Aix-la-Chapelle, Treaty of (Oct. 18, 1748) Treaty that ended the War of the Austrian Succession. The treaty, negotiated largely by Britain and France, was marked by the mutual restitution of conquests, includ¬ ing the fortress of Louisbourg (in Nova Scotia) to France and Madras (now Chennai; in India) to England. It preserved Maria Theresa’s right to the Austrian lands, but the Habsburgs were weakened by Prussia’s retention of Silesia. The treaty did not resolve any issues in the commercial colo¬ nial struggle between England and France and thus did not lead to a last¬ ing peace.
Aizawl \I-'zaul\ City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 229,714), capital of Mizoram state, India. It is situated on a ridge at an elevation of about 2,950 ft (900 m) The surrounding region is part of the Assam-Myanmar geologic prov¬ ince, with steeply inclined hill ranges. Many in the population are from Myanmar. In the 1970s Aizawl was the scene of an armed attack on the government treasury by members of the Mizo National Front. Manufac¬ tures include aluminum utensils, handloom textiles, and furniture.
Ajax Greek hero of the Trojan War. In the Iliad Homer described him as of great stature and second only to Achilles in strength and bravery. He fought Hector in single combat and rescued the body of Achilles from the hands of the Trojans. When Achilles’s armour was awarded to Odysseus, he was so enraged that he went mad. According to several Greek and Roman poets, Ajax slaughtered a flock of sheep he mistook for his enemies, then returned to his senses and killed himself out of shame.
Ajodhya See Ayodhya
AK \'a-'ka\ -47 Soviet assault rifle. Designed by Mikhail T. Kalashnikov (its name stands for “automatic Kalashnikov 1947”), it had both semiau¬ tomatic and automatic capabilities and fired intermediate-power 7.62-mm ammunition. It was manufactured in the former Soviet Union and Soviet- bloc countries and soon became the basic shoulder weapon for virtually all communist armies as well as for many guerrilla and nationalist movements. In the Soviet military it was replaced in the 1960s by the AKM, which fea¬ tured a lighter, cheaper stamped-metal receiver, and in the 1970s by the AK-74, which fired a high-velocity 5.45-mm round. See also Ml 6 rifle.
Aka I Takht Vo-'kal-'tok-toX Chief centre of religious authority for Indian Sikhs, located in Amritsar opposite the Golden Temple. It also serves as the headquarters of the Akali Party. Since the line of Gurus came to an end in 1708, the Sikh community has settled religious and political disputes at meetings in front of the Akal Takht. In the 20th century local congre¬ gations began to pass resolutions on matters of Sikh doctrine and rules of conduct; disputed resolutions may be appealed to the Akal Takht. It was badly damaged during the assault on the Golden Temple by the Indian army in 1984 and had to be rebuilt. See also Sikhism.
Akali Party \3-'ka-le\ Sikh political party in India. The term Akali was first applied to suicide squads that appeared in the Sikh armies c. 1690 in response to Mughal persecution. The Akali name was revived in the 1920s during the gurdwara reform movement to refer to a semimilitary corps of volunteers opposed to British rule. Akalis took the lead in agitation for a Punjabi-speaking Sikh-majority state, a goal achieved in 1966 with the establishment of the Indian state of Punjab. The modem Akali Party par¬ ticipates in national elections but is mainly concerned with the status of the Sikhs in Punjab.
Akan \'a-,kan\ Cluster of peoples inhabiting southern Ghana, eastern Cote d’Ivoire, and parts of Togo. Their languages are of the Kwa branch of Niger-Congo languages. In the 14th-18th centuries several Akan states, notably the Fante confederacy and the Asante empire, formed in regions where gold was produced and traded. Many of the Akan, who number some 16 million, work in urban districts.
Akbar in full Abu al-Fath Jalal al-DTn Muhammad Akbar
(b. Oct. 15, 1542, Umarkot, Sind, India—d. 1605, A*gra) Greatest of the Mughal emperors (see Mughal dynasty) of India (r. 1556-1605). Akbar, whose ancestors included Timur and Genghis Khan, ascended the throne as a youth. Initially his rule extended only over the Punjab and the area around Delhi. The Rajput raja of Amber (Jaipur) acknowledged his suzer¬ ainty in 1562, and other Rajput rajas followed suit. Akbar included Rajput princes and other Hindus in the highest ranks of his government and reduced discrimination against non-Muslims. He continued his conquests, taking Gujarat in the west (1573) and Bengal in the east (annexed in 1576). Toward the end of his reign he conquered Kashmir (1586) and moved south into the Deccan. Administratively, he strengthened central power, establishing that all military officers and civil administrators were to be appointed by the emperor. He encouraged scholars, poets, painters, and musicians, making his court a centre of culture. He had Sanskrit clas¬ sics translated into Persian and was enthusiastic about the European paint¬ ings presented to him by Jesuit missionaries. His reign was often portrayed as a model by later governments—strong, benevolent, tolerant, and enlightened. See also Babur.
Akerlof, George A. (b. June 17, 1940, New Haven, Conn., U.S.) U.S. economist. He studied at Yale University (B.A., 1962) and the Massa¬ chusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D., 1966) and in 1966 began teaching at the University of Califor¬ nia, Berkeley, becoming Goldman Professor of Economics in 1980.
Akerlof s research often drew on other disciplines, including psychol¬ ogy, anthropology, and sociology, and he played an important role in the development of behavioral eco¬ nomics. His landmark study on asymmetric information in the used car market demonstrated how mar¬ kets malfunction when sellers have more information than buyers. Aker¬ lof shared the 2001 Nobel Prize for Economics with A. Michael Spence and Joseph E. Stiglitz.
Akhenaton or Akhnaton \ak- 'na-t 3 n\ orig. Amenhotep Ya- m3n-'ho-,tep\ IV (r. 1353-36 bc)
Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (1539-1292 bc). He came to power during a period of Egyptian preeminence, with Egypt controlling Palestine, Phoenicia, and Nubia.
Akhenaton, detail of the sandstone pil¬ lar statue from the Aton temple at Kar- nak, c. 1370 bc; in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
HIRMER FOTOARCHIV, MUNCHEN
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Akhmatova ► al-Khwarizmi I 35
Shortly after his reign began, he began to encourage the exclusive wor¬ ship of the little-known deity Aton, a sun god he regarded as the source of all blessings. Assuming the name Akhenaton (“One Useful to Aton”), he moved his capital from Thebes to present-day Tell el-Amarna to escape established religious powers and make a fresh start. A new art style that focused on the details of actual life rather than on timeless conditions became popular. In government, Akhenaton tried to recapture the old authority of the ruler, which had been largely diverted to bureaucrats and officials, but his focus on his new religion to the exclusion of affairs of state resulted in the disintegration of Egypt’s Asian empire. He was suc¬ ceeded by two of his sons-in-law, Smenkhkare and Tutankhamen, but after Tutankhamen’s early death the army took over the throne, and Akhenaton’s new religion was abandoned.
Akhmatova Xok-'ma-to-voX, Anna orig. Anna Andreyevna Gorenko (b. June 23, 1889,
Bolshoy Fontan, near Odessa,
Ukraine, Russian Empire—d. March 5, 1966, Domodedovo, near Mos¬ cow) Russian poet. She won fame with her first poetry collections (1912, 1914). Soon after the Revo¬ lution of 1917, Soviet authorities condemned her work for what they perceived as its narrow preoccupa¬ tion with love and God, and in 1923, after the execution of her former hus¬ band on conspiracy charges, she entered a long period of literary silence. After World War II she was again denounced and expelled from the Writers Union. Following Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953, she was slowly rehabilitated. In her later years she became the influential cen¬ tre of a circle of younger Russian poets. Her longest work, Poem With¬ out a Hew, is regarded as one of the great poems of the 20th century. Regarded today as one of the greatest of all Russian poets, she is also admired for her translations of other poets’ works and for her memoirs.