Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/365

Rh known parents about 1464, and picked up as a foundling near the Spanish town from which he derived his name, died in 1538. He had acquired both wealth and fame in the new world, when he joined Pizarro at Panama in the attempt to conquer the flourishing kingdom of the incas. In the division of offices among the leaders of the enterprise, Almagro was appointed to manage the forwarding of supplies of men and provisions, in which he had to contend with many formidable obstacles, but overcame them all. From the time of the first landing of the Spanish forces until the death of Atahuallpa, Almagro was engaged in repeated quarrels with Pizarro, whom he accused of treachery in depriving him of his just share in the fruits of their conquests. He finally attempted to seize Cuzco, the capital, but was persuaded by Pizarro to undertake instead the reduction of Chili, of which kingdom he was to have the undivided control. In 1535 he set forth with 570 European followers, and underwent great hardships among the mountains. The natives resisted him bravely, but he had made some progress when a rising of the Peruvians, who had attacked Lima and Cuzco, summoned him home. Returning by a toilsome march along the coast, he defeated the natives, and took possession of Cuzco, which he resolved to hold. A civil war ensued, in which Almagro neglected to avail himself of his advantages until Pizarro, having gained time to recruit his forces by negotiation, marched to Cuzco with 500 men, and, defeating him in a bloody engagement, took him prisoner. After several months of confinement, he was tried, condemned, and strangled. He was a man of frank and winning manners, and far more popular among his men than Pizarro. He had never learned to read and write. II. The son of the preceding by a Peruvian woman, was a brave, generous, and accomplished youth; his father, mindful of his own deficiencies, having spared no pains in his education. He became the leader of the party opposed to Pizarro upon the death of the elder Almagro, and, after the assassination of the governor, was proclaimed his father's successor. He enjoyed authority for a very brief season, however, as Vaca de Castro soon arrived, bearing a royal commission as governor. Almagro attempted to resist him, and on Sept. 16, 1542, a sanguinary engagement took place between the forces of the rival leaders, in which the victory remained with his opponent. Almagro escaped after the battle, but was given up by his own officers, and beheaded at Cuzco.  ALMALI, or Elmalu, a city of Turkey, in Asia Minor, 40 m. W. S. W. of Adalia; pop. about 12,000. It lies in a beautiful valley among the northern offshoots of the Lycian range of the Taurus. The small stream on which the town is built furnishes motive power for numerous mills, and is also used in several tanneries, dye works, and factories.  AL-MAMOUN, Abu Abbas Abdallah, an Abbasside caliph, son of Haroun-al-Rashid, reigned from 813 to 833. After the death of his father in 809 he contested the throne with his brother Al-Amin, who was killed. He converted his chief towns into seats of learning. Various works were translated from Greek and Sanskrit. Algebra and arithmetic were borrowed from the Hindoos, astronomy from the natives of the plains of Mesopotamia, and logic, natural history, and the Aristotelian system from the Greeks of the lower empire. In his wars Al-Mamoun was less successful, and the disintegration of the caliphate by the establishment of independent states in parts remote from the centre, which was begun in the preceding reigns, became more disastrous in his. He was succeeded by his brother Al-Motassem, under whose reign the Seljuks first became body guards of the caliphs, whose empire they were in time to usurp.  ALMANAC (probably from the Arabic al-manah, the reckoning), a publication of the calendar, generally containing chronological records of religious festivals and memorable events, and astronomical data, as well as miscellaneous information. Tables representing almanacs were first used by the Arabs mainly as astronomical guides, and from them became known among the Alexandrian Greeks and in Europe. Manuscripts of some of those of the middle ages are preserved in various English and continental libraries. An almanac for 1836 was printed recently from a manuscript prepared in 1300 by Petrus of Dacia, containing chaotic astronomical, chronological, and medical data. The British museum and Corpus Christi college, Cambridge, preserve manuscript almanacs of the 14th century. The earliest printed almanac is believed to have been that of the German astronomer Purbach (Vienna, 1457). His pupil Regiomontanus published toward the end of the 15th century, under the auspices of the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus, several numbers of a Kalendarium Novum, in German and Latin. "The Kalendayr of the Shyppars," or "Shepherds' Calendar," an English translation of a French work, was published in Paris in 1497. Every month is introduced with a fragment of doggerel verses. The following is a specimen of its contents:

New editions of this almanac were published in the early part of the 16th century. The chief attractions of these and subsequent annual publications were prognostications of the weather and fortune-telling, and they became highly popular. Paynter's burlesque, "Four Great Syers" (about 1560), was followed in 1609 by Thomas Dekker's "Raven's Almanacke," and in 1618 by Laurence Lisle's "Owle's Almanack." "Poor Robin's Almanack," the most famous of them all, was begun in 1663. Under James I. almanacs were monopolized by the universities and the stationers' company, astrology and superstition being their principal ingredients. Francis Moore's Vox Stellarum led the way in 