THE 



ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA. 



ABYSSINIA, an empire in eastern Africa. 

 Menelek II, who succeeded Johannis II as Negus 

 Negusti, accepted an Italian protectorate by a 

 treaty concluded on May 2, and renewed on 

 Sept. 29, 1889, in a convention for mutual pro- 

 tection. The country is made up of the king- 

 doms of Tigre, including Lasta, Amhara, in- 

 cluding Gojam, and Shoa, with the Bogos, Shoho, 

 Mensa, Kunama, Barea, Habab, Beni-Amer ter- 

 ritories ; the region of the Galla and Kaffa tribes ; 

 and Danakil and Adal, on the coast. The total 

 area is about 190,000 square miles, and the popu- 

 lation is estimated at from 4,500,000 to 5,000,000. 

 The chief towns are Gondar, the capital of Am- 

 hara, with 5,000 inhabitants ; Aksum,the ancient 

 capital of the empire, with about as many ; Adua, 

 till recently the capital of Tigre, which has 3,000 ; 

 Ankober, the former capital of Shoa, with 7,000; 

 Liche, the present capital of Shoa, with 3,000 ; 

 and Makalle, the present capital of Tigre. The 

 principal occupation of the people is raising 

 cattle, sheep, and goats. There are forests 

 abounding in valuable woods, and indigo, cotton, 

 sugar-cane, the date palm, and the vine grow 

 thriftily, but little attention is given to their 

 cultivation. The products most largely exported 

 are ivory, skins, butter, gums, and mules. Nearly 

 all the foreign commerce passes through the 

 Italian port of Massowah. The money of the 

 country consists of Maria Theresa dollars, still 

 coined in Austria for this part of Africa, besides 

 which bales of cloth and salt are used as cur- 

 rency. 



War in Tijjrre. In a devastating war for 

 supremacy in the northern kingdom Ras Man- 

 gascia was victorious over his adversary, Ras 

 Alula, in the begining of 1893. In March Alula 

 had reorganized his forces, and the war broke 

 out afresh. 



AFGHANISTAN, a monarchy in central 

 Asia. The present Ameer, as the hereditary sov- 

 ereign is called, is Abdurrahman Khan, a grand- 

 son of Dost Mohammed, who was placed on the 

 throne after the British invasion of the country 

 in 1879-'80 in consequence of the massacre of the 

 British envoy and his suite at Cabul. The king- 

 dom is divided into the provinces of Cabul, 

 Herat, Candahar, and Turkistan, and the dis- 

 trict of Badakshan. The boundary dividing 

 Afghanistan on the north from Russian Turkis- 

 VOL. xxxm. 1 A 



tan and the khanates under Russian influence 

 is the river Oxus and a line drawn bv an Anglo- 

 Russian boundary commission from Khamiab, on 

 the Oxus, in a southwesterly direction to Zulfi- 

 kar, on the Heri-Rud, thence southward to the 

 peak of Kuh Malik-i-Siyah, near the Heliniind, 

 and then, with a bend to the east, to the Kwaja 

 Amran range. The Persian frontier on the 

 west is tolerably well defined, as is the western 

 part of that between Afghanistan and British 

 Beluchistan. Farther east, in the Zhob valley 

 and the Waziri country, and in the southeast, in 

 Kafiristan, Chitral, Swat, and the upper basin of 

 the Indus, the Indian Government is extending 

 its political influence over the tribes that the 

 Ameer claims as his subjects. In the extreme 

 east, the Pamir region, the boundaries between 

 Afghanistan, and Russia's sphere on the north, 

 Chinese Turkistan on the east, and India on the 

 south are indeterminate and subject to dispute. 



Besides the Ghilzai, Durani. and other Afghan 

 tribes who inhabit the central parts of the coun- 

 try, the population, which exceeds 4,000,000, in- 

 cludes tne Tajiks, probably of Persian origin, 

 who cultivate the soil and ply peaceful trades, 

 and in the north the Aimaks and Hazaras. who 

 are supposed to be descended from the former 

 Tartar conquerors, and the Uzbecks. A large 

 part of the Hazaras and the Kizilbashis are 

 Shiite Mohammedans, while the rest of the pop- 

 ulation are Sunnites. 



The regular army established by Shere All 

 has been revived by Abdurrahman, who is said to 

 have about 50,000 troops. The tribal levies are 

 incorporated with these as irregular auxiliaries, 

 with the exception of the horsemen, who still 

 follow their feudal chiefs. Gifts of ordnance 

 from the Indian Government arm 6 mule bat- 

 teries, 2 field batteries, and an elephant battery. 

 There is an arsenal in Cabul for the manufacture 

 of ammunition. 



Commerce and Production. Afghanistan 

 is noted for the abundance and excellence of its 

 fruits, on which a large proportion of the people 

 mainly subsist. Apples, pears, peaches, almonds, 

 quinces, apricots, plums, c-lu-rrit-s, grapes, figs, 

 mulberries, and melons thrive to perfect ion. and 

 quantities of preserved fruits are exported. 

 Wheat, barley, chick peas, beans, millet, ric-e, 

 maize, and panic grass are cultivated. The cas- 



