Armadi´llo (genus Dasўpus), an edentate mammal peculiar to South America, consisting
of various species, belonging to a family intermediate between the sloths and ant-eaters. They are covered with a hard bony shell, divided into belts, composed of small separate plates like a coat of mail, flexible everywhere except on the forehead, shoulders, and haunches, where it is not movable. The belts are connected by a membrane which enables the animal to roll itself up like a hedgehog. These animals burrow in the earth, where they lie during the daytime, seldom going abroad except at night. They are of different sizes: the largest, Dasypus gigas, being 3 feet in length without the tail, and the smallest only 10 inches. They subsist chiefly on fruits and roots, sometimes on insects and flesh. They are inoffensive, and their flesh is esteemed good food.—There is a genus of isopodous Crustacea called Armadillo, consisting of animals allied to the wood-lice, capable of rolling themselves into a ball.
Armageddon (-ged´don), the great battlefield of the Old Testament, where the chief conflicts took place between the Israelites and their enemies—the table-land of Esdraelon in Galilee and Samaria, in the centre of which stood the town of Megiddo, on the site of the modern Lejjun: used figuratively in the Apocalypse to signify the place of 'the battle of the great day of God'. It may, however, be har migdo, his fruitful mountain, 'the mountain land of Israel'. The phrase 'an Armageddon' expresses any great slaughter or final conflict, and has been frequently applied to the Great War of 1914-8. During this war severe fighting took place in Sept., 1918, on the field of Armageddon, the entrance to the passes of Megiddo. The battle ended in an overwhelming victory for General Allenby's armies. See Megiddo.
Armagh (a˙r-mä´), a county of Ireland, in the province of Ulster; surrounded by Monaghan, Tyrone, Lough Neagh, Down, and Louth; area, 328,086 acres, of which about a half is under tillage. The north-west of the county is undulating and fertile. The northern part, bordering on Lough Neagh, consists principally of extensive bogs. On the southern border is a range of barren hills. The chief rivers are the Blackwater, which separates it from Tyrone; the Upper Bann, which discharges itself into Lough Neagh; and the Callan, which falls into the Blackwater. There are several small lakes. The manufacture of linen is carried on very extensively. Armagh, Lurgan, and Portadown are the chief towns. The county sends three members to Parliament. Pop. 120,291.—The county town, Armagh, is situated partly on a hill, about half a mile from the Callan. It has a Protestant cathedral crowning the hill, a Gothic building dating from the eighth century, repaired and beautified recently; a new Roman Catholic cathedral in the pointed Gothic style, and various public buildings. It is the see of an archbishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who is primate of all Ireland, and is a place of great antiquity. Pop. 7356.
Armagnac (a˙r-ma˙-nya˙k), an ancient territory of France, in the province of Gascony, some of the counts of which hold prominent places in the history of France. Bernard VII, son of John II, surnamed the Hunchback, succeeded his brother, John III, in 1391, and was called to Court by Isabella of Bavaria, with the view of heading the Orleans in opposition to the Burgundian faction, where he no sooner gained the ascendancy than he compelled the queen to appoint him Constable of France. He showed himself a merciless tyrant, and became so generally execrated that the Duke of Burgundy, to whom Isabella had turned for help, found little difficulty in gaining admission into Paris, and even seizing the person of Armagnac, who was cast into prison in 1418, when the exasperated populace burst in and killed him and his followers. John V, grandson of the above, who succeeded in 1450, made himself notorious for his crimes. He was assassinated in his castle of Lectoure in 1473 by an agent of Louis XI, against whom he was holding out.
Ar´mature, a term applied to the piece of soft iron which is placed across the poles of permanent or electro-magnets for the purpose of receiving and concentrating the attractive force. In the case of permanent magnets it is also important for preserving their magnetism when not in use, and hence it is sometimes termed the keeper. It produces this effect in virtue of the well-known law of induction, by which the armature, when placed near or across the poles of the magnet, is itself converted into a temporary magnet with reversed poles, and these, reacting upon the permanent magnet, keep its particles in a state of constant magnetic tension, or, in other words, in that constrained position which is supposed to constitute magnetism. A horse-shoe magnet should therefore never be laid aside without its armature; and in the case of straight bar-magnets two should be placed parallel to each other, with their poles reversed, and a keeper or armature across them at both ends. The term is also applied to the core and coil of the electro-magnet, which revolves before the poles of the permanent magnet in the magneto-electric machine.
Arme Blanche, a term applied to the rapier and duelling-foil, and frequently also to all weapons other than fire-arms. The phrase is particularly applied to the sabres and lances carried by cavalry, but also to the bayonet.
Arme´nia, a mountainous country of Western Asia, of great historical interest as the original seat of one of the oldest civilized peoples in the
world. The name Armenia occurs in the Vulgate, but the Hebrew name is Ararat. It has an area of about 120,000 sq. miles, and is intersected by the Euphrates, which divides it into the ancient divisions, Armenia Major and Armenia Minor. The country is an elevated plateau, enclosed on several sides by the ranges of Taurus and Anti-Taurus, and partly occupied by other mountains, the loftiest of which is Ararat. Several important rivers take their rise in Armenia, namely, the Kur or Cyrus, and its tributary the Aras or Araxes, flowing east to the Caspian Sea; the Halys or Kizil-Irmak, flowing north to the Black Sea; and the Tigris and Euphrates, which flow into the Persian Gulf. The chief lakes are Van and Urumiyah. The climate is rather severe. The soil is on the whole productive, though in many places it would be quite barren were it not for the great care taken to irrigate it. Wheat, barley, tobacco, hemp, grapes, and cotton are raised; and in some of the valleys apricots, peaches, mulberries, and walnuts are grown. The inhabitants are chiefly of the genuine Armenian stock, a branch of the Aryan or Indo-European race; but besides them, in consequence of the repeated subjugation of the country, various other races have obtained a footing. The total number of Armenians is estimated at 2,900,000, of whom one-half are in Armenia. The remainder, like the Jews, are scattered over various countries, and are generally engaged in commercial pursuits. They everywhere retain, however, their distinct nationality.
Little is known of the early history of Armenia, but it was a separate State as early as the eighth century B.C., when it became subject to Assyria, as it also did subsequently to the Medes and the Persians. It was conquered by Alexander the Great in 325 B.C., but regained its independence about 190 B.C. Its king, Tigranes, son-in-law of the celebrated Mithridātes, was defeated by the Romans under Lucullus and Pompey between 69-66 B.C., but was left on the throne. Since then its fortunes have been various under the Romans, Parthians, Byzantine emperors, Persians, Saracens, and Turks. Until quite recently Armenia had no political existence, having been partitioned between Turkey, Persia, and Russia, the last acquiring considerable portions in 1829 and 1878. The hope of the Armenians to see their country formed into an autonomous province administered by Christians was frustrated by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. The advanced party amongst the Armenians, therefore, determined to obtain their object by the production of disturbances and the spread of a revolutionary movement. The Porte retaliated by wholesale massacres of the Armenians in 1896, 1904, and 1908. The Armenian revolutionary and national parties in the meantime continued their activity and propaganda. Armenia proclaimed its independence in Aug., 1918. In Jan., 1920, the Supreme Council of the Allied Governments recognized the Armenian Republic of Erivan. A mandate for Armenia was also offered to the United States of America, but it was refused by the American Senate in May, 1920. On 18th March, 1922, Soviet Russia concluded a treaty with Turkey, giving to the latter most of Armenia. Batum was attached to Georgia. See Erivan, Russia, Turkey.