Aspern

Aspern, a small village of Austria, on the Danube's left bank, nearly opposite Vienna. Here on May 21-22, 1S09, Napoleon was defeated by the Austrians under Archduke Charles.

Aspinwall

Aspinwall, or Colon, a seaport of the republic of Panama, but practically a United States colony, is situated at the Atlantic extremity of the Panama Railway (1849-55), and of the unfinished inter-oceanic Panama Canal, on the island of Manzanilla in Limon Bay, 8 miles NE. of the old Spanish port of Chagres, and 47 NW. of Panama by rail. In 1870 the Empress Eugenie presented the town with a statue of Columbus, after whom it is named officially Colon. The name Aspin-wall it derives from a New York merchant, the originator of the Panama Railway; the company having founded the town in 1850. Pop. 4500.

Aspromonte

Aspromonte (As-pro-mon'tay), a rugged mountain (6907 feet) of Italy, near Reggio, overlooking the Strait of Messina. Here Garibaldi was defeated and captured, 28th August 1862.

Assah Bay

Assah Bay, an Italian trading station on the west coast of the Red Sea, 40 miles NW. of the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. The district around it (area, 243 sq. m.; pop. 1300) was sold in 1870 by some Danakil chieftains to an Italian steamship company for a coaling station, and in 1880 was taken over by the Italian government.

Assal

Assal', a large salt-lake, nearly 600 feet below sea-level, in Adal, East Africa, 9 miles from the coast of the Bay of Tajurrah.

Assaye

Assa'ye, an Indian village in the extreme north-east of the Nizam's dominions, 43 miles NE. of Aurungabad. Here, on 23d September 1803, Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington, with 4500 men, defeated 50,000 Mahrattas.

Assen

Assen, a town of NE. Holland, 17 miles S. of Groningen by rail. Pop. 11,200.

Assiniboia

Assiniboia, till 1905 a Canadian district within the limits of the North-west Territories, formed by an order in Council in 18S2. It was bounded on the south by the United States frontier, on the east by Manitoba, and on the north by the former district of Saskatchewan, and had an area of 89,535 sq. m. It contained the towns of Regina (now the capital of the new province of Alberta) and Fort Pelly. The climate is subject to extremes, ranging from 58o P. below zero in winter to 106° above it in summer. In 1905 the new provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta were formed, and Assiniboia was divided between them, Saskatchewan getting the greater portion.

Assiniboine

Assin'iboine, a river of British North America, rising in 51° 40' N. lat. and 105° E. long., and, after a course of 400 miles, at Winnipeg joining the Red River (q.v.), which discharges its waters into Lake Winnipeg. Its tributaries are the Little Souris, Qu'appelle, Rapid River or Little Saskatchewan, White Sand River, and Beaver Creek.

Assisi

Assi'si, a town of Central Italy, on a steep hill, 14 miles SE. of Perugia by rail. It is the birthplace of St Francis, who founded here in 1209 the mendicant order that bears his name. The monastery (1229) has two Gothic churches, one surmounting the other, with frescoes and paintings by Cimabue, Giotto, etc.; beneath, in a Doric crypt (1818), are the relics of St Francis. Assisi also possesses a cathedral. Pop. 6705.