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 victims 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 anarchista 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 Assiniboins 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 Assiniboins 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 citys name was changed from
Akmola to Astana.
..More to explore
Kazakhstan
Asteroid
Asteroids are small, rocky bodies that
orbit, or travel around, the sun. They
are also called minor planets or
planetoids. In general, they are
materials left over from when the
planets formed. They are also created
The Assiniboin
were friendly
with the Cree.
Their enemies
were the
Blackfoot and
the Dakota
Sioux.
212 Astana BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
when other bodies in space collide and
break apart. Most asteroids travel
around the sun in a loose path that falls
between the orbits of the planets Mars
and Jupiter. Astronomers identified the
first asteroids in 1801.
Asteroids are much smaller than planets.
The largest asteroids are between 62
miles (100 kilometers) and 620 miles
(1,000 kilometers) across. Millions of
asteroids are the size of large boulders.
Asteroids can be almost any shape. Some
are nearly round while others are irregularly
shaped chunks. Asteroids are made
up of stone and metal.
Many small asteroids enter Earths
atmosphere each day. Almost all burn up
before they hit the ground. As they burn
they create a streak of light called a
meteor. An asteroid that survives the fall
through the atmosphere and reaches
Earths surface is called a meteorite.
#More to explore
Planets
Asthma
Asthma is a long-term medical condition
that affects a persons lungs. From
time to time people with asthma suffer
attacks, or episodes of sickness, in which
they find it difficult to breathe. People
can get asthma at any age. It is one of
the most common long-term health
problems in children. Asthma in children
usually begins by the age of 5.
Symptoms
The symptoms, or signs, of an asthma
attack include coughing and the feeling
of not getting enough air. Wheezing, or
breathing that makes a whistling sound,
is also common. Asthma attacks usually
last from about 30 minutes to several
hours. The symptoms can range from
mild to serious. In rare cases an asthma
attack can lead to death.
A child uses an inhaler. An
inhaler is a device that quickly
delivers medicine to the lungs of
a person with asthma.
The asteroid called Gaspra is about 12
miles (20 kilometers) long.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Asthma 213