HAM, WEST 453 HAMBURG is used as a state prison. It is memorable as the place of confinement of Joan of Arc, Moncey, and others; of Polignac, Peyronnet, and Guemon de Ranville from 1831 to 1836; of Louis Napoleon from 1840 till 1846; and after the coup d'etat, of the republican generals Ca- vaignac, Lamoriciere, Changarnier, etc. HAM, WEST, a suburb of East Lon- don, and a parliamentary and county borough of Essex, England, on the Thames, opposite Greenwich. Pop. 133,- 500. It is a busy industrial parish, and has silk printing, ship-building, distilling, and chemical manufactures. HAMADAN (ha-ma-dan') , a town of Persia, in the province of Irak Ajemi, situated at the N. base of Mount Elwend, 160 miles W. S. W. of Teheran. It con- tains Avicenna's tomb, and others affirmed to be those of Mordecai and Esther. Being the center of converging routes from Bagdad, Erivan, Teheran, and Ispahan, it is the seat of a large transit trade; and it carries on extensive manufactures of leather, and in a less degree of coarse carpets and woolen and cotton fabrics. Hamadan is generally believed to occupy the site of the Median ECBATANA {q. v.). Pop. between 30,000 and 40,000. HAMAN (ha'man), a favorite of Ahasuerus, King of Persia. In order to revenge himself on Mordecai the Jew, he plotted the extermination of all the Jews in the kingdom; but in the provi- dence of God he was thwarted by Esther, fell into disgrace with the king, and wrought his own ruin and the upbuild- ing of the Jews, B. c. about 485. HAMBOURG, MARK, a Russian pianist and composer. He was bora at Bogutchar, south Russia, in 1879, and was educated by Lis father and subse- quently by Professor Leschetitzky, Vi- enna, where he obtained the Liszt scholarship in 1894. He made his first public appearance in Moscow in 1888, and later appeared in London, Vienna, Australia, Paris, Berlin. He made his first American tour during 1899-1900, and the second American tour during 1902-1903. He toured Australia and New Zealand in 1903, south Africa in 1905, Holland in 1906, returning in subsequent years. He made his first Canadian tour in 1910. His publications include: "Va- riations on a Theme by Paganini"; "Volkslied"; "Espieglerie"; "Romance." HAMBURG (ham'borg), a city of Germany, one of the three formerly in- dependent Hansa towns, and the greatest commercial port on the continent of Eu- rope; 80 miles from the Noi'th Sea, on the N. branch of the Elbe. The town of Altona adjoins it on the W. From the Elbe proceed canals which intersect the E. and lower part of the city in all directions, and it is also intersected by the Alster, which here forms two fine streams, the Binnenalster and Aussen- alster. The quays and harbor accommo- dation are very extensive. After the destructive fire of 1842 whole streets were rebuilt in a magnificent and expensive style. The most important public buildings are the church of St. Nicholas, a noble Gothic structure with a lofty tower and spire, built between 1845 and 1874; St. Peter's, another lofty Gothic edifice; St. Michael's, the largest of the churches; St. Catharine's, an ancient edifice; St. James', erected in 1354, but surmounted by a modern tower; an elegant Jewish temple; an exchange, a noble edifice, consisting chiefly of a magnificent hall, surrounded by a fine colonnade. There are also the Johanneum institution, containing an ancient college, museums, and the city library, with about 300,000 volumes; several well-endowed hospitals; zoolog- ical and botanic gardens; the Kunst- halle, a large collection of pictures and sculpture, theaters, etc. Hamburg was prior to the World War of most impor- tance on account of its great shipping trade and the business of banking, ex- change, marine assurance, etc., carried on in connection with that. It was the first commercial city on the continent of Europe, and ranked only below London and New York in the value of its trade. Its manufactures, though large, are less important, including shipbuilding, tobac- co and cigar making, iron-founding, brewing, etc. The city owes its founda- tion to the emperor Charlemagne, who (808-811) built a citadel and a church on the heights between the Elbe and the E. bank of the Alster, as a bulwark against the neighboring pagans. It be- came important as a commercial city in the 12th century, and in the 13th it combined with Liibeck in forming the Hanseatic League. In 1618 Hamburg was formally acknowledged a free city of the Empire. During the Thirty Years' War its population and prosperity con- tinued to increase on account of the im- munity of its position, and in the follow- ing century it obtained a large share of the trade with North America. In 1810 it was formally incorporated in the French empire along with the N. W. part of Germany. In 1815 it joined the Germanic Confederation as a frpe city. In 1888 the city was included in the Zollverein or German Customs Union. In the World War (1914-1918) Ham-
