ANKARSTRÖM, Johan Jakob, the assassin of Gustavus III., king of Sweden, was descended from an honourable family, and was born in 1759. After having been for some time at court as a page, he entered the army, but left after a few years with the honorary rank of captain. He is said to have been concerned in some treasonable projects, and to have been pardoned by the king, but the story has not sufficient authority. The Swedish nobles were about this time violently opposed to the king, who, by the aid of the other orders of the state, had wrested their power from them, and was now ruling despotically. This dislike was increased by the coup d'état of 1789, and by the king's known desire to interfere in favour of Louis XVIII. of France. Ankarstrom, a man of strong passions and violent temper, resolved upon the assassination of Gustavus, and communicated his intention to the disaffected nobles, and among others, to Counts Horn and Ribbing, who would willingly have undertaken the deed themselves. After some ineffectual attempts to seize the king's person, a favourable opportunity offered itself. A masked ball was held at Stockholm on the 16th March 1792, which the king attended, though he had been warned against doing so by an anonymous letter. By a preconcerted signal, Count Horn indicated his victim to Ankarstrom, who fired and inflicted a mortal wound. The murderer was identified by the discharged pistol, thrown down in the ball-room, and was arrested. He did not attempt to deny his crime, but declared that he had no accomplices. After a long trial he was condemned, was publicly beaten on three successive days, had his right hand cut off, and was finally beheaded and quartered. He endured his sufferings with the greatest fortitude, and seemed to rejoice in having rid his country of a tyrant. His principal accomplices were imprisoned for life.
ANKLAM, or Anclam, a town of Prussia, in the province of Pomerania, situated on the Peene, 6 miles from its mouth in the Kleine Haff, and 47 N.W. of Stettin, with which it is connected by railway. The fortifications of Anklam were dismantled in 1762, and have not since been restored, although the old walls are still standing; formerly, how ever, it was a town of considerable military importance, which suffered severely during the Thirty Years and the Seven Years Wars; and this fact, together with the repeated ravages of fire and of the plague, has made its history more eventful than is usually the case with towns of the same size. It does not possess any remarkable buildings, although it contains several, private as well as public, that are of a quaint and picturesque style of archi tecture. The Pecne is navigable up to the town, which has a considerable trade in its own manufactures, as well as in the produce of the surrounding country, while some ship building is carried on in wharves on the river. The chief manufactures are linen and woollen goods, leather, beer, and soap. Anklam formerly bore the names Wendenburg and Tanglim. Population in 1871, 10,739.
ANKOBAR, or Ankober, the capital of the kingdom of Shoa in Abyssinia, situated in lat. 9° 34′ N. and long. 39° 35′ E., on a mountain about 8200 feet above the level of the sea. The appearance of Ankobar is somewhat peculiar; its houses, ill-built wooden structures, with conical thatched roofs, are irregularly dotted over the side of the hill; a rude fortification of stakes and branches protects the upper portion of the town, while the palace, a more pretentious, but very ugly stone building, crowns the summit. Ankobar enjoys many natural advantages, its climate especially being remarkable for mildness and salubrity. Its population is about 5000, but during the residence of the court it rises to 15,000.
ANNA, Ana, or Anah, a town of Turkey in Asia, situated on the right bank of the Euphrates, about 160 miles N.W. of Baghdad. It is an open, defenceless place, consisting chiefly of a single street, which extends for several miles along a narrow strip of land that lies between the river and a ridge of rocky hills. The houses are separated from each other by beautiful and fertile gardens filled with fruit trees, and in the river, facing the town, is a succession of equally productive islands. The most easterly of these islands contains the ruins of the old castle, while the remains of the ancient Anatho extend from this island for about two miles down the left bank of the Euphrates. Coarse cloth is almost the only manufacture at Anna.
ANNA CARLOVNA, who for a few months held the position of regent in Russia, during the minority of her son Ivan, was the daughter of Catherine, sister of the Empress Anna Ivanovna, and was born in 1718. In 1739 she married the duke of Brunswick Wolfenbiittel, and their son Ivan was, in 1740, adopted by the empress and pro claimed heir to the throne. A few days after this procla mation the empress died, leaving directions regarding the succession, and appointing her favourite Biron as regent. Biron, however, had uiade himself an object of detestation to the Russian people, and Anna Carlovna, with the assist ance principally of the able but intractable Munich, had little difficulty in overthrowing his power. She then as sumed the regency, and took the title of grandduchess ; but she knew little of the character of the people with whom she had to deal, was utterly ignorant of the approved Rus sian mode of government, and speedily quarrelled with her principal supporters. In December 1741, Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, who, from her habits, was a favourite with the soldiers, excited the guards to revolt, overcame the slight opposition that was offered, and was proclaimed empress. Ivan was thrown into prison, where he soon afterwards perished. Anna and her husband were banished to a small island in the River Dwina, where, in 1745, she died in childbed. Her husband survived her for many years.
ANNA COMNENA, daughter of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus I., was born 1st December 1083. She was her father's favourite, and was carefully trained in the study of poetry, science, and Greek philosophy. With a mind superior to the effeminacy and voluptuousness of the court in which she was educated, she cultivated literature and sought the acquaintance of the more eminent philosophers of the period. But wise and studious as she was, she was also intriguing and ambitious. Having married an accomplished young nobleman, Nicephorus Bryennius, she united with the Empress Irene in attempting to prevail upon her father during his last illness to disinherit his son, and give the crown to her husband. The affectionate virtue of the father prevailed over female address and intrigue; but this only stimulated the ambition of Anna. She entered into a conspiracy to depose her brother;
and when her husband displayed timidity in the enter-