the chief centres of the cotton trade in Berar, and has numerous ginning factories and cotton presses. Among the educational establishments are a government high school, and an industrial school supported by a Protestant mission.
The District of Akola as reconstituted in 1905 has an area of 4111 sq. m. the population of this area in 1901 being 754,804. (Before the alteration of the boundaries the area of the district was 2678 sq. m., and the population 582,540.) The surface of the country is generally flat, the greater part being situated in the central valley of Berar. On the north it is bounded by the Melghat hills. By the addition of Basim and Mangrul taluks in 1005, the district includes the eastern part of the Ajanta hills, with peaks rising to 2000 ft., and the tableland of Basim (q.v.) North of the Ajanta hills the country is drained eastward by the Purna affluent of the Tapti and its tributaries. None of the rivers is navigable. The climate resembles that of Berar generally, but the heat during April to mid-June, when the rains begin, is very great, the average temperature at the town of Akola in May for the twenty-five years ending 1901 being 94·4° F. But even during the hot season the nights are cool. The annual rainfall averages 34 in. In the Purna valley the soil is everywhere a rich black loam, and nearly the whole of the land is cultivated. Very little land is under irrigation. The principal crop is cotton, and the staple grain millet. Wheat and pulses are also grown. The history of Akola is not distinguished from that of the other portions of Berar. In 1317–1318 it was added to the Delhi empire, became independent under the Bahmani dynasty in 1348, and in 1596 again fell under the sway of the Moguls. In 1724 it came, with the rest of Berar, under the dominion of the nizam, being assigned to the British in 1853.
AKRON, a city and the county-seat of Summit county, Ohio, U.S.A., on the Little Cuyahoga river, about 35 m. S. by E. of Cleveland. Pop. (1890) 27,601; (1900) 42,728, of whom 7127 were foreign-born (3227 being German, 1104 English, and 641 Irish); (1910) 69,067. It is served by the Baltimore & Ohio, the Erie, the Northern Ohio, and the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus railways, by inter-urban electric lines and by the Ohio Canal. The city is situated in a region abounding in lakes, springs and hills; it is about 1000 ft. above sea-level, whence its name (from Gr. ἄκρον, height); and attracts many summer visitors. It is the seat of Buchtel College (co-educational; non-sectarian), which was founded by the Ohio Universalist Convention in 1870, was opened in 1872, and was named in honour of its most liberal benefactor, John R. Buchtel (1822–1892), a successful business man who did much to promote the industrial development of Akron. Buchtel College provides three courses leading to the degrees of A.B., Ph.B. and S.B.; it has a school of music, a school of art and an academy; in 1908 there were 267 students. Coal is mined in the neighbourhood. The river furnishes considerable water-power; and among the city's most important manufactures are rubber and elastic goods (value, 1905, $13,396,974; 83·9% of the total of this industry in the state and 21·3% of the total for the United States, Akron ranking first among the cities of the country in this industry), printing and publishing product (value, 1905, $2,834,639), foundry and machine-shop product (value, 1905, $2,367,764), and pottery, terra-cotta and fire-clay (value, 1905, $1,718,033; nearly twice the value of the output in 1900, Akron ranking fourth among the cities of the United States in this industry in 1905). Other important manufactures are food preparations (especially of oats) and flour and grist mill products. The value of the total manufactured products (under the “factory” system) in 1905 was $34,004,243, an increase in five years of 54·5%. Akron was settled about 1825, was incorporated as a village in 1836, was made the county-seat in 1842, and in 1865 was chartered as a city.
See S. A. Lane, Fifty Years and over of Akron and Summit County (Akron, 1892).
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.
AKSU (White Water), a town of the Chinese empire, Eastern Turkestan, in 41° 7′ N. and 79° 7′ E. of Uch-Turfan and 270 m. N.E. of Yarkand, near the left bank of the Aksu river, which takes its origin in the Tien-shan (Tian-shan) mountains and joins the Tarim. It belongs to the series of oases (Uch-Turfan, Bai, Koucha, &c.) situated at the southern foot of the eastern T’ien-shan mountains. The town, which is supposed to have about 6000 houses, is enclosed by a wall. It is an important centre for caravan routes and has a considerable trade. There are some cotton manufactures; and the place is celebrated for its richly ornamented saddlery made from deerskin. A Chinese garrison is stationed here, and copper and iron are wrought in the neighbourhood by exiled Chinese criminals. Extensive cattle-breeding is carried on by the inhabitants.
AKYAB, a city and district in the Arakan division of Burma. The city is situated at the confluence of the three large rivers Myu, Koladaing and Lemyu, and is the most flourishing city in the Arakan division. Originally it was a mere fishing village, but when the British government in 1826 removed the restrictions on trade imposed by the Burmese, Akyab quickly grew into an important seat of maritime commerce. After the cession of Arakan by the treaty of Yandaboo in that year the old capital of Myohaung was abandoned as the seat of government, and Akyab on the sea-coast selected instead. During the first forty years of British rule it increased from a village to a town of 15,536 inhabitants, and now it is the third port of Burma, with a population in 1901 of 31,687. It contains the usual public buildings and several large rice mills. The chief exports are rice and oil.
The district lies along the north-eastern shores of the Bay of Bengal, with an area of 5136 sq. m. and a population in 1901 of 481,666. It forms the northernmost district of Lower Burma, and consists of the level tract lying between the sea and the Arakan Yoma mountains, and of the broken country formed by a portion of their western spurs and valleys. The forests form a most important feature of Akyab district and contain a valuable supply of timber of many kinds. The central part of the district consists of three fertile valleys, watered by the Myu, Koladaing and Lemyu. These rivers approach each other at their mouths, and form a vast network of tidal channels, creeks and islands. Their alluvial valleys yield inexhaustible supplies of rice, which the abundant water carriage brings down to the port of Akyab at a very cheap rate. The four chief towns are Khumgchu in the extreme north-east of the district; Koladaing in the centre; Arakan, farther down the rivers; and Akyab on the coast, where their mouths converge. This district passed into the hands of the British, together with the rest of Arakan division, at the close of the first Burmese war of 1825–1826.
Akyab was the metropolitan province of the native kingdom of Arakan, and the history of that country centres in it. In 1871 the frontier or hill tracts of the district were placed under a special administration, with a view to the better government of the wild tribes which inhabit them. (J. G. Sc.)
ALA (from Lat. ala, a wing), a word used technically by analogy with its meaning of “wing.” In physiology, it means any wing-like process, such as one of the lateral cartilages of the nose. In botany, one of the side petals of a papilionaceous corolla, &c. In architecture, a side apartment or recess of a Roman house (the origin of “aisle”).
