[Ab`ubekr], as the father of Ayesha, the father-in-law of Mahomet, the first of the caliphs and the founder of the Sunnites; d. 634.
[Ab`u-klea], in the Soudan, where the Mahdi's forces were defeated by Sir H. Stewart in 1885.
[A`bul-faraj], a learned Armenian Jew, who became bishop of Aleppo, and wrote a history of the world from Adam onwards (1226-1286).
[Abul-fazel], the vizier of the great Mogul emperor Akbar, and who wrote an account of his reign and of the Mogul empire; he was assassinated in 1604.
[Abul-feda], a Moslem prince of Hamat in Syria, who in his youth took part against the Crusaders, and wrote historical works in Arabic (1273-1331).
[Abu-Tha`leb], uncle of Mahomet, and his protector against the plots of his enemies the Koreish.
[Aby`dos], a town on the Asiatic side of the Hellespont, famous as the home of Leander, who swam the Hellespont every night to visit Hero in Sestos, and as the spot where Xerxes built his bridge of boats to cross into Europe in 480 B.C.; also a place of note in Upper Egypt.
[Abyssin`ia], a mountainous country SE. of Nubia, with an area of 200,000 sq. m., made up of independent states, and a mixed population of some four millions, the Abyssinians proper being of the Semite stock. It is practically under the protectorate of Italy.
[Acacia], a large group of trees with astringent and gum-yielding properties, natives of tropical Africa and Australia.
[Academy], a public shady park or place of groves near Athens, where Plato taught his philosophy and whence his school derived its name, of which there are three branches, the Old, the Middle, and the New, represented respectively by Plato himself, Arcesilaos, and Carneades. The French Academy, of forty members, was founded by Richelieu in 1635, and is charged with the interests of the French language and literature, and in particular with the duty of compiling an authoritative dictionary of the French language. Besides these, there are in France other four with a like limited membership in the interest of other departments of science and art, all now associated in the Institute of France, which consists in all of 229 members. There are similar institutions in other states of Europe, all of greater or less note.