OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barnby, Sir Joseph

See also Joseph Barnby on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​BARNBY, SIR JOSEPH (1838–1896), English musical composer and conductor, son of Thomas Barnby, an organist, was born at York on the 12th of August 1838. He was a chorister at York minster from the age of seven, was educated at the Royal Academy of Music under Cipriani Potter and Charles Lucas, and was appointed in 1862 organist of St Andrew's, Wells Street, London, where he raised the services to a high degree of excellence. He was conductor of “Barnby’s Choir” from 1864, and in 1871 was appointed, in succession to Gounod, conductor of the Albert Hall Choral Society, a post he held till his death. In 1875 he was precentor and director of music at Eton, and in 1892 became principal of the Guildhall School of Music, receiving the honour of knighthood in July of that year. His works include an oratorio Rebekah, Ps. xcvii., many services and anthems, and two hundred and forty-six hymn-tunes (published in 1897 in one volume), as well as some part-songs (among them the popular “Sweet and Low”), and some pieces for the organ. As a conductor he possessed the qualities as well as the defects of the typical north-countryman; if he was wanting in the higher kind of imagination or ideality, he infused into those who sang under him something of his own rectitude and precision. He was largely instrumental in stimulating the love for Gounod’s sacred music among the less educated part of the London public, although he displayed little practical sympathy with opera. On the other hand, he organized a remarkable concert performance of Parsifal at the Albert Hall in London in 1884. He conducted the Cardiff Festivals of 1892 and 1895. He died in London on the 28th of January 1896, and after a special service in St Paul’s cathedral was buried in Norwood Cemetery.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barra

See also Barra on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​BARRA, or Barray (Scand. Baraey, isle of the ocean), an island of the outer Hebrides, Inverness-shire, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 2362. It lies about 5 m. S.W. of South Uist, is 8 m. in length and from 2 to 4 m. in breadth, save at the sandy isthmus 2 m. below Scurrival Point, where it is only a few hundred yards broad. The rock formation is gneiss. The highest hill is Heaval (1260 ft.) and there are several small lochs. The chief village is Castlebay, at which the Glasgow steamer calls once a week. This place derives its name from the castle of Kishmul standing on a rock in the bay, which was once the stronghold of the M$^c$Neills of Barra, one of the oldest of Highland clans. There are remains of ancient chapels, Danish duns and Druidical circles on the island. There is communication by ferry with South Uist. The parish comprises a number of smaller islands and islets—among them Frida, Gighay, Hellisay, Flodda to the N.E., and Vatersay, Pabbay, Mingalay (pop. 135) and Berneray to the S.E.—and contains 4000 acres of arable land and 18,000 acres of meadow and hill pasture. The cod, ling and herring fisheries are important, and the coasts abound with shell-fish, especially cockles, for which it has always been famous. On Barra Head, the highest point of Berneray, and also the most southerly point of the outer Hebrides chain, is a lighthouse 680 ft. above high water.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barrackpur

See also Barrackpore on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​BARRACKPUR, a town and magisterial subdivision of British India, in the district of Twenty-four Parganas, Bengal. The town is the largest cantonment in Lower Bengal, having accommodation for two batteries of artillery, the wing of a European regiment and two native battalions. Its name is said to be derived from the fact of troops having been stationed here since 1772. It is a station on the Eastern Bengal railway. Job ​Charnock, the founder of Calcutta, erected a bungalow and established a small bazaar here in 1689. The cantonment is situated on the left bank of the Hugli; it has also a large bazaar and several large tanks, and also a parade ground. To the south of the cantonment is situated the park, created by the taste and public spirit of Lord Wellesley. Within the park is situated the Government House, a noble building begun by Lord Minto, and enlarged into its present state by the marquess of Hastings. The park is beautifully laid out, and contains a small menagerie. Its most interesting feature is now Lady Canning’s tomb. Barrackpur played an important part in the two Sepoy mutinies of 1824 and 1857, but the details of these belong to the general history of British rule in India. North Barrackpur had a population in 1901 of 12,600 and south Barrackpur of 19,307.
Barrackpur subdivision was formed in 1904. It contains an area of 190 sq. m., which, at the census of 1901, had a population of 206,311, a large proportion being workers in the mills on the left bank of the Hugli.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barquisimeto

See also Barquisimeto on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​BARQUISIMETO, a city of western Venezuela, capital of the state of Lara, on the Barquisimeto river, 101 m. by rail S.W. of Tucacas, its port on the Caribbean coast. Pop. (est. 1899) 40,000. It is built in a small, fertile valley of the Merida Cordilleras, 1985 ft. above sea-level, has a temperate, healthy climate with a mean annual temperature of 78° F., and is surrounded by a highly productive country from which are exported coffee, sugar, cacao and rum. It is also an important distributing centre for neighbouring districts. The city is the seat of a bishopric, is regularly laid out and well built, and is well provided with educational and charitable institutions. Barquisimeto was founded in 1522 by Juan de Villegas, who was exploring the neighbourhood for gold, and it was first called Nueva Segovia after his native city. In 1807 its population had risen to 15,000, principally through its commercial importance, but on the 26th of March 1812 it was totally destroyed by an earthquake, and with it 1500 lives, including a part of the revolutionary forces occupying the town. It was soon rebuilt and is one of the few cities of Venezuela which have recovered from the ravages of the war of independence and subsequent disorders.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barr

See also Barr, Bas-Rhin on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer. Now a town of France.
​BARR, a town of Germany, in the imperial province of Alsace-Lorraine, on the Kirneck, 13 m. N. from Schlettstadt by rail. It has an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church and considerable tanneries. There is an active trade in wine and timber. Pop. (1900) 5243.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barony

See also Barony on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​BARONY, the domain of a baron (q.v.). In Ireland counties are divided into “baronies,” which are equivalent to the “hundreds” (q.v.) in England, and seem to have been formed out of the territories of the Irish chiefs, as each submitted to English rule (General Report of the Census of England, iv. 181, 1873). In Scotland the term is applied to any large freehold estate even when held by a commoner. Barony also denotes the rank or dignity of a baron, and the feudal tenure “by barony.”
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barotac Nuevo

See also Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​BAROTAC NUEVO, a town of the province of Iloílo, Panay, Philippine Islands, near the Jalaur river, above its mouth on the S.E. coast, and about 15 m. N.E. of Iloílo, the capital. Pop. (1903) 9904; in 1903 after the census had been taken the neighbouring town of Dumangas (pop. 12,428) was annexed to Barotac Nuevo. The town lies in a fertile plain and deals in rice, trepang and pina. Here, in what was formerly Dumangas, are a fine church and convent, built of iron, pressed brick and marble. Dumangas was destroyed by fire in June 1900, during a fight with insurgents, but its rebuilding was begun in May 1901.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Barouche

See also Barouche on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​BAROUCHE (Ger. barutsche, Span. barrocho, Ital. baroccio; from Lat. bi-rotus, double-wheeled), the name of a sort of carriage, with four wheels and a hood, arranged for two couples to sit inside facing one another.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Baroque

See also Baroque on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​BAROQUE, a technical term, chiefly applicable to architecture, furniture and household decoration. Apparently of Spanish origin—a barrueco is a large, irregularly-shaped pearl—the word was for a time confined to the craft of the jeweller. It indicates the more extravagant fashions of design that were common in the first half of the 18th century, chiefly in Italy and France, in which everything is fantastic, grotesque, florid or incongruous—irregular shapes, meaningless forms, an utter lack of restraint and simplicity. The word suggests much the same order of ideas as rococo.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ajodhya

See also Ayodhya on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​AJODHYA, an ancient city of India, the prehistoric capital of Oudh, in the Fyzabad district of the United Provinces. It is situated on the right bank of the Gogra. In the present day the old city has almost entirely disappeared, and its site is marked only by a heap of ruins; but in remote antiquity Ajodhya was one of the largest and most magnificent of Indian cities. It is said to have covered an area of 96 m., and was the capital of the kingdom of Kosala, the court of the great king Dasaratha, the fifty-sixth monarch of the Solar line in descent from Raja Manu. The opening chapters of the Ramayana recount the magnificence of the city, the glories of the monarch and the virtues, wealth and loyalty of his people. Dasaratha was the father of Rama Chandra, the hero of the epic. A period of Buddhist supremacy followed the death of the last king of the Solar dynasty. On the revival of Brahmanism Ajodhya was restored by King Vikramaditya (c. 57 B.C.). Kosala is also famous as the early home of Buddhism, and of the kindred religion of Jainism, and claims to be the birthplace of the founders of both these faiths. The Chinese traveller, Hsüan Tsang, in the 7th century, found 20 Buddhist temples with 3000 monks at Ajodhya among a large Brahmanical population. The modern town of Ajodhya contains 96 Hindu temples and 36 Mussulman mosques. Little local trade is carried on, but the great fair of Ramnami held every year is attended by about 500,000 people.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ak-Shehr

See also Akşehir on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​AK-SHEHR (anc. Philomelion), a town in Asia Minor, in the Konia vilayet, situated at the edge of a fertile plain, on the north side of the Sultan Dagh. Philomelion was probably a Pergamenian foundation on the great Graeco-Roman highway from Ephesus to the east, and to its townsmen the Smyrniotes wrote the letter that describes the martyrdom of Polycarp. Cicero, on his way to Cilicia, dated some of his extant correspondence there; and the place played a considerable part in the frontier wars between the Byzantine emperors and the sultanate of Rum. It became an important Seljuk town, and late in the 14th century passed into Ottoman hands. There Bayezid Yildirim is said by Ali of Yezd to have died after his defeat at Angora. The place still enjoys much repute among Turks, as the burial-place of Nur-ed-din Khoja. The town has a station on the Anatolian railway, about 60 m. from Afium-Kara-Hissar and 100 m. from Konia.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ak-Hissar

See also Akhisar on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​AK-HISSAR (anc. Thyateira, the “town of Thya”), a town situated in a fertile plain on the Gürdük Chai (Lycus), in the Aidin vilayet, 58 m. N.E. of Smyrna. Pop. about 20,000, Mussulmans forming two-thirds. Thyateira was an ancient town re-peopled with Macedonians by Seleucus about 290 B.C. It became an important station on the Roman road from Pergamum to Laodicea, and one of the “Seven Churches” of Asia (Rev. ii. 18), but was never a metropolis or honoured with a neocorate, though made the centre of a conventus by Caracalla. The modern town is connected with Smyrna by railway, and exports cotton, wool, opium, cocoons and cereals. The inhabitants are Greeks, Armenians and Turks. The Greeks are of an especially fine type, physical and moral, and noted all through Anatolia for energy and stability. W. M. Ramsay believes them to be direct descendants of the ancient Christian population; but there is reason to think they are partly sprung from more recent immigrants who moved in the 18th century from western Greece into the domain of the Karasmans of Manisa and Bergama, as recorded by W. M. Leake. Cotton of excellent quality is grown in the neighbourhood, and the place is celebrated for its scarlet dyes.
See W. M. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches (1904); M. Clerc, De rebus Thyatirenorum (1893).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Akaba

See also Gulf of Aqaba on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​AKABA, Gulf of, the Sinus Aelaniticus of antiquity, the eastern of the two divisions into which the Red Sea bifurcates near its northern extremity. It penetrates into Arabia Petraea in a N.N.E. direction, from 28° to 29° 32′ N., a distance of 100 m., and its breadth varies from 12 to 17 m. The entrance is contracted by Tiran and other islands, so that the passage is rendered somewhat difficult; and its navigation is dangerous on account of the numerous coral reefs, and the sudden squalls which sweep down from the adjacent mountains, many of which rise perpendicularly to a height of 2000 ft. The gulf is a continuation southward of the Jordan-’Araba depression. Raised beaches on the coast show that there has been a considerable elevation of the sea-bed. The only well-sheltered harbour is that of Dahab (the Golden Port) on its western shore, about 33 m. from the entrance and 29 m. E. of Mount Sinai. Near the head of the gulf is Jeziret Faraun (medieval Graye), a rocky islet with the ruins of a castle built by Baldwin I. (c. 1115).
About 21/2 m. from the head of the gulf and on its eastern side is the town of Akaba, with a picturesque medieval castle, built for the protection of pilgrims on their way from Egypt to Mecca. In the neighbourhood are extensive groves of date palms, and there is an ample supply of good water. Akaba is of considerable historical interest and of great antiquity, being the Elath or Eloth of the Bible, and one of the ports whence Solomon’s fleet sailed to Ophir. By the Romans, who made it a military post, it was called Aelana. It continued to be the seat of great commercial activity under the early Moslem caliphs, who corrupted the name to Haila or Ailat. In the 10th century an Arab geographer described it as the great port of Palestine and the emporium of the Hejaz. In the 12th century the town suffered at the hands of Saladin and thereafter fell into decay. In 1841 the town was recognized by Turkey, together with the Sinai peninsula, as part of Egypt. At that time Egyptian pilgrims frequented Akaba in large numbers. In 1892, on the accession of the khedive Abbas II., Turkey resumed possession of Akaba, the Egyptian pilgrims having deserted the land route to Mecca in favour of a sea passage. In 1906 the construction was begun of a branch line joining Akaba to the Mecca railway and thus giving through communication with Beirut. Early in the same year the Turks occupied Taba, a village at the mouth of a small stream 8 m. by land W. by S. of Akaba, near which is the site, not identified, of the Ezion-Geber of Scripture, another of the ports whence the argosies of the Israelites sailed. Taba being on the Egyptian side of the frontier, Great Britain ​intervened on behalf of Egypt, and in May 1906 secured the withdrawal of the Turks.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Aken

See also Aken (Elbe) on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​AKEN, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Prussia, on the Elbe, 25 m. E.S.E. of Magdeburg, with a branch line to Cöthen (8 m.). Pop. (1900) 7358. It has manufactures of cloth, leather, chemicals and optical instruments; large quantities of beetroot sugar are produced in the neighbourhood; and there is a considerable transit trade on the Elbe.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ajmere-Merwara

See also Ajmer-Merwara on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​AJMERE-MERWARA, a division or petty province of British India, in Rajputana, consisting of the two districts of Ajmere and Merwara, separated from each other and isolated amid native states. The administration is in the hands of a commissioner, subordinate to the governor-general’s agent for Rajputana. The capital is Ajmere city. The area is 2710 sq. m. The plateau, on whose centre stands the town of Ajmere, may be considered as the highest point in the plains of Hindustan; from the circle of hills which hem it in, the country slopes away on every side—towards river valleys on the east, south, west and towards the desert region on the north. The Aravalli range is the distinguishing feature of the district. The range of hills which runs between Ajmere and Nasirabad marks the watershed of the continent of India. The rain which falls on one side drains into the Chambal, and so into the Bay of Bengal; that which falls on the other side into the Luni, which discharges itself into the Runn of Cutch. The province is on the border of what may be called the arid “zone”; it is the debatable land between the north-eastern and south-western monsoons, and beyond the influence of either. The south-west monsoon sweeps up the Nerbudda valley from Bombay and crossing the table-land at Neemuch gives copious supplies to Malwa, jhalawar and Kotah and the countries which lie in the course of the Chambal river. The clouds which strike Kathiawar and Cutch are deprived of a great deal of their moisture by the hills in those countries, and the greater part of the remainder is deposited on Mount Abu and the higher slopes of the Aravalli mountains, leaving but little for Merwara, where the hills are lower, and still less for Ajmere. It is only when the monsoon is in considerable force that Merwara gets a plentiful supply from it. The north-eastern monsoon sweeps up the valley of the Ganges from the Bay of Bengal and waters the northern part of Rajputana, but hardly penetrates farther west than the longitude of Ajmere. On the varying strength of these two monsoons the rainfall of the district depends. The agriculturist in Ajmere-Merwara can never rely upon two good harvests in succession. A province subject to such conditions can hardly be free from famine or scarcity for any length of time; accordingly it was visited by two famines, one of unprecedented severity, and one scarcity, in the decade 1891–1901. In June 1900 the number of persons in receipt of relief was 143,000, being more than one-fourth of the total population.
In 1901 the population was 476,912, showing a decrease of 12% in the decade, due to the results of famine. Among Hindus, the Rajputs are land-holders, and the Jats and Gujars are cultivators. The Jains are traders and money-lenders. The aboriginal tribe of Mers are divided between Hindus and Mahommedans. The chief crops are millet, wheat, cotton and oil-seeds. There are several factories for ginning and pressing cotton, the chief trading centres being Beawar and Kekri.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Aka Hills

See also Arunachal Pradesh on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​AKA HILLS, a tract of country on the north-east frontier of India, occupied by an independent tribe called the Akas. It lies north of the Darrang district of Eastern Bengal and Assam, and is bounded on the east by the Daphla Hills and on the west by independent Bhutia tribes. The Aka country is very difficult of access, the direct road from the plains leading along the precipitous channel of the Bhareli river, which divides the Aka from the Daphla country. The Akas are a brave people, and the men are strong and well-made. Their reputation as raiders is sufficiently shown in the division of the tribe into two clans, the Hazari-khoas or “eaters of a thousand hearths,” and the Kapah-chors or “thieves that lurk in the cotton fields.” In the early years of British occupation, about 1829, they gave much trouble; and in 1883 they broke out once more into their old habits. They raided into the British district of Darrang and carried off several native forest officers as hostages. An expedition was sent against them under General Sale Hill with 860 troops, which was completely successful. All its objects were satisfactorily accomplished, namely, the recovery of the captives, the surrender of all firearms, the payment of the fine inflicted by government, the complete submission of the tribe and the survey of the country.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Akcha

See also Aqcha on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​AKCHA, a town and khanate of Afghan Turkestan. The town lies 42 m. westward of Balkh on the road to Andkhui. It is protected by a mud wall and a citadel. Estimated population 8000, chiefly Uzbegs. The khanate is small, but well watered and populous. The rivers rising in the southern mountains, which no longer reach the Oxus, terminate in vast swamps near Akcha, and into these the debris of such vegetation as yearly springs up on the slopes of the southern hills is washed down in time of flood.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Akalkot

See also Akkalkot on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​AKALKOT, a native state of India, in the Deccan division of Bombay, ranking as one of the Satara Jagirs, situated between the British district of Sholapur and the nizam’s dominions. It forms part of the Deccan table-land, and has a cool and agreeable climate. Area 498 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 82,047, showing an increase of 8% in the decade. Estimated revenue, £26,586; the tribute is £1000. The chief, who is a Mahratta of the Bhonsla family, resides at Poona on a pension, while the state is under British management.
The town of Akalkot is situated near the Great Indian Peninsula railway, which traverses the state. Pop. 8348.