Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

are rich green. In autumn the leaves turn

bright yellow before they fall off the tree.

The European aspen and the quaking

aspen can reach a height of 90 feet (27

meters). The big-tooth aspen can grow

to about 59 feet (18 meters).

Aspens can reproduce both by producing

seeds and by growing new sprouts. A

single aspen can produce more than 50

million seeds each season. Aspens also

grow sprouts from their own roots.

These sprouts grow into new trees. Root

reproduction makes it hard to get rid of

aspens. If people cut down a batch of

aspens, new aspen sprouts will shoot up

if the roots still exist.

People use aspens to make paper. They

also value aspens for their shade and

beauty.

#More to explore

Poplar • Tree •Willow

Assassination

The murder of a public figure is called

assassination. Many world leaders have

been killed in this way, mostly for political

reasons. In the 1900s ordinary citizens

and military personnel also became

targets of assassins.

Assassination is an ancient crime. The

Roman ruler Julius Caesar was killed on

March 15, 44 BC, by political enemies.

However, the word assassin was not used

until the Middle Ages. It comes from a

word that means “hashish smokers” and

The quaking aspen grows in more areas of

North America than any other kind of tree.

210 Aspen BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

refers to an Islamic group that existed

between the 1000s and the 1200s.

According to legend, the members of

this group were given the drug hashish

to make them into fearless killers of

their religious rivals.

Assassins strike for various reasons.

Some feel that they were mistreated in

some way. For example, U.S. president

James A. Garfield was killed in 1881 by

a man who was angry that he did not

get a political job. Others disagree with

the victim’s beliefs or with a public

stand that the victim has taken on a

particular issue. The Egyptian leader

Anwar el-Sadat was assassinated by

people who were angry with him for

signing a peace treaty with Israel. The

U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther

King, Jr., was killed by a man who disagreed

with the cause of civil rights.

Still other assassins want to call attention

to a cause or make a political statement.

U.S. president William McKinley died

after being shot on September 6, 1901.

His killer was an anarchist—a person

who wanted to do away with governments.

Anarchists also killed several

heads of state in Europe in the early

1900s. Some hoped to change the

course of history.

One particular assassination had farreaching

effects. The assassination of

Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-

Hungary in 1914 helped to bring about

WorldWar I.

#More to explore

Caesar, Julius • Garfield, James A.

• King, Martin Luther, Jr. • McKinley,

William • Sadat, Anwar el- •WorldWar I

Assiniboin

The Assiniboin (or Assiniboine) tribe of

Native North Americans were originally

Both Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv

served as prime ministers of India. Indira

Gandhi was assassinated in 1984. Rajiv

Gandhi became prime minister after her

assassination. Later he was also killed.

An Assiniboin chief wears the traditional

clothing of his tribe.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Assiniboin 211

 

part of the Yanktonai Dakota (Sioux)

people. In the 1600s, they split from the

Yanktonai and moved west into what are

now the states of Montana and North

Dakota and the Canadian provinces of

Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The Assiniboin’s name came from an

Ojibwa Indian word meaning “one who

cooks with stones.” This was because

they used stones heated in a fire to boil

cooking water.

The Assiniboin spent much of their time

hunting bison (buffalo). Bison meat was

their main source of food, and they used

bison hides to make their clothing and

shelter.

By the late 1600s, the French and the

English began building trading posts

near the Assiniboin’s territory. The

Europeans brought with them diseases

such as measles and smallpox, which

killed many members of the tribe.

Weakened by disease and warfare, in

1851 the Assiniboin agreed to give up

much of their traditional territory to the

U.S. government in exchange for reservation

lands. The Assiniboin in the

United States eventually settled on two

reservations in Montana. Those in

Canada moved to several reserves in

Alberta and Saskatchewan. By the end of

the 20th century, there were about

5,000 Assiniboin living in the United

States and about 3,000 in Canada.

..More to explore

Native Americans

Astana

Population

(2006 estimate)

550,440

Astana is the capital of the central Asian

country of Kazakhstan. The city lies

along the Ishim River.

Astana is a railway hub. Many of its

people work for the railroads. The city

also has factories that finish metals,

process foods, and make farm

machinery.

The city was founded in 1824 as a Russian

military outpost. It was originally

called Akmolinsk. It has had several

names over the years. For many years it

was the capital of a province in the

Soviet Union. Kazakhstan became an

independent country in 1991. The city

became its capital in 1997. The next

year the city’s name was changed from

Akmola to Astana.

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Kazakhstan

Asteroid

Asteroids are small, rocky bodies that