=Acul=, Haiti. 19N. 74W. Port named Saint-Thomas by Columbus. =Alabama=, U.S. 31N. 85W. De Soto, discoverer of Mississippi (q.v.), had fierce combats with natives; first colonised by French 18th century (see Mobile); part transferred by France to Great Britain, 1763; formerly part of Georgia; became independent state, 1817; admitted to Union, 1819; seceded, 1861; readmitted, 1868. =Alamo Fort=, San Antonio, Texas. 28N. 98W. Heroically defended by Texans against Mexicans under Santa Ana, who massacred the six left of the garrison after capitulation, 1836 (Texan struggle for independence). =Alaska.= 55N. 140W. Formerly 'Russian America;' discovered by Bering, 1741; bought by the U.S. and organised as a territory, 1867. =Albany=, cap. of N.Y. State. 42N. 72W. Dutch traders at, 1614; f. by Dutch (Fort Orange), 1622; present name given by English, to whom ceded, 1664; peace conference with the five nations at, 1689; colonial conventions, at which the six nations were represented, 1748, 1751, and 1754, when Benjamin Franklin assisted as delegate from Pennsylvania. Bp. Bret Harte (1839-1902); P. H. Sheridan, general (1831-88). =Albemarle Sound=, N. Carolina. 36N. 76W. Indecisive battle during Civil W. =Alderman Jones's Sound.= 76N. 82W. So named by Baffin, 1616. =Aleutian Islands=, N. Pacific. 53N. 173E. Discovered by Bering, 1741. =Allatoona=, Georgia. 34N. 84W. Capitulated to Sherman, 1864 (Civil W.). (His signal 'Hold the fort' has been made popular in a well-known hymn.) =Allumette=, island, Ottawa River, Quebec. 45N. 77W. Champlain at, 1612. =Amaquemecan=, Mexico. 19N. 98W. Cortés at, on his march to Mexico, 1519. =Amazon= (Marañon), river, 0N. 50W. So called from the accounts given by Orellana of the warlike women he encountered on its banks. First seen at its mouth by Vincent Yañez Pinzon, 1500; Orellana, who accompanied Gonzalo Pizarro on his expedition from Quito into the interior, sailed down to the mouth from the Rio Napo, 1540; among later explorers were Lope de Aguirre, Pedro de Texeiro, La Condamine, and in the 19th century the naturalists Alfred Wallace, Walter Bates, Poeppig, Agassiz, Orton, and English, American, and French navigators. =Ambato=, Ecuador. 1S. 79W. Defeat of Huascar by Atahuallpa, brother Incas of Peru and Quito. (See Prescott, 'Peru,' op. cit.)