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Aachen, the German name for Aix-la-Chapelle (q.v.)

 Aalborg, capital of county Aalborg, Denmark, on the S. side of Liimfjord, 87 miles by rail N. from Aarhus, a growing industrial and commercial centre. In 1899, 1532 vessels of 250,745 tons entered the port, and 1599 of 245,681 tons cleared. The iron bridge connecting Aalborg with Nörre Sundby (pop. 3000) on the N. side of the fjord, 1250 ft. long, is one of the finest pieces of engineering in the kingdom. Population, 14,152 (1880); 19,503 (1890); 31,462 (1901).

 Aalesund, a seaport town of Norway, situated on a ring of islands surrounding the harbour, co. Romsdal, on the W. coast, 145 miles N. by E. from Bergen. Founded in 1824, it is the principal shipping-place of Söndmöre, and one of the chief stations of the herring fishery. A little to the south of the town are the ruins of the reputed castle of Gangu Hrolf, the founder, in the 9th century, of the dynasty of the dukes of Normandy. Population, 5603 (1875); 8406 (1891); 11,672 (1901).

 Aarau, the capital of the canton of Aargau in Switzerland, on the Aar, about 50 miles by rail from Berne, and 31 miles from Zurich. In the parliament house there is some good painted glass of the 16th century from the neighbouring Benedictine abbey of Muri, suppressed in 1841. Aarau was the residence of Heinrich Zschokke (born 1771, died 1848), the well-known Swiss novelist and historian, to whose memory a bronze statue has been recently erected in the town. Population, 6809 (1888); 7824 (1900).

 Aargau, a Swiss canton, bounded on the N. by the Rhine, on the E. by Zurich and Zug, on the S. by Lucerne, and on the W. by Basel, Solothurn, and Berne. Its total area is 542 square miles. Of this 517-9 square miles are classed as “productive,” forests covering 169 square miles, and vineyards 8.2 square miles. The population was 198,718 in 1870; 198,357 in 1880; 193,580 in 1888; and 206,460 in 1900, being 381 to each square mile. The population is almost exclusively German-speaking; for in 1900 there were but 826 French-speaking, and 2468 Italian-speaking inhabitants. In 1888 there were 85,835 Romanists, 106,351 Protestants, 1051 Jews; in 1900, 91,047 Romanists, 114,218 Protestants, 1010 Jews. The capital is Aarau, the only other towns in the canton which in 1888 had over 3000 inhabitants being Baden, Zofingen (4450), and Reinach (3130). The cantonal constitution dates from 1885. The legislature consists of members elected in the proportion of one to every 1100 (or fraction over 550) inhabitants. The “obligatory referendum” exists in the case of all laws, while 5000 citizens have the right of “initiative” in proposing bills or alterations in the cantonal constitution. The canton sends ten members to the Federal National Assembly, being one for every 20,000, or fraction over 10,000 inhabitants. In 1897 the state revenue was 3,260,156 francs, and the state expenditure 3,064,181 francs, but both in 1898 and in 1899 there was a deficit, while another of 98,600 francs was in the budget of 1900. In 1897 the public debt was 2,430,000 francs, while the productive state property amounted to 19,317,644 francs. There are many old historical castles in Aargau, such as Habsburg, Lenzburg, Wildegg, &c. In 1841 Aargau, under the influence of Augustine Keller, suppressed the eight monasteries (of which the most important were Muri and Wettingen) within its territory, this violent act ultimately leading up to the “Sonderbund” war in Switzerland in 1847.

See Argovia (published by the Cantonal Historical Society), Aarau, from 1860.—. Der Kanton Aargau, 2 vols. St Gall and Bern, 1844.—. ''Die Rechtsqudlen d. Kant. Aargau,'' 2 vols. as yet. Aarau, 1898 and 1900.—. Der Aargau, 2 vols. Zürich, 1870.

 Aarhus, a seaport and bishop’s see of Denmark, co. Aarhus, on the E. coast of Jutland, 68 miles by rail N. by E. from Fredericia; the second largest town of the kingdom and the principal port of Jutland. There are two new churches—St Paul’s (1885-86) and a Roman  S. I.—1