, especially in the kingdom
of Austrasia. In the 9th century, during the great movement termed the
Carolingian Renaissance, these Annals became the usual form of
contemporary history; it suffices to mention the _Annales Einhardi_, the
_Annales Laureshamenses_ (or "of Lorsch"), and the _Annales S. Bertini_,
officially compiled in order to preserve the memory of the more
interesting acts of Charlemagne, his ancestors and his successors.
Arrived at this stage of development, the Annals now began to lose their
primitive character, and henceforward became more and more
indistinguishable from the Chronicles.

In modern literature the title annals has been given to a large number
of standard works which adhere more or less strictly to the order of
years. The best known are the _Annales Ecclesiastici_, written by
Cardinal Baronius as a rejoinder to and refutation of the _Historia
eccesiastica_ or "Centuries" of the Protestant theologians of Magdeburg
(12 vols., published at Rome from 1788 to 1793; Baronius's work stops at
the year 1197). In the 19th century the annalistic form was once more
employed, either to preserve year by year the memory of passing events
(_Annual Register_, _Annuaire de la Revue des deux mondes_, &c.) or in
writing the history of obscure medieval periods (_Jahrbucher der
deutschen Geschichte_, _Jahrbucher des deutschen Reiches_, Richter's
_Reichsannalen_, &c.). (C. B.*)

ANNAM, or ANAM, a country of south-eastern Asia, now forming a French
protectorate, part of the peninsula of Indo-China. (See INDO-CHINA,
FRENCH). It is bounded N. by Tongking, E. and S.E. by the China Sea,
S.W. by Cochin-China, and W. by Cambodia and Laos. It comprises a
sinuous strip of territory measuring between 750 and 800 m. in length,
with an approximate area of 52,000 sq. m. The population is estimated at
about 6,124,000.

The country consists chiefly of a range of plateaus and wooded
mountains, running north and south and declining on the coast to a
narrow band of plain varying between 12 and 50 m. in breadth. The
mountains are cut transversely by short narrow valleys, through which
run rivers, most of which are dry in summer and torrential in winter.
The Song-Ma and the Song-Ca in the north, and the Song-Ba, Don-Nai and
Se-Bang-Khan in the south, are alone of any size. The chief harbour is
that afforded by the bay of Tourane at the centre of the coast-line.
South of this point the coast curves outwards and is broken