried bricks, or for a house built with such bricks.
154 Adolescent is a person who is no longer a child but not yet an adult.
155 Adonis was a handsome youth in Greek mythology.
156 Adonis is the name of a group of plants that grow wild in Europe and Asia.
157 Adoption is the process by which people become legal parents of a child who was not born to them and
raise the child as a member of their family.
158 Adrenal gland is a small body organ that secretes many important hormones.
159 Adrenaline is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands.
160 Adrian IV (about 1110-1159) was the only English pope.
161 Adriatic Sea is a gulf, or arm, of the Mediterranean Sea.
162 Adur (pop. 57,400), a coastal area in West Sussex, England, is a local government district.
163 Advent is the season that marks the beginning of the Christian church year.
164 Adventists are members of religious groups that stress the doctrine of the Second Coming.
165 Adverb is a part of speech that adds meaning to a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
166 Advertising is a message designed to promote a product, a service, or an idea.
167 A.E.F., also written AEF, stands for the Allied Expeditionary Forces sent to Continental Europe during
World War II (1939-1945).
168 Aegean civilization consisted of four cultures that flourished on the islands and shores of the Aegean
Sea between 3000 and 1200 B.C. These cultures are called the Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean, and
Trojan cultures.
169 Aegean Sea is a gulf or arm of the Mediterranean Sea.
170 Aegis was the name of the shield made for Jupiter by Vulcan.
171 Aeneas was a Trojan hero in Greek and Roman mythology.
172
Aeneid, the national epic of ancient Rome, is one of the world's greatest poems of heroic adventure.
173 Aeolian harp is an unusual ancient musical instrument.
174 Aeolians were a group of ancient Greeks.
175 Aeolus was the keeper of the winds in Greek mythology.
176
Aerial, also called antenna, is a device that transmits and receives radio, television and radar signals.
177
Aerobics is a system of exercises designed to promote the supply and use of oxygen in the body.
178
Aerodynamics is the study of the forces acting on an object as it moves through air or some other gas.
179 Aeroplane is an engine-driven machine that can fly through the air supported by the flow of air around its
wings.
180 Aeroplane, Model, is a miniature aeroplane.
181 Aerosol is a mixture of extremely small particles and gas.
182
Aerospace medicine is the field of medical science concerned with the effects of flight on human health.
183
Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.) was the earliest writer of Greek tragedy whose plays exist in complete form.
184 Aesop's Fables are a collection of stories attributed to a Greek slave named Aesop, who lived in about
600 B.C. Like all fables, each of these brief tales teaches a moral and offers useful advice.
185 Aesthetics is the study of theories that apply to the arts in a broad and fundamental way.
186 Aestivation is a dormant state that occurs in the life of some animals during hot, dry periods.
187 Afan is the former name of a local government district centred on the Welsh steelmaking town of Port
Talbot.
188 Affenpinscher is a shaggy black toy dog.
189 Affidavit, in law, is a written or printed statement of facts sworn to, or affirmed, before a notary public, or
any other person qualified to administer an oath.
190 Afghan hound is a dog known for its speed and agility.
191 Afghanistan is a nation in southwestern Asia.
192 Aflaq, Michel (1910-1989), was an Arab political thinker who founded the socialist Baath Party.
193 Africa is the second largest continent in area and in population.
194 African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa.
195 African violet, also called Saintpaulia, is a tropical plant with beautiful flowers and heart-shaped, fuzzy
leaves.
196 Afrikaans language is one of the 11 official languages of South Africa.
197 Afrikaner Broederbond is a secret fraternity (brotherhood), that worked to further the interests of
Afrikaans-speaking white people in South Africa.
198 Agamemnon, in Greek mythology, led the Greek army that conquered Troy in the Trojan War.
199
Agana (pop. 1,139), is the capital of the United States island territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
200 Agar-agar is a gelatine-like substance obtained from seaweeds such as Ceylon moss.
201 Agassiz, Louis (1807-1873), was a Swiss-born naturalist who studied many kinds of animals in Europe
and America.
202 Agate is a banded form of chalcedony, a fine-grained, porous type of quartz.
203 Age is a term used for any stage in the life of a person, such as childhood, youth, adulthood, and old
age.
204 Age of Reason was a period in history when philosophers emphasized the use of reason as the best
method of learning truth.
205 Agee, James (1909-1955), was an American writer.
206 Agent is a person who represents someone else in legal, business, or other matters.
207 Agent Orange is the military code name for a weedkiller used by the United States during the Vietnam
War.
208 Ageratum is a popular, low-growing, annual plant of flower gardens.
209 Aggression, in psychology, is hostile behaviour that may hurt or upset other people.
210 Agincourt, Battle of, took place between English and French armies near the village of Agincourt, in
northern France, in 1415.
211 Aging is the process of growing old.
212 Agnon, Shmuel Yosef (1888-1970), was an Israeli novelist and short-story writer.
213 Agnosticism is the belief that ultimate questions, especially those about the existence of God, cannot be
answered.
214 Agouti is a rodent that lives in dense forests from southern Mexico to northern Argentina, and in the
West Indies.
215 Agra (pop. 955,694) is a large city in northern India.
216 Agribusiness is the group of industries involved in producing, transporting, processing, distributing, and
selling farm products.
217 Agricola, Georgius, (1494?-1555), was a German physician and scientist.
218 Agricola, Gnaeus Julius (A.D. 37-93), was an able Roman general.
219 Agriculture is the world's most important industry.
220 Agrimony is the common name for a group of about 18 species of woodland plants that grow in Asia,
Europe, North America, and the Andes Mountains of South America.
221 Agrippa, Marcus (63-12 B.C.), a Roman general, was the military leader and chief adviser of Augustus,
the first emperor of Rome (see AUGUSTUS).
222 Agrippina the Younger (A.D. 15-59) was one of the most powerful women in ancient Rome.
223 Agronomy is a branch of agricultural science that deals with the study of crops and the soils in which
they grow.
224 Aguinaldo, Emilio (1869-1964), was an important leader in the Filipino struggle against Spanish colonial
rule from 1897 to 1901.
225 Agung, Sultan (?-1646), was the greatest ruler of Mataram, a kingdom in Central Java in what is now
Indonesia.
226 Ahab was the seventh king of Israel.
227 Ahern, Bertie (1951-...), became taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland following general elections in
1997.
228 Ahmadabad (pop. 2,954,526; met. area pop. 3,297,655) is the largest city in the state of Gujarat,
western India.
229 Aidit, D. N. (1923-1965), led the Indonesian Communist Party from 1951 to 1965.
230 AIDS is the final, life-threatening stage of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
231 Aiken, George David (1892-1984), an American Republican politician, served in the United States
Senate from 1941 to 1975.
232 Ailanthus is a hardy tree that thrives in cities and places where other trees fail to grow.
233 Ailsa Craig is a rocky islet 16 kilometres off the coast of the Southern Uplands region of Scotland, south
of the Isle of Arran.
234 Ainsworth, W. Harrison (1805-1882), was a popular British novelist.
235 Ainu are a group of people who may have been the first inhabitants of Japan.
236 Air is the mixture of gases that surrounds the earth.
237 Air bag is an inflatable car safety device that helps protect a driver or front-seat passenger in a head-on
or front-angle collision.
238 Air cleaner is a device that removes contaminants (impurities) from a stream of gas or air.
239 Air compressor is any device used to compress air.
240 Air conditioning controls the temperature, moisture, cleanliness, and movement of indoor air.
241 Air force is the branch of a nation's armed forces responsible for military operations in the air.
242 Air lock is a device that permits people or materials to pass in or out of a structure called a pneumatic
caisson.
243 Air pollution occurs when wastes dirty the air.
244 Air rights are the rights to use the space above a piece of land.
245 Airborne troops are soldiers trained for assault by air.
246 Airbrush is a tool used by photographers and commercial artists to apply colour or shading to drawings,
prints, and photographs.
247 Aircraft carrier is a ship used as a mobile base for aeroplanes.
248 Airedale terrier is the name of a breed of large terriers.
249 Airlangga (990?-1049), also spelled Erlangga, was the best-known ruler of the kingdom of Kediri, in East
Java, in what is now Indonesia.
250 Airline is an organization that operates aircraft to carry passengers and cargo through the air.
251 Airmail is the fastest way to send letters and packages.
252 Airport is a place where aeroplanes and other aircraft land and take off.
253 Airship is a lighter-than-air aircraft.
254 Aisne River is a stream in northeastern France.
255 Aitken, John (1839-1919), a Scottish meteorologist, discovered that water vapour in the atmosphere will
not condense to form clouds unless dust is present.
256 Aix-la-Chapelle, Congress of, met in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), Germany, in 1818.
257 Ajax the Greater, the son of King Telamon in Greek mythology, was one of the bravest Greek heroes
who fought in the Trojan War.
258 Ajax the Lesser, the son of King Oileus in Greek mythology, was a Greek warrior who fought in the
Trojan War.
259 Akaroa is a tourist resort and fishing centre on Banks Peninsula on the eastern coast of the South Island
of New Zealand.
260 Akbar (1542-1605), was the third and greatest of the Mughal emperors of India.
261 Akhenaton, also called Ikhnaton, ruled ancient Egypt as pharaoh from about 1367 to 1350 B.C. He was
married to Queen Nefertiti.
262 Akihito, (1933-...), became emperor of Japan in 1989 upon the death of his father, Hirohito (see
HIROHITO).
263 Akita is a breed of dog that originated in northern Japan.
264 Akiva ben Joseph (A.D. 50?-135), was a rabbi who profoundly influenced the development of Jewish
law.
265 Akron (pop. 223,019) is a major centre of the rubber industry in the United States.
266 Aksum, also spelled Axum, was a powerful ancient kingdom in East Africa.
267 Alabama is a state in the Southeastern United States.
268 Alabaster is the name of two minerals of different chemical composition.
269 Aladdin, a poor Chinese boy, is the hero of a tale in the Arabian Nights.
270 Alamo is a historic structure that stands in the centre of San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A. A famous battle was
fought there in March 1836, during the war for Texan independence.
271 Alanbrooke, Lord (1883-1963), was one of Great Britain's military leaders during World War II (1939-
1945).
272 Alarcon, Pedro Antonio de (1833-1891), was a Spanish author.
273 Alaric (A.D. 370?-410) was a king of the Visigoths.
274 Alaska is the northernmost state in the United States.
275 Alaska Highway is a 2,248-kilometre road that runs between Dawson Creek, British Columbia, in
Canada, and Delta Junction, Alaska, in the United States.
276
Alaskan malamute is a strong, rugged, heavily coated sledge dog that came originally from Alaska.
277 Ala-ud-din Khalji, also known as Juna Khan, was ruler of northern India from 1296 to 1316.
278 Al-Azhar University is one of the oldest universities in the world.
279 Alban, Saint (?-209), is commemorated as the first martyr in Britain.
280 Albania is a small, mountainous nation in the Balkan Peninsula of southeastern Europe.
281 Albany (pop. 13,559) is a town and port in the southwest of Western Australia.
282 Albany (pop. 101,082) is the capital of New York state in the United States.
283 Al Basrah, also called Basra (pop. 678,000), is one of Iraq's largest cities and a chief port.
284 Albatross is the name for any one of several kinds of large sea birds.
285 Albee, Edward (1928-...), is an American playwright who uses a wide variety of styles ranging from
realism to fantasy.
286 Albeniz, Isaac (1860-1909), a Spanish composer and pianist, was one of the creators of a national style
for Spanish music.
287 Albers, Josef (1888-1976), was a German-born painter and teacher.
288 Albert I (1875-1934), king of the Belgians from 1909 to 1934, was a heroic military leader in World War I
(1914-1918).
289 Albert II (1934-...) became king of Belgium in 1993, on the death of his brother Baudouin.
290 Albert, Prince (1819-1861), married his first cousin, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, in 1840.
291 Alberta (pop. 2,545,553) is a province in western Canada and one of the greatest oil-producing regions
in North America.
292 Alberti, Leon Battista (1404-1472), was an Italian Renaissance architect, painter, and author.
293 Albertus Magnus, Saint (1206?-1280), was a German-born Christian theologian, philosopher, and
scientist.
294 Albigenses were a group of people named after Albi, a city in southern France.
295 Albino is an animal or plant that is unable to produce pigment (colouring substance) in some or all of its
organs.
296 Albion is an ancient name for Britain or England.
297 Albright, Ivan (1897-1983), was an American painter with a style and method unlike those of other artists
of his time.
298 Albumin, also spelled albumen, is a sticky, gelatinous (jelly-like) substance.
299 Albuquerque (pop. 384,736; met. area pop. 480,577) is the largest city in New Mexico, a state in the
U.S.A. It serves as an industrial, trade, and transportation centre of the Southwest.
300 Albury-Wodonga (pop. 66,541) is an urban regional growth centre on the Murray River, Australia.
301 Alcatraz was a famous prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, U.S.A. The name
Alcatraz comes from a Spanish word meaning pelican.
302 Alcazar is the name usually given to palaces built by the Moorish rulers in Spanish cities.
303 Alchemy is a blend of pseudoscience, magic, and mystical philosophy.
304 Alcibiades (450?-404 B.C.), was an Athenian general.
305 Alcock and Brown were pioneer British aviators who made the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic
Ocean.
306 Alcohol refers to a class of chemical compounds, all of which consist of chemically bonded atoms of
carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
307 Alcoholic beverage is a drink that contains ethyl alcohol.
308 Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) is a worldwide organization of men and women who help each other solve
their common problem of alcoholism.
309
Alcoholism is a disease in which a person has an overwhelming desire to drink alcoholic beverages.
310 Alcott, Louisa May (1832-1888), was an American author who became famous for her novels for
children.
311 Alcuin (735-804), was an English scholar, teacher, and writer.
312 Aldehyde is an important class of organic chemical compounds.
313 Alden, John and Priscilla, were among the Pilgrim Fathers, a group of Puritans, who arrived in America
from England on the Mayflower in 1620 (see PILGRIM FATHERS).
314 Alder is the name given to about 30 types of shrubs and small trees found in northern temperate regions
of the world.
315 Aldington, Richard (1892-1962), a British novelist and poet, was a prominent member of the imagist
movement, which flourished between 1910 and 1918.
316 Aldiss, Brian W. (1925-...), is a British science fiction writer and critic.
317
Aldridge, Ira (1807?-1867), was the first black American actor to gain prominence in the Western world.
318 Aldrin, Edwin Eugene, Jr. (1930-...), a United States astronaut, was the second person to set foot on the
moon.
319 Aleatory music is a type of music in which the composer provides only a general outline of the
composition.
320 Aleixandre, Vicente (1898-1984), a Spanish poet, won the 1977 Nobel Prize for literature.
321 Aleman Valdes, Miguel (1902-1983), served as president of Mexico from 1946 to 1952.
322 Aleppo (pop. 961,000) is the second largest city in Syria.
323 Aleutian Islands are a chain of volcanic islands that extend over 1,400 kilometres westward from the tip
of the Alaska Peninsula.
324 Aleuts are people who have traditionally lived on the harsh, windswept Aleutian Islands, which lie off the
mainland of Alaska.
325 Alewife is a member of the herring family.
326 Alexander I (1777-1825), was czar of Russia from 1801 to 1825.
327 Alexander I (1888-1934) became king of Yugoslavia in 1921.
328 Alexander II (1818-1881) was czar of Russia from 1855 to 1881.
329 Alexander III (1105-1181), was elected pope in 1159.
330 Alexander III (1845-1894), was czar of Russia from 1881 to 1894.
331 Alexander VI (1431-1503), was the most worldly of the Renaissance popes.
332 Alexander, C. H. O'D. (1909-1974), was an Irish international chess master.
333 Alexander of Tunis, Earl (1891-1969), was a British military leader and statesman and the last British-
born governor general of Canada.
334 Alexander technique is a system of instruction that aims to improve posture and physical movement in
everyday life.
335
Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.), was king of Macedonia and one of the greatest generals in history.
336 Alexander Turnbull Library is a research library in Wellington, on the North Island of New Zealand.
337 Alexandria (pop. 2,917,327) is the chief port and second largest city of Egypt.
338 Alexandrian Library was the largest and most famous of the ancient collections of scrolls.
339 Alexandrite is a rare gem that has a high lustre.
340 Alfalfa is a valuable crop grown mainly for livestock feed.
341 Alfieri, Vittorio (1749-1803), was an Italian playwright and poet.
342
Alfonso XIII (1886-1941), served as king of Spain from 1902 until 1931, when Spain became a republic.
343 Alfred the Great (849-899), was king of the West Saxons in England.
344 Alfven, Hannes Olof Gosta (1908-1995), a Swedish physicist, won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1970
for his research in magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and plasma physics.
345 Algae are simple organisms that live in oceans, lakes, rivers, ponds, and moist soil.
346 Algebra is one of the chief branches of mathematics.
347 Alger, Horatio (1832-1899), was an American author of novels for boys.
348 Algeria is a large country that lies in northern Africa.
349 Algiers (pop. 1,721,607) is the capital and largest city of Algeria.
350 Algol, also called Beta Persei, is the second brightest star in the constellation Perseus.
351
Algorithm is a step-by-step procedure for solving a mathematical problem in a limited number of steps.
352 Algren, Nelson (1909-1981), an American author, became known for fiction describing the brutal life of
the Chicago slums of the 1930's and 1940's.
353 Alhambra is a palace and fortress in Granada, Spain, built by the Moors between 1248 and 1354.
354 Ali, Muhammad (1942-...), became the first heavyweight boxing champion to win the world title four
times.
355 Ali ibn Abi Talib (598-661), a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, became a central figure of Shiite Islam
(see ISLAM).
356 Alice Springs (pop. 25,586) is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia.
357 Alien, in law, means a person who is not a citizen of the country in which he or she lives.
358 Alienation is the feeling of being isolated from certain aspects of one's environment.
359 Alimentary canal is a long tube through which food is taken into the body and digested.
360 Aljunied Syed Omar bin Ali (1792-1852), a highly respected Arab businessman and landowner, became
a leader of the Muslim community in Singapore.