© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
38 I Albanian language ► Albert the Great
try achieved independence in 1912 and was admitted into the League of Nations in 1920. It was briefly a republic (1925-28), then became a mon¬ archy under Zog I, whose initial alliance with Italy deteriorated into that country’s invasion of Albania in 1939. After the war a socialist govern¬ ment under Enver Hoxha was installed, and gradually Albania cut itself off from the nonsocialist international community and eventually from all other countries, including China, its last political ally. By 1990 economic hardship had fomented antigovernment demonstrations that led to the election of a noncommunist government in 1992 and the end of Albania’s international isolation. Early in the 21st century, Albania continued to experience economic uncertainty and ethnic turmoil, the latter involving Albanian minorities in Serbia and Montenegro (see Kosovo conflict) and Macedonia.
Albanian language Indo-European language spoken by five to six million people in Albania, Kosovo in Serbia and Montenegro, western Macedonia, and enclaves elsewhere, including southern Italy and south¬ ern Greece. There are two main dialect groups, Gheg (Geg) in the north, including Kosovo and Macedonia, and Tosk in the south. Albanian is the only extant representative of a distinct branch of Indo-European, whose pre-Roman Balkan ancestry is uncertain. The earliest written attestation is from the 15th century, though a standard orthography using the Latin alphabet was not adopted until 1909. The core vocabulary of Albanian is native, though in the course of its history it has absorbed many loanwords from Greek, Latin, Balkan Romance languages (see Romanian), Slavic lan¬ guages, and Turkish.
Albany Vol-bo-neV City (pop., 2000: 95,658), capital of New York state, U.S. It lies along the Hudson River 145 mi (230 km) north of New York City. The first permanent settlement, named Beverwyck, was built in 1624 by the Dutch. When the British took the area in 1664, the village was renamed to honour the duke of York and Albany. In 1754 the Albany Con¬ gress adopted Benjamin Franklin’s “Plan of Union.” In the 19th century Albany became a major transportation centre. Its focal point today is Empire State Plaza, a governmental, cultural, and convention complex.
Albany Congress Conference convened by the British Board of Trade in 1754 at Albany, N.Y. They advo¬ cated a union of the British colonies in North America, in part to secure a defensive union against the French before the outbreak of the French and Indian War. In addition to colonial delegates, several representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy were present. Delegates including Ben¬ jamin Franklin supported a plan to unify the seven colonies, but it was never adopted. The plan became a model for proposals made during the American Revolution.
albatross Any of more than a dozen species of large seabirds (fam¬ ily Diomedeidae). Albatrosses are among the most spectacular gliders of all birds; in windy weather they can stay aloft for hours without flapping their wings. They drink seawa¬ ter and usually eat squid. Albatrosses come ashore only to breed, in colo¬ nies typically established on remote oceanic islands. Adults of common species attain wingspans of 7-11 ft (200-350 cm). Albatrosses live long and may be among the few birds to die of old age. They were once held in awe by seamen, who held that killing one would bring bad luck.
albedo \al-'be-do\ Fraction of light reflected by a body or surface, com¬ monly used in astronomy to describe the reflective properties of planets, natural satellites, and asteroids. “Normal” albedo (the relative brightness of a surface when illuminated and observed from directly above) is often used to determine the surface compositions of satellites and asteroids. The albedo, diameter, and distance of such objects together determine their brightness.
Albee \'ol-be\, Edward (Franklin) (b. March 12, 1928, Virginia, U.S.) U.S. playwright. He was the adopted grandson and namesake of a well-known vaudeville theatre manager. His first one-act play, The Zoo Story (1959), and other early plays, including The Sandbox (I960) and The American Dream (1961), were characteristic of the Theatre of the Absurd. His Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962; film, 1966) was widely
acclaimed. He won Pulitzer prizes for A Delicate Balance (1966), Sea¬ scape (1975), and Three Tall Women (1991). He has also adapted other writers’ works for the stage, including Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita (1981).
Albemarle Val-bo-.marL Sound Coastal inlet, northeastern North Carolina, U.S. Protected from the Atlantic Ocean by the Outer Banks, it is about 50 mi (80 km) long and 5-14 mi (8-23 km) wide. It is connected with Chesapeake Bay by the Dismal Swamp Canal and the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal. Elizabeth City is its chief port. Explored by Ralph Lane in 1586, it was later named for George Monck, duke of Albemarle.
Albeniz\al-'ba-neth\, Isaac (Manuel Francisco) (b. May 29,1860, Camprodon, Spain—d. May 18, 1909, Cambo-les-Bains, France) Span¬ ish composer. A piano prodigy by age four, he later studied in Leipzig and Brussels, returned to Spain to teach in Barcelona and Madrid, and then moved to France in 1893. His fame rests on his piano pieces, which, under the influence of Felipe Pedrell, utilize the melodic styles, rhythms, and har¬ monies of Spanish folk music. Iberia (1905-09) is a set of 12 virtuoso piano pieces; other piano works include the Suite espahola (1886), Can¬ tos de Espaha (1896), and five sonatas. He also wrote several operas.
Albers, Josef (b. March 19, 1888, Bottrop, Ger.—d. March 25, 1976, New Haven, Conn., U.S.) German- U.S. painter, poet, teacher, and theo¬ retician. He studied and taught at the Bauhaus and in 1933 became one of the first Bauhaus teachers to immi¬ grate to the U.S., where he taught at Black Mountain College and later at Yale. He developed a painting style characterized by abstract rectilinear patterns and primary colours as well as black and white. His best-known series of paintings, Homage to the Square (begun in 1950 and contin¬ ued until his death), restricts its rep¬ ertory of forms to coloured squares superimposed onto each other. The arrangement of these squares is care¬ fully calculated so that the colour of each square optically alters the sizes, hues, and spatial relationships of the others. His research into colour theory was published in the influential Interaction of Color (1963).
Albert, prince consort of Great Britain and Ireland orig. Franz Albrecht August Karl Emanuel, prince von Sachsen- Coburg-Gotha (b. Aug. 26, 1819, Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha—d. Dec. 14, 1861, Windsor Castle, Berkshire, Eng.) Prince consort of Queen Victoria of Britain and father of Edward VII. Albert married Victoria, his first cousin, in 1840 and became in effect her private secretary and chief confidential adviser. Their domestic happiness helped assure the continuation of the monarchy, which had been some¬ what uncertain. Though the German-born Albert was undeservedly unpopular, the British public belatedly recognized his worth after his death at age 42 from typhoid fever. In the ensuing years the grief-stricken queen made policy decisions based on what she thought Albert would have done.
Albert, Lake Lake, east-central Africa. Lying at an altitude of 2,021 ft (616 m), it is 100 mi (160 km) long and has an average width of about 20 mi (32 km). In the southwest, the Semliki River brings into the lake the waters of Lake Edward; at its northeastern corner, just below Murchison Falls, it receives the Victoria Nile from Lake Victoria. In 1864 the lake’s first European visitor, Samuel Baker, named it after Queen Victoria’s consort. Initially part of Uganda, it now forms part of the Uganda-Congo border.
Albert I (b. April 8, 1875, Brussels, Belg.—d. Feb. 17, 1934, Marche- les-Dames, near Namur) King of the Belgians (1909-34). He succeeded his uncle, King Leopold II, in 1909. He strengthened the army while reaf¬ firming Belgian neutrality in 1914, rejecting William ll’s demand (Aug. 2, 1914) for free passage of German troops across Belgium. Following the Armistice he sought to abolish Belgian neutrality, supported universal male suffrage, and guided the country’s rebuilding effort.