to America with Pedro Arias de Avila in 1514 and settled at Darien, whence he removed to Panama in 1519, when that town was founded. In 1524 he formed a partnership with Pizarro for the conquest of a region on the Pacific coast to the south, which was reported to contain gold. The first voyage was a failure. The second voy- age, undertaken in 1526, began with a succession of reverses and Pizarro wislied to al)andon the enterprise, but Almagro persuaded him to con- tiinie, and eventually they were rewarded with the wealth of the Incas' Empire. Pizarro secured to himself and his brothers most of the fruits of victory, and deprived Almagro of his fair share of plunder and power. In 1535 Almagio obtained from Charles V. the title of Adelantado, or Gover- nor, of "New Toledo," a territory extending 200 leagues along the coast, beginning at the soutliern limit of Pizarro's giant. A dispute immediately arose as to the boundary between the two grants, Almagro claiming that Cuzco lay within his ter- ritory. He returned from an expedition which he had undertaken, without much success, into the snowy plateau region of the southern Andes, to enforce this claim, and entered Cuzco, assert- ing that he was its legitimate governor. The Marquis Pizzaro at once dispatched Espinosa to effect, if possible, an amicable settlement; but Almagro was elated by his recent successes and refused to entertain any compromises. Further negotiations led to a personal conference between Pizarro and Almagro, November 1.3, 1537, wdiieh ended in an altercation, and the two old friends parted, for the last time, in very angiy mood. Pizarro's forces gradually forced Al- magro back toward Cuzco, near which place he made a stand. A furious battle was fought, April 26, 1538. Almagro was captured, and gar- roted in the following July.
Almagro's son, Diego (1520-42), whose mother was an Indian girl of Panama, was at first treated kindly by Pizarro ; but he soon came under the influence of some of his father's friends, who had formed a conspiracy to over- throw Pizarro. The marquis was murdered on June 26, 1541: the conspirators proclaimed the lad Almagro, who was about twenty-one years old, Governor of Peru, and then promptly quar- reled among tliemselves. When all but one of the leaders had been murdered or had died from fever and exposure, Almagro took matters into his own hands and ordered the execution of the only remaining man of consequence among them. Meanwhile, Vaca de Castro, who had been sent from Spain by the Government to end the civil ^•ar in Peru, arrived and assumed the govern- ment. Almagi-o refused to submit and was at- tacked by the royal forces, who defeated him in a desperate battle on September IG, 1542. Al- magro fled to Cuzco, but was arrested, immedi- ately condemned to death, and executed in the great square of the city.
ALMAIN. An old name for Germany, derived from that of the Alemanni (q.v.).
ALMALEE, al-male. See Elmalu.
AL'MA MA'TER (Lat. nourishing mother). A name applied to a university or college, and expressing the relation between the institution and the students who have been educated in it. The term is one of affection, and suggests a nmtual dependence of university and alumnus one upon the othsr. The term matriculation (q.v.), applied to entrance into a university, carries the same meaning.
AL-MAMUN, iil'mii-moon', Abu Abbas Ab- DALLAH (783-833). A caliph of the line of the Abbassides (q.v.), distinguished for Ills intellectual qualities. He was the son of Harun - al - Rashid. When Harun died, his brother Amin succeeded to the Caliphate; but his treatment of Al-Mamun led to war, and after five years of fighting Amin was slain and Al-Ma- num took his place (813). The early part of his reign was disturbed by revolts and heresies; but when aff'airs settled down he fostered the culti- vation of literature and science throughout his Empire, and Bagdad became the seat of academ- ical instruction and the centre of intelligence. He had books translated from old and living languages, founded astronomical observatories, determined the inclination of the ecliptic, had a degree of the meridian measured on the plain of Shinar, and constructed astronomical tables of remarkable accuracy. He paid more respect to science than to orthodoxy, and drew his serv- apts from all countries and all creeds. In 827 he favored the heretical doctrines of the Mutazil- ites, who asserted the free will of man and de- nied the finality of the Koran. In the latter years of his reign he was involved in war with the Greek Emperor Theophilus, and revolts broke out in various parts of his Empire. In 833, af- ter quelling a disturbance in Egypt, he marched into Cilicia against the Greeks, but died sud- denly near Tarsus, leaving his crown to Mutasim, a younger brother. Al-Mamun was the author of Inqviries into the Koran, a tract on Signs of Prophect/, and one on The Rhetoric of the Priests and Panegyrists of the Caliphs. Consult Muir, The Caliphate (London, 1891).
AL'MANAC (Of disputed origin). A book or table containing a calendar of the civil divisions of the year, the times of the various astronomical phenomena, and other useful or entertaining information. Till a comparatively modern date, this additional matter consisted of astrological predictions and other analogous absurdities; it now embraces, in the best almanacs, a wide variety of useful notes and information, chronological, statistical, political, agricultural, etc.
The history of almanacs, like all early history of astronomy, goes back to very ancient times. The Alexandrian Greeks certainly had almanacs, though the time when they first appeared in Europe is not precisely known. The oldest of the copies (manuscript) existing are of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; there are specimens in the libraries of the British Museum and of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The earliest known printed European almanac was compiled by the celebrated astronomer Purbach, and appeared between the years 1450 and 1461; but the first almanac of importance was that compiled by his pupil, Regiomontanus, for the fifty-seven years from 1475 to 1531, for which he received a munificent donation from Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary. Bernardo de Granolachs of Barcelona commenced the publication of an almanac in 1487; the printer Engel of Vienna, in 1491; and Stöffler of Tübingen, in 1524. Copies of these are now very rare. In 1533 Rabelais published at Lyons his almanac for that year, and renewed the publication in 1535, 1548, and 1550. The fame and popularity of the as-
