id stringlengths 32 32 | url stringlengths 31 1.58k | title stringlengths 0 1.02k | contents stringlengths 92 1.17M |
|---|---|---|---|
5b236a11cf5de1ffdbcc04b2f44b529d | https://www.britannica.com/place/Champerico | Champerico | Champerico
Champerico, town and port, southwestern Guatemala, on the Pacific Ocean. Linked by paved highway with Retalhuleu, Champerico is one of the country’s most important ports on the Pacific, though ships have to anchor about 1 mile (1.6 km) offshore. It handles chiefly coffee, timber, and sugar. Guatemala’s shrimp fleet also operates out of Champerico. Pop. (2002) 7,497.
|
e8d09f0fbaa8e7dac52cc60a298c6cb0 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Champs-Elysees | Champs-Élysées | Champs-Élysées
Champs-Élysées, officially Avenue des Champs-Élysées (French: “Avenue of the Elysian Fields”), broad avenue in Paris, one of the world’s most famous, which stretches 1.17 miles (1.88 km) from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde. It is divided into two parts by the Rond-Point (“roundabout”) des Champs-Élysées. The lower part, toward the Place de la Concorde (and beyond, the Tuileries Gardens), is surrounded by gardens, museums, theatres, and a few restaurants. The upper part, toward the Arc de Triomphe, was traditionally the site of luxury shops and hotels, restaurants and pavement cafés, theatres, banks, and offices. Progressively, however, its character has changed, although its tourist appeal remains strong. Airline offices, fast-food restaurants, car showrooms, and cinemas, as well as American-style shopping arcades, have become increasingly dominant.
When first designed in the 17th century, the Champs-Élysées consisted of fields, an open area then on the outskirts of Paris, containing the Cours de la Reine (“Queen’s Drive”), an approach road running along the Seine River to the Tuileries Palace. Later in the same century, André Le Nôtre landscaped the broad, shady avenue and extended it to the crest of the hill on which the Arc de Triomphe now stands. In the 18th century the whole came to be called the Champs-Élysées. The Arc de Triomphe was inaugurated in 1836, and by the 1860s, when Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann was grandly redrawing the boulevards of Paris, the Champs-Élysées had become a prestigious thoroughfare of palaces, hotels, and restaurants.
|
6d26c0f6eb730f123b118f22042968e2 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chandigarh-union-territory-India | Chandigarh | Chandigarh
union territory of India. Located about 165 miles (265 km) north of New Delhi, the territory is bounded by the state of Haryana on the east and by the state of Punjab on all other sides. It is situated on the Indo-Gangetic Plain a short…
|
f672b302d320c2df1e21e3465b261589 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chang-hua-county-Taiwan | Chang-hua | Chang-hua
Chang-hua, Pinyin Zhanghua, county (hsien, or xian), west-central Taiwan. Chang-hua city, in the north of the county, is the administrative seat.
The county is bordered by the special municipality T’ai-chung (Taizhong) to the north, the counties Nan-t’ou (Nantou) and Yün-lin (Yunlin) to the east and south, respectively, and the Taiwan Strait to the west. Its northern and southern boundaries are roughly parallel to the Wu and Cho-shui (Zhuoshui) rivers, respectively. The Pa-kua (Bagua) Mountains, a western extension of the Chung-yang (Zhongyang) Range, are in the southeast. The rest of the region is a fertile alluvial deltaic plain.
The economy is based on irrigated agriculture. Crops produced include paddy rice, sugarcane, peanuts (groundnuts), corn (maize), jute, wheat, and sweet potatoes. Livestock and poultry are also raised. Rice and sugar milling, weaving, paper and hat making, sawmilling, and food canning are the major industries. Marble deposits are worked.
What is now Chang-hua county was a Chinese outpost during the reigns of the Kangxi (K’ang-hsi; 1661–1722) and Yongzheng (Yung-cheng; 1722–35) emperors of the Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty. The region has many Confucian and Buddhist temples and relics. Lung-shan (Longshan; “Dragon Mountain”) temple at Lu-kang (Lugang) was the first Buddhist temple built (1665) in Taiwan, and a giant bronze statue of the Buddha—72 feet (22 metres) high—at Chang-hua city is one of the world’s tallest of him. The hot springs of Chang-hua are in the northwest and a “highway flower garden,” a horticultural research station and tourist attraction, has been developed in T’ien-wei (Tianwei). Lu-chiang, west of Chang-hua city, is the only port in the county. Area 415 square miles (1,074 square km). Pop. (2015 est.) 1,289,072.
|
5fb1a1488f1382192a6556fcc3d862ce | https://www.britannica.com/place/Changsha | Changsha | Changsha
Changsha, Wade-Giles romanization Ch’ang-sha, city and capital of Hunan sheng (province), China. It is on the Xiang River 30 miles (50 km) south of Dongting Lake and has excellent water communications to southern and southwestern Hunan. The area has long been inhabited, and Neolithic sites have been discovered in the district since 1955. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 1,562,204; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 2,604,000.
During the 1st millennium bce the area was the centre of the southern part of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) valley state of Chu. In 1935–36 some Chu graves excavated nearby produced important evidence of Chu culture. The city’s most ancient name was Qingyang. Under the Qin dynasty (221–207 bce) it became a staging post for Qin expeditions into Guangdong province. From Han times (206 bce–220 ce) it was named Linxiang county and was the seat of the Changsha commandery. The county was renamed Changsha in 589, when it became the administrative seat of Tan prefecture. It lost some importance at that time, however, because traffic from Guangdong was mostly diverted up the Gan River valley in Jiangxi. After the fall of the Tang dynasty (618–907), it became the capital of the independent Chu state (927–951) that subsequently fell to other regional powers until being incorporated into the Song dynasty (960–1279). Between 750 and 1100, as Changsha became an important commercial city, the population of the area increased tenfold.
Under the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911/12) dynasties it was made a superior prefecture, and from 1664 onward it was the capital of Hunan and prospered as one of China’s chief rice markets. During the Taiping Rebellion the city was besieged by the rebels (1854) but never fell; it then became the principal base for the suppression of the rebellion. Changsha was opened to foreign trade in 1904. It also became the seat of some Western schools, including a missionary medical college. Further development followed the opening of the railway to Hankou in Hubei province in 1918, which was extended to Guangzhou (Canton) in Guangdong province in 1936. Although Changsha’s population grew, the city remained primarily commercial in character and before 1937 had little industry, apart from some small cotton-textile, glass, and nonferrous-metal plants and handicraft enterprises.
During the Sino-Japanese War (1937–45) Changsha was the site of three major battles. The city itself was virtually destroyed by fire in 1938–39, and it was captured by the Japanese in 1944.
Changsha was rebuilt after 1949, and its population nearly tripled between the late 1940s and the early 1980s and essentially doubled again in the succeeding two decades. The city is now a major port, handling rice, cotton, timber, and livestock, and is also a collection and distribution point on the railway from Hankou to Guangzhou. It is a centre of rice milling and has oil-extraction, tea- and tobacco-curing, and meat-processing plants. Its textile industry produces cotton yarn and fabrics and engages in dyeing and printing. Agricultural chemicals and fertilizers, farm implements, and pumping machinery are also produced.
Changsha has a large thermal generating station linked by a power grid with the nearby industrial centres of Zhuzhou and Xiangtan; the three cities were designated in the 1970s as the nucleus of a major industrial complex. In the 1960s there was some development of heavy industry. The manufacture of machinery, especially machine tools and precision tools, became important, and Changsha emerged as a centre of China’s aluminum industry. The city also has cement, rubber, ceramic, and papermaking plants and is known for many types of traditional handicrafts, producing xiang embroidery, leather goods, umbrellas, and buttons. Coal is mined in the vicinity.
Changsha was the seat of many ancient schools and academies. It is the site of Hunan Medical University (1914) and has several colleges and institutes of higher learning. The Hunan Provincial Museum houses artifacts from the many ancient tombs in the vicinity, including the well-known Changsha Mawangdui Tomb of the Hsi (Western) Han period (206 bce–25 ce), discovered in the 1970s. Among the many renowned scenic spots in the vicinity are Orange Isle (Juzi Zhou) in the Xiang River and the Yuele Hills on the river’s western bank.
|
57ff0e66e80bcfc5ca859563c77966e8 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Channel-Islands-English-Channel | Channel Islands | Channel Islands
Channel Islands, French Îles Normandes or Anglo-Normandes, archipelago in the English Channel, west of the Cotentin peninsula of France, at the entrance to the Gulf of Saint-Malo, 80 miles (130 km) south of the English coast. The islands are dependencies of the British crown (and not strictly part of the United Kingdom), having been so attached since the Norman Conquest of 1066, when they formed part of the duchy of Normandy. They comprise four main islands, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark, with lesser islets and a labyrinth of rocks and reefs. They are administered according to local laws and customs, being grouped into two distinct bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey, with differing constitutions. Alderney, Sark, Herm, Jethou, Lihou, and Brecqhou are Guernsey’s dependencies, and the Ecrehous rocks and Les Minquiers are Jersey’s. The last two were the source of long-standing dispute between England and France until 1953, when the International Court of Justice confirmed British sovereignty. In the late 20th century the dispute revived, as sovereignty of these islands determines allocation of rights to economic development (specifically, petroleum) of the continental shelf.
The islands were the only British territory to endure German occupation during World War II. Anticipating invasion, some 30,000 of the islands’ then 104,000 residents evacuated before the arrival of German forces at the end of June and beginning of July 1940. The islands’ occupiers surrendered in May 1945.
Fine scenery, flowering vegetation, and a mild maritime climate have made the Channel Islands popular resort areas. The islands are famous for their breeds of cattle and for the export of fruit, flowers, tomatoes, and early potatoes. They enjoy tax sovereignty, and their exports are protected by British tariff barriers. English and French are commonly spoken (though use of the latter is declining), and a Norman-French patois survives. St. Helier, on Jersey, and St. Peter Port, on Guernsey, are the islands’ main population centres. Area 75 square miles (194 square km). Pop. (2001) 149,878.
|
ad3cd3092e13c3c74b254bf6c284ce58 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chao-Phraya-River | Chao Phraya River | Chao Phraya River
Chao Phraya River, Thai Mae Nam Chao Phraya, also called Maenam, principal river of Thailand. It flows south through the nation’s fertile central plain for more than 225 miles (365 km) to the Gulf of Thailand. Thailand’s capitals, past and present (Bangkok), have all been situated on its banks or those of its tributaries and distributaries, as are many other cities.
The Chao Phraya constitutes a valuable waterway for the transport of the nation’s traditional exports of teak and rice south to Bangkok, though less bulky commodities are now moved overland by road or rail. For centuries the Thai have made use of the Chao Phraya, and particularly its canal (khlong) system, for drainage, recreation, and fishing and as a source of water.
The river’s headwaters—the Ping, Wang, Yom, and Nan rivers—rise in the mountains of northern Thailand. At Nakhon Sawan, 140 miles north of Bangkok, the main river begins with the Ping-Nan confluence. Its tortuous course flows past Chai Nat (site of a government dam and irrigation scheme), Sing Buri, Ang Thong, Nonthaburi, and Bangkok to its mouth at Samut Prakan. From its formation at Nakhon Sawan, the river falls less than 80 feet (24 m) in its journey to the sea.
The Chao Phraya system drains 61,807 square miles (160,079 square km) and is the basis of several major irrigation projects. The river’s basin is a low, filled arm of the Gulf of Thailand that is seamed with numerous distributaries. Near Chai Nat a distributary—the Nakhon Chai Si River—branches to the west and parallels the mother stream to the gulf at Samut Sakhon, 25 miles (40 km) west of the main mouth. The main stream bifurcates and reunites several times. Below Chai Nat the Noi River branches westward and rejoins the Chao Phraya at Sam Khok. The Lop Buri River branches eastward and, before returning to the main stream, flows past the cities of Lop Buri and Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya; at the latter it receives a great eastern tributary—the Pa Sak River—from the Phetchabun Mountains of the northeast.
Tides run up the meandering Chao Phraya to Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya. The delta plain around Bangkok is seldom more than 7 feet (2 m) above sea level, and annual flooding brings rich alluvium to the rice fields. In the delta, the Chao Phraya, the Mae Klong on the west, and the Bang Pakong on the east are linked by a network of canals.
The 25-mile course below Bangkok is lined with wharves and other harbour installations. The mouth of the deepwater channel requires frequent dredging and cannot accommodate vessels larger than 10,000 tons.
|
c45830e9ff5b0cb44734525d578086d1 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chapayevsk | Chapayevsk | Chapayevsk
Chapayevsk, also spelled Čapajevsk, or Chapaevsk, formerly (until 1929) Ivashchenkovo, city, Samara oblast (province), western Russia, on the Chapayevka River, a tributary of the Volga. Formerly a centre of the defense industry specializing in explosives, it now concentrates on nitrogen production and ammonia synthesis. A college of technology is located in the city. Pop. (2006 est.) 72,948.
|
fe67eb8148f9777130119fb30ddc99a6 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chapter-House-of-Westminster-Abbey | Chapter House of Westminster Abbey | Chapter House of Westminster Abbey
) Subsequently, however, in the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey (probably executed c. 1370) there was strong Germanic influence, which has been tentatively compared with the work of Master Bertram at Hamburg.
|
4c69636f1601410161103686b1242c86 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chapultepec | Chapultepec | Chapultepec
Chapultepec, (Nahuatl: “Hill of the Grasshopper”) rocky hill about 200 feet (60 metres) high on the western edge of Mexico City that has long played a prominent role in the history of Mexico. The Aztecs fortified the hill but were expelled by neighbouring peoples; after their consolidation of power in the Valley of Mexico about 1325, they built a religious centre and a residence for Aztec rulers on it. After the Spanish conquest (1521), a chapel was built there in 1554; in the 1780s the Spanish viceroys began the construction of a summer palace on the site, which became the home of the National Military Academy in 1841. In the 1860s Mexico’s emperor Maximilian rebuilt the castle; it remained the official residence of the presidents of Mexico until 1940, when it was converted into a museum. Maximilian also beautified the surrounding park, today a principal cultural and recreational centre of the city. Among its features are several museums, including the world-famous Museo Nacional de Antropología, designed by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and built in 1963–64.
Chapultepec was the scene of the last-ditch Mexican resistance in the war between Mexico and the United States (1846–48). U.S. forces under General Winfield Scott, having seized Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico, advanced on the capital. Scott defeated the Mexicans at the suburban bridgehead of Churubusco on August 20, 1847, and continued toward Mexico City; in his path was the hill of Chapultepec, with approximately 5,000 defenders, including cadets from Mexico’s military academy. After heavy artillery bombardment on September 12 failed to force their withdrawal, Scott’s forces attacked the next morning. The defenders resisted in fierce hand-to-hand combat before capitulating. Several cadets, known in Mexican history as Los Niños Héroes, were killed, one of them, it is said, by leaping from the castle walls, holding the flag lest it be captured. During the following night, Mexican forces were withdrawn, and Scott entered the city on September 14, thus concluding the significant military operations of the war.
In March 1945 all the countries of the Western Hemisphere, except Argentina, sent representatives to the Chapultepec Conference to discuss hemispheric security. An economic charter for the Americas was adopted, as was the Act of Chapultepec, which pledged the signatory nations to take collective action in the event of aggression from within or outside of the Americas against one of their number.
|
c277466c1038443ad2575e3f65d3959c | https://www.britannica.com/place/Charcas | Charcas | Charcas
…Andean area, known then as Charcas or Upper Peru, was one of the wealthiest and most densely populated centres of the Spanish empire. Its mines were supplied with mitas (conscripted groups) of Indian labourers from throughout the Andes, and by the mid-17th century Potosí’s population had reached some 160,000—a size…
…expeditions took the cause to Upper Peru, the region that would become Bolivia. After initial victories there, the forces from Buenos Aires retreated, leaving the battle in the hands of local Creole, mestizo, and Indian guerrillas. By the time Bolívar’s armies finally completed the liberation of Upper Peru (then renamed…
|
6cca53bc5974344835f22a628a33dfc2 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Charente | Charente | Charente
…the western départements of Vienne, Charente, Charente-Maritime, and Deux-Sèvres. In 2016 the Poitou-Charentes région was joined with the régions of Aquitaine and Limousin to form the new administrative entity of Nouvelle Aquitaine.
|
777bdb1e1c19bfa8661d51a55e984828 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Charity-Hospital-of-New-Orleans | Charity Hospital of New Orleans | Charity Hospital of New Orleans
The so-called Charity Hospital system, supported and administered by the state, is fairly unusual among the 50 states. The system maintains several general and psychiatric hospitals. The Charity Hospital of Louisiana, in New Orleans, founded by private endowment in 1736 and later adopted by the state, is…
|
f78e573253ee74f305de16624fbc9e56 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Charleroi-Brussels-Canal | Charleroi-Brussels Canal | Charleroi-Brussels Canal
A canal from Charleroi to Brussels links the basins of the two main rivers through the Ronquières lock. The Albert Canal links Antwerp with the Liège region. A maritime canal connects Brugge and Zeebrugge; another connects Ghent and Terneuzen (Netherlands), on the Schelde estuary; and a third links…
…with the building of the Charleroi-Brussels Canal in 1827; and somewhat later the Campine routes were opened to serve Antwerp and connect the Meuse and Schelde. When the growth of the textile trade in Ghent created a need for better water transport, the Gent Ship Canal, cut through to Terneuzen,…
…as the digging of the Brussels-Charleroi Canal, which from 1832 onward made waterborne transport possible from as far as the province of Hainaut to the port of Antwerp via the capital.
|
0a88f97a41077b933908b2b428e0ce17 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Charlottenburg-Palace | Charlottenburg Palace | Charlottenburg Palace
The Charlottenburg Palace, dating from the late 17th century, is perhaps the city’s most outstanding example of Baroque design.
…the Baroque Eosander Chapel in Charlottenburg Palace has been restored. The former Technische Hochschule of Charlottenburg was reopened in 1946 as a university. The stadium in Charlottenburg was the scene of the 1936 Olympic Games. The Opera House, several museums, and colleges of art and music are in the locality.
|
6c9f0806ecdd47d3a0bc71deff9e7f80 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Charnwood-Forest | Charnwood Forest | Charnwood Forest
The borough’s name comes from Charnwood Forest, one of the ancient forests of the Midlands.
…valley lie the hills of Charnwood Forest, where some of Britain’s oldest bedrock is exposed at the surface in the form of Precambrian gritstone. North and west of the forest lies the Leicestershire coalfield, the site of some of the earliest developments of the Industrial Revolution in canal and rail…
…in the upland area bordering Charnwood Forest, a former royal hunting ground to the east. Charnwood Forest consists of a series of barren ridges rising above 900 feet (275 metres) and exposing outcrops of late Precambrian tuffs, some of England’s oldest bedrock.
|
d89c28176fe846fd345c632c07351327 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chase-Manhattan-Bank-Building | Chase Manhattan Bank Building | Chase Manhattan Bank Building
In 1961 the 60-story Chase Manhattan Bank Building, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, had a standard steel frame with rigid portal wind bracing, which required 275 kilograms of steel per square metre (55 pounds of steel per square foot), nearly the same as the Empire State Building of…
|
7afd375b192b33ae0413abe3cfccdc4a | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chateau-de-la-Duchesse-Anne | Château de la Duchesse Anne | Château de la Duchesse Anne
…granite castle, known as the Château de la Duchesse Anne, was built by the dukes of Brittany in the 14th and 15th centuries. Dinan is a market and small-industries (electronics, food-processing) town. It is also a tourist centre. Pop. (1999) 10,907; (2014 est.) 10,919.
|
c9851666b1b7fedf5cd7cbb783b8230f | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chateauguay | Châteauguay | Châteauguay
Châteauguay, town, Montérégie region, southern Quebec province, Canada. It lies at the mouth of the Châteauguay River, just south of its confluence with the St. Lawrence River. The site of a Jesuit mission established in 1736, it served as a trading centre during the settlement of the surrounding region. On October 26, 1813, the Battle of Châteauguay, a decisive engagement of the War of 1812, took place there; a small party of British troops under Colonel Charles de Salaberry repelled an attacking U.S. force, preventing their attempted capture of Montreal. Long known as a dairying and fruit-growing centre, Châteauguay is now primarily a residential suburb 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Montreal city. The town’s manufactures include road conduits and doors. Pop. (2006) 42,786; (2011) 45,904.
|
b24d6b78567acbcaeefff7249081f607 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chatham-England | Chatham | Chatham
Chatham, port, Medway unitary authority, geographic and historic county of Kent, southeastern England.
The port lies along the River Medway just above its confluence with the River Thames, on the southeastern periphery of Greater London. Chatham is continuous with the communities of Rochester (west) and Gillingham and New Brompton (east). The three constitute the core of what is often called the “Medway Towns,” for which Chatham functions as the main shopping centre.
Chatham (recorded in 1086 as Ceteham in Domesday Book) grew around the Royal Navy dockyard established by Henry VIII and later improved by Charles I. The dockyard, closed as a naval base in the early 1980s, is now a historic trust. It lies partly on reclaimed land where the Medway broadens into a tidal estuary. During the Napoleonic Wars a number of forts known as “Chatham Lines” were built on a hill east of the town. The novelist Charles Dickens lived at Chatham from 1817 to 1821 while his father worked in the naval pay office. The district is featured in many of his novels. The hospital for former seamen, founded (1592) by Sir John Hawkins, was rebuilt in the mid-18th century. Chatham is the home of the Royal School of Military Engineering, founded there in 1812. Pop. (2001) 73,468; (2011) 76,792.
|
8e0d70052ed4e3dca74b6db8af3f4761 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chatham-Strait | Chatham Strait | Chatham Strait
Chatham Strait, narrow passage of the eastern North Pacific through the northern Alexander Archipelago, southeastern Alaska, U.S. It extends for 150 miles (240 km) from the junction of Icy Strait and Lynn Canal, past Chichagof and Baranof islands (west) and Admiralty and Kuiu islands (east), to Coronation Island and the open sea. The deep, fault-formed strait, 3–10 miles (5–16 km) wide, is navigable and forms part of the Inside Passage between Alaska and Washington state. It was named in 1794 by the British navigator George Vancouver after Sir John Pitt, the 2nd Earl of Chatham.
|
2a1b030da000561cf604c025b476ebb8 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chatkal-Range | Chatkal Range | Chatkal Range
…northwest, which merges into the Chatkal Range. The Chatkal Range is linked to the Ysyk-Köl region by a final enclosing range, the Kyrgyz. The only other important lowlands in the country are the Chu and Talas river valleys in the north, with the capital, Bishkek, located in the Chu. The…
…highest peak is in the Chatkal Mountains (14,773 feet [4,503 metres]), and the predominant elevations vary between 7,500 and 10,500 feet (2,300 and 3,200 metres).
|
bd42ac0a01fe03499597f5ccca989f57 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chattooga-River | Chattooga River | Chattooga River
The rushing Chattooga River, designated a national wild and scenic waterway, flows into the calmer Tugaloo River, which in turn flows into Hartwell Lake; all three are along Oconee county’s irregular western boundary. Lake Jocassee, impounded by the Jocassee Dam; Lake Keowee, impounded by the Keowee Dam;…
|
9721c6dce3a461374e977075b89efdd8 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chaves-Portugal | Chaves | Chaves
Chaves, city and concelho (municipality), northern Portugal. It lies along the Tâmega River, north-northeast of Vila Real town.
The city, 5 miles (8 km) south of the Spanish frontier, is the site of a spa, the Chaves thermal springs, known as Aquae Flavius to the Romans, who fortified it. Chaves was later dominated successively by the Suebi, Visigoths, Arabs, and Spanish. Roman remains include a fully functioning 16-arch bridge and two inscribed columns. There are several notable medieval churches and a castle of the dukes of Bragança.
An agricultural and textile centre, Chaves is also known for its smoked ham. An anthropological institute is located in the city. Pop. (2001) city, 17,535; mun., 43,667; (2011 est.) city, 16,600; (2011) mun., 41,243.
|
53e5974cfd754816b3020007f316f84f | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chavuma-Falls | Chavuma Falls | Chavuma Falls
…the river flows over the Chavuma Falls and enters a broad region of hummocky, sand-covered floodplains, the largest of which is the Barotse, or Zambezi, Plain. The region is inundated during the summer floods, when it receives fertile alluvial soils. The main tributaries intersecting the river along the plains are…
|
f88416d00138604959f2b5d800eef28d | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chaya | Chaya | Chaya
…after the Chulym, include the Chaya and the Parabel (both left), the Ket (right), the Vasyugan (left), and the Tym and Vakh rivers (both right). Down to the Vasyugan confluence the river passes through the southern belt of the taiga, thereafter entering the middle belt. Below the Vakh confluence the…
|
2414fc73f25b35c0c15f984ad30f8186 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chedi-Si-Suriyothai | Chedi Si Suriyothai | Chedi Si Suriyothai
The Chedi Si Suriyothai (Queen Suriyothai Memorial) is a monument to a famous queen who died in battle saving her husband, and Phra Mongkhon Bophit sanctuary contains one of the world’s largest seated images of the Buddha. Ayutthaya also has a massive elephant kraal (walled enclosure),…
|
81510f2e369786ecca9324f7aac0743f | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chefchaouene | Chefchaouene | Chefchaouene
Chefchaouene, also called Chechaouene or Chechaouen, French Chaouen, Spanish Xauen, town, northern Morocco, situated in the Rif mountain range. Founded as a holy city in 1471 by the warrior Abū Youma and later moved by Sīdī ʿAlī ibn Rashīd to its present site at the base of Mount El-Chaouene, it became a refuge for Moors expelled from Spain. A site long closed to non-Muslims, it was occupied in 1920 by the Spanish, who restored it to the Moroccan kingdom in 1956. Chefchaouene contains 12 mosques and presents a picturesque appearance, with houses roofed with round tiles common in southern Europe but rare in Morocco. Its luxuriant gardens are watered from a constant mountain spring. Chefchaouene has become a very popular vacation and tourist spot, especially for Europeans touring northern Morocco. It is famous for the blue walls of its buildings, a colour unique among Moroccan towns. It is connected by road with Al-Hoceïma, Ouazzane, and Tétouan. Pop. (2004) 35,709.
|
e4372eae6b58371a7ab77df7d03f0706 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cheleken-Peninsula | Cheleken Peninsula | Cheleken Peninsula
…Imperial Valley of California, the Cheleken Peninsula on the eastern edge of the Caspian Sea in Turkmenistan, in oil-field brines, and in submarine springs along the mid-ocean ridge. Fossil hydrothermal solutions can be studied in fluid inclusions, which are tiny samples of solution trapped in crystal imperfections by a growing…
…sharply by the low, hilly Cheleken and Türkmenbashi peninsulas. Just to the north, behind the east shore of the middle Caspian, is the Kara-Bogaz-Gol (Garabogazköl), formerly a shallow gulf of the Caspian but now a large lagoonlike embayment that is separated from the sea by a man-made embankment. For the…
|
12b9d657ad380ffef358aab07ec47cd8 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chelles | Chelles | Chelles
Chelles, town, eastern suburb of Paris, in Seine-et-Marne département, Paris région, north-central France, near the Marne River. It is the site of ancient Calae and has ruins of the 7th-century abbey of Notre-Dame-de-Chelles (founded by Bathilde, widow of Clovis II, and destroyed during the French Revolution). Prehistoric remains found nearby in the 19th century were designated Chellean and gave rise to the archaeological classification Chellean/Acheulian. The town has food-processing industries. Pop. (1999) 45,399; (2014 est.) 53,708.
|
a67131dd0fab4757076f5356605a216d | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chelmsford-district-England | Chelmsford | Chelmsford
Chelmsford, town and borough (district), administrative and historic county of Essex, England, lying in the valley of the River Chelmer northeast of Greater London in south-central Essex. Chelmsford town is the seat of the administrative county.
|
f128c3fcf070c338ed346418d69d1e8a | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chemayungdung-Glacier | Chemayungdung Glacier | Chemayungdung Glacier
The Brahmaputra’s source is the Chemayungdung Glacier, which covers the slopes of the Himalayas about 60 miles (100 km) southeast of Lake Mapam in southwestern Tibet. The three headstreams that arise there are the Kubi, the Angsi, and the Chemayungdung. From its source the river runs for nearly 700 miles…
|
3d28551919e19931e4b4af46886490fe | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chengdu | Chengdu | Chengdu
Chengdu, Wade-Giles romanization Ch’eng-tu, city and capital of Sichuan sheng (province), China. Chengdu, in central Sichuan, is situated on the fertile Chengdu Plain, the site of Dujiangyan, one of China’s most ancient and successful irrigation systems, watered by the Min River. The system and nearby Mount Qingcheng, an early centre of Daoism, were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000. The irrigation system, first set up during the Qin dynasty (221–207 bce), diverted half the waters of the Min River eastward to irrigate the plain through a dense network of channels. This system has survived basically in its original form and enables the area to support what has been claimed to be one of the densest agrarian populations anywhere in the world. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 2,663,971; (2005 est.) urban agglom., 4,065,000.
The city is said to have been founded by the Qin before they achieved control of all China during the 3rd century bce. Under their imperial regime the county of Chengdu was established; the name dates from that period. First under the Qin and then under the Han dynasty (206 bce–220 ce), it was the seat of the commandery of Shu, and in 221 it became capital of the independent dynasty of Shu. Under the Tang dynasty (618–907) it was known as Yizhou, one of the empire’s greatest commercial cities. In the late 8th century it became a secondary capital. After 907 it again became capital of two short-lived independent regimes—the Qian (Former) and Hou (Later) Shu (respectively, 907–925 and 934–965). During that time it was immensely prosperous, and its merchants introduced the use of paper money, which rapidly spread throughout China under the Song dynasty (960–1279).
Chengdu became famous for its fine brocades and satins. The city was also notable for its refined culture and display of luxury. Throughout history it has remained a great city and a major administrative centre, and it has been the capital of Sichuan since 1368. Chengdu developed rapidly during World War II, when many refugees from eastern China, fleeing the Japanese, settled there. The influx of refugees to the city stimulated trade and commerce, and several universities and institutes of higher learning were also moved there. In 2008 a strong earthquake in Sichuan (centred near Chengdu) killed some 4,300 people in the city and nearby vicinity and injured more than 26,000 others, but it caused relatively little damage to the city’s buildings and infrastructure.
From 1949 Chengdu’s growth was rapid. The city has always been an important communication centre, initially with waterways (the Yangtze River [Chang Jiang] and its tributaries, the Min and Tuo rivers) extending throughout the Sichuan Basin and beyond. Railways were built to Chongqing in 1952, to Baoji and extended to Xi’an (both in Shaanxi) in 1955, to Kunming (Yunnan) in the late 1960s, and via Ankang to Xiangfan (Hubei) in 1978—making Chengdu the rail hub for all southeastern China. Highways stretch north to Lanzhou in Gansu province, northeast to Xi’an, southeast and south to Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, southwest and west into the Tibet Autonomous Region, and northwest into Qinghai province. In addition, express highways have been built to such major cities as Shanghai and Chongqing. Chengdu’s airport is one of China’s air hubs, with flights to several international destinations as well as to most major Chinese cities. Work began in the early 21st century on a multiple-line subway system for the city.
The city is also a major industrial centre. In the 1950s a large thermal power-generating station was built, and two important radio and electronics plants were installed by Soviet experts. A precision-tool and measuring-instrument plant was also established to serve the southwestern region. In addition, there are important engineering shops manufacturing railway equipment and power machinery and, more recently, aircraft. In the 1960s Chengdu became an important centre of China’s national defense industry. A chemical industry—producing fertilizers, industrial chemicals, and pharmaceutical products—was also developed. The city’s oldest industry, textiles, remains important in the production not only of traditional silks but also of cotton and woolen textiles. Since 1990 the economic reforms enacted in China have encouraged the development of Chengdu’s electronic and high-technology industries, including the establishment of a large industrial park in the region.
Chengdu continues to be a major cultural centre. In addition to Sichuan University (1905), there are other universities; higher institutes of medicine, science, geology, and economics; normal colleges; a fine museum; and a variety of specialist technical schools, several connected with the radio and electronics industries. There is a minorities institute for the training of Tibetan students. The city also has many historical monuments and buildings, including the cottage of the Tang-era poet Du Fu. Sichuan is home to much of the world’s giant panda population, and Chengdu has a panda-breeding facility. To the west of the city is Wolong Nature Preserve, one of several sanctuaries for giant pandas in the province that together were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2006.
|
0d3436297a040735f1f9df6f7911087b | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chennai | Chennai | Chennai
Chennai, formerly Madras, city, capital of Tamil Nadu state, southern India, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. Known as the “Gateway to South India,” Chennai is a major administrative and cultural centre. Pop. (2001) city, 4,343,645; urban agglom., 6,560,242.
Armenian and Portuguese traders were living in the San Thome area of what is now present-day Chennai before the arrival of the British in 1639. Madras was the shortened name of the fishing village Madraspatnam, where the British East India Company built a fort and factory (trading post) in 1639–40. At that time, the weaving of cotton fabrics was a local industry, and the English invited the weavers and native merchants to settle near the fort. By 1652 the factory of Fort St. George was recognized as a presidency (an administrative unit governed by a president), and between 1668 and 1749 the company expanded its control. About 1801, by which time the last of the local rulers had been shorn of his powers, the English had become masters of southern India, and Madras had become their administrative and commercial capital. The government of Tamil Nadu officially changed the name of the city to Chennai in 1996.
Madras developed without a plan from its 17th-century core, formed by Fort St. George and the Indian quarters. To the north and northwest are the industrial areas; the main residential areas are to the west and south, where a number of modern high-rise apartment buildings have been constructed, and the old villages are in the centre. The most distinctive buildings in the city are the seven large temples in the Dravidian style, situated in the city sections of George Town, Mylapore, and Triplicane. The Chepauk Palace (the former residence of the nawab [Mughal ruler] of Karnataka) and the University Senate House, both in the Deccan Muslim style, and the Victoria Technical Institute and the High Court buildings, both in the Indo-Saracenic style, are generally considered the most attractive buildings of the British period.
Chennai and its suburbs have more than 600 Hindu temples. The oldest is the Parthasarathi Temple built in the 8th century by Pallava kings. The Kapaleeswarar Temple (16th century) is dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Other places of worship within the city include Luz Church (1547–82), one of the oldest churches in Chennai; St. Mary’s Church (1678–80), the first British church in India; the San Thome Basilica (1898), built over the tomb of the apostle St. Thomas; and Wallajah Mosque (1795), built by the nawab of Karnataka. The Armenian Church of the Holy Virgin Mary (1772), in the George Town section of Chennai, surrounds a courtyard cemetery with Armenian tombstones dating from the mid-17th century. The international headquarters of the Theosophical Society is situated in gardens between the Adyar River and the coast. Of particular interest there is a banyan tree dating from about 1600.
Since the late 1990s, software development and electronics manufacturing have made up the bulk of Chennai’s economy. Numerous technology parks, where many foreign companies have offices, are found throughout the city. Other major industries include the manufacture of automobiles, rubber, fertilizer, leather, iron ore, and cotton textiles. Wheat, machinery, iron and steel, and raw cotton are imported. There is an oil refinery in Chennai. Services, especially finance and tourism, are also significant. Hotels, luxury resorts, restaurants, marinas, and parks line Marina Beach, the coastline abutting Chennai city.
Chennai has numerous educational institutions. Professional education can be obtained in the state medical and veterinary sciences colleges, the colleges of engineering and technology, the Tamil Nadu Isai Kalluri music college, the College of Arts and Crafts, and the teacher-training colleges. The city is the site of the University of Madras (1857), which has several advanced centres of research. The Indian Institute of Technology, the Central Leather Research Institute, and the Regional Laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research are other noteworthy scientific institutions. The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation focuses on agricultural development in Chennai and Tamil Nadu.
Since the 1980s Chennai has emerged as one of the leading medical centres of the country. This was a result of the proliferation of private specialty hospitals, especially those which provide treatment for cardiac and eye ailments. Among the leading medical facilities in the city are the Apollo Hospital, the Madras Medical Mission’s Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, the Sri Ramachandra University Hospital, the Heart Institute of Chennai, and the Shankara Nethralaya (“Temple of the Eye”), an eye hospital.
Cultural institutions in Chennai include the Madras Music Academy, devoted to the encouragement of Karnatak music—the music of Karnataka, the historical region between the southern Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal and the Deccan plateau. The Kalakshetra is a centre of dance and music, and the Rasika Ranjini Sabha, in Mylapore, encourages the theatrical arts. The city has training centres for kuchipudi and bharata natyam (Indian classical dance forms). Kalakshetra and Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, a cultural institution, both host annual dance festivals. The suburban town of Kodambakkam, with its numerous film studios, is described as the Hollywood of southern India. Three theatres—the Children’s Theatre, the Annamalai Manram, and the Museum Theatre—are popular. The Chennai Government Museum has exhibitions on the history and physical aspects of Tamil Nadu. There is a small collection of East India Company antiquities in the Fort Museum (within Fort St. George) and a collection of paintings in the National Art Gallery.
Squash, cricket, tennis, and hockey are popular sports in Chennai and its surrounding region. The Madras Cricket Club (1848), located behind the Chepauk Palace, is host to major national sports tournaments. The city has many other clubs and associations including motor sports, chess, and equestrian events. Rowing and yachting have a small but loyal following at the Madras Boat Club (1867) and the Royal Madras Yacht Club (1911). Guindy National Park is a wildlife sanctuary situated in the heart of the city. Other places for recreation in and around Chennai are the Chennai Crocodile Bank, Pulicat Lake (a large saltwater lagoon), a bird sanctuary, and a zoological park.
Chennai is well connected by road, rail, air, and sea. It has an international airport and seaport. Within the city a network of bus services and auto-rickshaws are common modes of transport. The historic town of Mamallapuram with its shore temple, about 37 miles (60 km) south of Chennai, is a popular tourist destination.
|
16c9e8a592e61ac0e676a776d848b870 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cheremkhovo | Cheremkhovo | Cheremkhovo
Cheremkhovo, also spelled Čeremchovo, city, southwestern Irkutsk oblast (region), southern Siberia, Russia. It is situated on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, about 90 miles (145 km) northwest of the city of Irkutsk.
Cheremkhovo was founded in 1772 as a station on the Great Siberian Post Road, and the town developed as a chief mining centre of the Cheremkhovo bituminous coalfield. In the 1960s, however, it began a steady decline because of limited reserves there and because of the availability of coal nearby at Tulun. Other industries include machine building and mica processing. Pop. (2010) 52,647; (2014 est.) 51,324.
|
34312fb54f24e75756143c2d83a12e0c | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chhatarpur | Chhatarpur | Chhatarpur
Chhatarpur, city, north-central Madhya Pradesh state, central India. It is situated in an area of scattered low hills about 12 miles (19 km) east of the Dhasan River (a tributary of the Betwa River).
The city is a major road junction and is a trade centre for agricultural products and cloth fabrics. It was founded in 1707 by Chhatrasal, a Bundela king who successfully resisted Mughal authority, and it was the capital of the princely state of Chhatarpur of the British Central India Agency. Constituted a municipality in 1908, Chhatarpur has a museum, an officers’ colony, and colleges and a law school affiliated with Awadhesh Pratap Singh University in Rewa.
The surrounding region is a fertile plain lying between the Dhasan and Ken rivers and dotted with wooded hills rising to elevations of about 1,500 feet (450 metres) in the south. Rice, sorghum, wheat, barley, and legumes are the major crops. The region contains many ancient monuments, including the nearby historic town of Khajuraho, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986, and Rajgarh fort and palace. Pop. (2001) 99,575; (2011) 133,464.
|
5a133f3387fc838628f4e5b6c01e9a27 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chhindwara-India | Chhindwara | Chhindwara
Chhindwara, city, southern Madhya Pradesh state, central India. It lies at an elevation of about 2,200 feet (670 metres) above sea level on an upland plateau south of the Satpura Range, about 35 miles (55 km) west of Seoni.
The city derives its name from chhind, Hindi for date palms. Chhindwara is situated at a major road and rail junction, and it is heavily engaged in cotton trade and coal shipping. Cotton ginning and sawmilling are the chief industries. The city was constituted a municipality in 1867. It has several colleges affiliated with the University of Sagar. A mining school is just northwest at Barkuhi. The city is famous locally for its pottery and for the manufacture of zinc and brass ornaments as well as water flasks.
The surrounding area largely consists of a continuation of the plateau region of the central Satpura Range, which rises in the northwest to rugged hills. The plateau slopes toward the Nagpur Plain in the south. The southern and eastern parts of the plateau include the fertile Chaurai wheat plain. The Nagpur Plain is a rich agricultural area producing cotton and sorghum (jowar) and is the wealthiest and most-populous part of the region. The Wainganga, Pench, and Kanhan rivers drain the area. Oilseeds and sunn (Indian hemp) are other important crops. Cattle breeding is extensive on the plateau. Coal, manganese, bauxite, and marble deposits are worked. Near Chhindwara lies Deoghar in Jharkhand state, the old capital of the Gond dynasty. Pop. (2001) city, 122,247; (2011) city, 138,291.
|
749f969ebca5808a62c7802f3c6eaf22 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chiang-Mai | Chiang Mai | Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai, also spelled Chiengmai, largest city in northern Thailand and the third largest city in the nation after metropolitan Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima. It is located on the Ping River, a major tributary of the Chao Phraya River, near the centre of a fertile intermontane basin at an elevation of 1,100 feet (335 m). It serves as the religious, economic, cultural, educational, and transportation centre for both northern Thailand and part of neighbouring Myanmar (Burma). Once the capital of an independent kingdom, the city also has strong cultural ties with Laos.
The settlement, founded as a royal residence in 1292 and as a town in 1296, served as the capital of the Lanna Thai kingdom until 1558, when it fell to the Myanmar. In 1774 the Siamese king Taksin drove out the Myanmar; but Chiang Mai retained a degree of independence from Bangkok until the late 19th century.
In contrast to the normally densely populated Asian city, Chiang Mai has the appearance of a large village—orderly, clean, traditional, and almost sprawling. The older part of town, particularly the 18th-century walled settlement, is on the west bank of the river; it contains ruins of many 13th- and 14th-century temples. The modern east-bank portion is a more open area. Two bridges cross the broad Ping River. Chiang Mai is a flourishing tourist and resort centre. Phu Ping Palace, the summer home of the Thai royal family, is nearby.
The city is renowned as a centre of Thai handicrafts. Small villages nearby specialize in crafts such as silverwork, wood carving, and making pottery, umbrellas, and lacquerware. Traditional Thai silk is woven at San Kamphaeng to the east.
Educational facilities include the Northern Technical Institute (1957), the Maejo Institute of Agricultural Technology (1934), and Chiang Mai University (1964). Affiliated with the university are the Tribal Research Centre, the Lanna Thai Social Sciences Research Centre, the Regional Centre of Mineral Resources, the Industrial Economics Centre of Northern Thailand, the Anaemia and Malnutrition Research Centre, and the Multiple Cropping Project.
Chiang Mai is the terminus of the railway of 467 miles (752 km) from Bangkok and is also linked to southern Thailand by road and air. It has an international airport.
The temple complex of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is one of Thailand’s most famous pilgrimage sites. The temple lies at an elevation of 3,520 feet (1,073 m) on the slopes of Mount Suthep, one of Thailand’s highest peaks (5,528 feet [1,685 m]), just outside the city. The Doi Pui National Park occupies 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) around the mountain. King Kue-Na built the monastery of the complex in the 14th century; its spired pagoda is said to hold relics of the Buddha.
Many other temples are in the city itself. Wat Phra Sing (1345) houses Phra Sing, the most venerated Buddha figure of the north. Wat Chedi Luang (1411) housed Bangkok’s famous Emerald Buddha during the 15th and 16th centuries. Pop. (2000) 174,438.
|
605f75b4946a9701bc00a93b84cab34b | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chiatura-Georgia | Chiatura | Chiatura
Chiatura, also spelled Čiatura, city, central Georgia. Chiatura lies along the Kvirila River in a deep trench in the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus range. It is the centre of one of the largest manganese-mining areas of the world. The ore, which was first discovered in 1849, has been exploited since 1879. The city and its ore-enriching plants cluster in the narrow valley, with the mines in the surrounding hills linked by cable railways and aerial carriers. Pop. (2014) 12,803; (2016 est.) 12,800.
|
82dce10d1ae32064e26c11fc088d5a54 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chicago-Heights | Chicago Heights | Chicago Heights
Chicago Heights, city, Cook county, northeastern Illinois, U.S. It is a suburb of Chicago, about 30 miles (50 km) south of downtown. The city’s name derives from its proximity to Chicago and its elevation, which averages 95 feet (29 metres) above the surrounding area. The site was the intersection of two trails, the Hubbard (from Vincennes, Indiana, to Fort Dearborn on the Chicago River) and the Sauk (used by Native Americans going from their hunting grounds to the fur post at Detroit, Michigan). Settled by Scotch-Irish in the 1830s and known as Thorn Grove, it was renamed Bloom in 1849 by German immigrants to honour a German patriot executed in 1848 in Vienna. It was given its present name at its incorporation as a village in 1892. In the late 19th century the city was settled by large numbers of Italian immigrants. The Chicago Heights Land Association induced manufacturers to establish factories there, drawing immigrants from throughout Europe. Chicago Heights was the earliest and, for a time, the most important of the steel-making communities in the Chicago area. The city’s manufactures are now highly diversified; in addition to steel, manufactures include automobile-body stampings, railroad freight cars, automotive parts, and chemicals. The city is the seat of Prairie State (community) College (founded in 1957 as Bloom Township Community College). Inc. city, 1901. Pop. (2000) 32,776; (2010) 30,276.
|
faaf9b4ccaee9256705c4ecce5728c95 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chickamauga-and-Chattanooga-National-Military-Park | Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park | Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
…environs have been preserved in Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park (established 1890), which encompasses about 13 square miles (33 square km) over several locations in Tennessee and Georgia. The park includes the major battlefields and sections on Orchard Knob, Lookout and Signal mountains, and Missionary Ridge. Chattanooga National Cemetery…
|
2b83f29eab412eeb6a928b57736172d6 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chieti-Italy | Chieti | Chieti
Chieti, city, Abruzzi regione, central Italy, on a hill overlooking the Pescara River, south of Pescara. It originated as Teate, chief town of the Marrucini (an ancient Italic tribe), and was taken by the Romans in 305 bc. Destroyed by the barbarians and rebuilt by Theodoric the Ostrogoth king in the 6th century, it was successively a Lombard stronghold, a Norman county, and a possession of the Hohenstaufens, the Angevin dynasty (house of Anjou), the house of Aragon, and the Caracciolo. Its ancient name was applied to the religious order of the Theatines, founded in 1524 to combat Lutheranism and to reform morality. Roman monuments include the ruins of a theatre and of three small temples and the octagonal Church of Santa Maria del Tricalle, built on the site of the pagan temple of Diana Trivia. The 11th-century cathedral, frequently rebuilt, has a Gothic bell tower (1335–1498). Chieti contains the National Museum of Archaeology, the Institute of Art, a theological university, and a provincial library and picture gallery.
The city is divided into the old town on the hill and a rapidly developing industrial and commercial area (Chieti–Scalo) in the valley, where there are branches of several national industries including textile, cellulose, sugar, wire, and tobacco factories. Pop. (2006 est.) mun., 55,751.
|
54923b0f402a68d2990fb08906a9c685 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chimaltenango-Guatemala | Chimaltenango | Chimaltenango
Chimaltenango, city, southwestern Guatemala. It is located 30 miles (48 km) from Guatemala City, in the central highlands at an elevation of 5,860 feet (1,786 metres) above sea level. Founded in 1526 just south of an old Mayan fortress, it is a market centre and transportation hub for the surrounding Indian villages. The inhabitants raise grains, sugarcane, and livestock. The special qualities of the local clay make the city a centre for brickmaking. A colonial church, built in 1854 on the Continental Divide, has a fountain half of whose waters flow to the Atlantic Ocean and half to the Pacific Ocean. Chimaltenango is located on the Inter-American Highway. Pop. (2002) 62,917.
|
1613478d8c08c5e1206890b50ac8ab3a | https://www.britannica.com/place/China/Relief | Relief of China | Relief of China
Broadly speaking, the relief of China is high in the west and low in the east; consequently, the direction of flow of the major rivers is generally eastward. The surface may be divided into three steps, or levels. The first level is represented by the Plateau of Tibet, which is located in both the Tibet Autonomous Region and the province of Qinghai and which, with an average elevation of well over 13,000 feet (4,000 metres) above sea level, is the loftiest highland area in the world. The western part of this region, the Qiangtang, has an average height of 16,500 feet (5,000 metres) and is known as the “roof of the world.”
The second step lies to the north of the Kunlun and Qilian mountains and (farther south) to the east of the Qionglai and Daliang ranges. There the mountains descend sharply to heights of between 6,000 and 3,000 feet (1,800 and 900 metres), after which basins intermingle with plateaus. This step includes the Mongolian Plateau, the Tarim Basin, the Loess Plateau (loess is a yellow-gray dust deposited by the wind), the Sichuan Basin, and the Yunnan-Guizhou (Yungui) Plateau.
The third step extends from the east of the Dalou, Taihang, and Wu mountain ranges and from the eastern perimeter of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to the China Sea. Almost all of this area is made up of hills and plains lying below 1,500 feet (450 metres).
The most remarkable feature of China’s relief is the vast extent of its mountain chains; the mountains, indeed, have exerted a tremendous influence on the country’s political, economic, and cultural development. By rough estimate, about one-third of the total area of China consists of mountains. China has the world’s tallest mountain and the world’s highest and largest plateau, in addition to possessing extensive coastal plains. The five major landforms—mountain, plateau, hill, plain, and basin—are all well represented. China’s complex natural environment and rich natural resources are closely connected with the varied nature of its relief.
The topography of China is marked by many splendours. Mount Everest (Qomolangma Feng), situated on the border between China and Nepal, is the highest peak in the world, at an elevation of 29,035 feet (8,850 metres; see Researcher’s Note: Height of Mount Everest). By contrast, the lowest part of the Turfan Depression in the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang—Lake Ayding—is 508 feet (155 metres) below sea level. The coast of China contrasts greatly between South and North. To the south of the bay of Hangzhou, the coast is rocky and indented with many harbours and offshore islands. To the north, except along the Shandong and Liaodong peninsulas, the coast is sandy and flat.
China is prone to intense seismic activity throughout much of the country. The main source of this geologic instability is the result of the constant northward movement of the Indian tectonic plate beneath southern Asia, which has thrust up the towering mountains and high plateaus of the Chinese southwest. Throughout its history China has experienced hundreds of massive earthquakes that collectively have killed millions of people. Two in the 20th century alone—in eastern Gansu province (1920) and in the city of Tangshan, eastern Hebei province (1976)—caused some 250,000 deaths each, and a quake in east-central Sichuan province in 2008 killed tens of thousands and devastated a wide area.
China’s physical relief has dictated its development in many respects. The civilization of Han Chinese originated in the southern part of the Loess Plateau, and from there it extended outward until it encountered the combined barriers of relief and climate. The long, protruding corridor, commonly known as the Gansu, or Hexi, Corridor, illustrates this fact. South of the corridor is the Plateau of Tibet, which was too high and too cold for the Chinese to gain a foothold. North of the corridor is the Gobi Desert, which also formed a barrier. Consequently, Chinese civilization was forced to spread along the corridor, where melting snow and ice in the Qilian Mountains provided water for oasis farming. The westward extremities of the corridor became the meeting place of the ancient East and West.
Thus, for a long time the ancient political centre of China was located along the lower reaches of the Huang He (Yellow River). Because of topographical barriers, however, it was difficult for the central government to gain complete control over the entire country, except when an unusually strong dynasty was in power. In many instances the Sichuan Basin—an isolated region in southwestern China, about twice the size of Scotland, that is well protected by high mountains and is self-sufficient in agricultural products—became an independent kingdom. A comparable situation often arose in the Tarim Basin in the northwest. Linked to the rest of China only by the Gansu Corridor, this basin is even remoter than the Sichuan, and, when the central government was unable to exert its influence, oasis states were established; only the three strong dynasties—the Han (206 bce–220 ce), the Tang (618–907ce), and the Qing, or Manchu (1644–1911/12)—were capable of controlling the region.
Apart from the three elevation zones already mentioned, it is possible—on the basis of geologic structure, climatic conditions, and differences in geomorphologic development—to divide China into three major topographic regions: the eastern, northwestern, and southwestern zones. The eastern zone is shaped by the rivers, which have eroded landforms in some parts and have deposited alluvial plains in others; its climate is monsoonal (characterized by seasonal rain-bearing winds). The northwestern region is arid and eroded by the wind; it forms an inland drainage basin. The southwest is a cold, lofty, and mountainous region containing intermontane plateaus and inland lakes.
The three basic regions may be further subdivided into second-order geographic divisions. The eastern region contains 10 of these, the southwest contains two, and the northwest contains three. Below is a brief description of each division.
|
ff0b958ef54bd1f444ad35722feb5a5c | https://www.britannica.com/place/China/Struggle-for-the-premiership | Struggle for the premiership | Struggle for the premiership
As these programmatic aspects of the Cultural Revolution were being put into place and regularized, the political battle to determine who would inherit power at the top continued and intensified. Tensions first surfaced at a meeting of the Central Committee in the summer of 1970, when Chen Boda, Lin Biao, and their supporters made a series of remarks that angered Mao Zedong. Mao then purged Chen as a warning to Lin. At the end of 1970 Mao also initiated a criticism of Lin’s top supporters in the military forces, calling them to task for their arrogance and unwillingness to listen to civilian authority. The situation intensified during the spring of 1971 until Lin Biao’s son, Lin Liguo, evidently began to put together plans for a possible coup against Mao should this prove the only way to save his father’s position.
During this period, Zhou Enlai engaged in extremely delicate and secret diplomatic exchanges with the United States, and Mao agreed to a secret visit to Beijing by the U.S. national security adviser Henry Kissinger in July 1971. That visit was one of the more dramatic events of the Cold War era and laid the groundwork for U.S. Pres. Richard M. Nixon’s trip to China the following February. At a time when the Vietnam War continued to blaze, China and the United States took major steps toward reducing their mutual antagonism in the face of the Soviet threat. Lin Biao strongly opposed this opening to the United States—probably in part because it would strengthen the political hand of its key architect in China, Zhou Enlai—and the Kissinger visit thus amounted to a major defeat for Lin.
In September 1971 Lin died in a plane crash in Mongolia in what the Chinese assert was an attempt to flee to the Soviet Union. The Chinese high military command who had served under Lin was purged in the weeks following his death.
Lin’s demise had a profoundly disillusioning effect on many people who had supported Mao during the Cultural Revolution. Lin had been the high priest of the Mao cult, and millions had gone through tortuous struggles to elevate this chosen successor to power and throw out his “revisionist” challengers. They had in this quest attacked and tortured respected teachers, abused elderly citizens, humiliated old revolutionaries, and, in many cases, battled former friends in bloody confrontations. The sordid details of Lin’s purported assassination plot and subsequent flight cast all this in the light of traditional, unprincipled power struggles, and untold millions concluded that they had simply been manipulated for personal political purposes.
Initially, Zhou Enlai was the major beneficiary of Lin’s death, and from late 1971 through mid-1973 he tried to nudge the system back toward stability. He encouraged a revival and improvement of educational standards and brought numerous people back into office. China began again to increase its trade and other links with the outside world, while the domestic economy continued the forward momentum that had begun to build in 1969. Mao blessed these general moves but remained wary lest they call into question the basic value of having launched the Cultural Revolution in the first place. In Maoist thought it had always been possible for formerly wayward individuals to reform under pressure and again assume power.
During 1972 Mao suffered a serious stroke, and Zhou learned that he had a fatal cancer. These developments highlighted the continued uncertainty over the succession. In early 1973 Zhou and Mao brought Deng Xiaoping back to power in the hope of grooming him as a successor. But Deng had been the second most-important victim purged by the radicals during the Cultural Revolution, and his reemergence made Jiang Qing, by then head of the radicals, and her followers desperate to return things to a more radical path. From mid-1973, Chinese politics shifted back and forth between Jiang and her followers—later dubbed the Gang of Four—and the supporters of Zhou and Deng. The former group favoured political mobilization, class struggle, anti-intellectualism, egalitarianism, and xenophobia, while the latter promoted economic growth, stability, educational progress, and a pragmatic foreign policy. Mao tried unsuccessfully to maintain a balance among these different forces while continuing in vain to search for a suitable successor.
The balance tipped back and forth—nudged by Mao first this way, then that—between the two groups. The radicals gained the upper hand from mid-1973 until mid-1974, during which time they whipped up a campaign that used criticism of Lin Biao and Confucius as an allegorical vehicle for attacking Zhou and his policies. By July 1974, however, economic decline and increasing chaos made Mao shift back toward Zhou and Deng. With Zhou hospitalized, Deng assumed increasing power from the summer of 1974 through the late fall of 1975. During this time Deng sought (with Zhou’s full support) to put the Four Modernizations (of agriculture, industry, science and technology, and defense) at the top of the country’s agenda. To further this effort, Deng continued to rehabilitate victims of the Cultural Revolution, and he commissioned the drafting of an important group of documents much like those developed in 1960–62. They laid out the basic principles for work in the party, industry, and science and technology. Their core elements were anathema to the radicals, who used their power in the mass media and the propaganda apparatus to attack Deng’s efforts.
The radicals finally convinced Mao that Deng’s policies would lead eventually to a repudiation of the Cultural Revolution and even of Mao himself. Mao therefore sanctioned criticism of these policies in the wall posters that were a favourite propaganda tool of the radicals. Zhou died in January 1976, and Deng delivered his eulogy. Deng then disappeared from public view and was formally purged (with Mao’s backing) in April. The immediate reason for Deng’s downfall was a group of massive demonstrations in Beijing and other cities that took advantage of the traditional Qingming festival to pay homage to Zhou’s memory and thereby challenge the radicals.
In the immediate wake of Deng’s purge, many of his followers also fell from power, and a political campaign was launched to “criticize Deng Xiaoping and his right-deviationist attempt to reverse correct verdicts [on people during the Cultural Revolution].” Only Mao’s death in September and the purge of the Gang of Four by a coalition of political, police, and military leaders in October 1976 brought this effort to vilify Deng to a close. Although it was officially ended by the 11th Party Congress in August 1977, the Cultural Revolution had in fact concluded with Mao’s death and the purge of the Gang of Four.
|
968db68e25be495b6b1a509521033fcb | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chindwin-River | Chindwin River | Chindwin River
Chindwin River, main tributary of the Irrawaddy River, northern Myanmar (Burma). The Chindwin is formed in the Pātkai and Kumon ranges of the Indo-Myanmar border by a network of headstreams including the Tanai, Tawan, and Taron. Called Ningthi by the Manipuris of India, it drains northwest through the Hukawng valley and then begins its 520-mile (840-kilometre) main course. The Chindwin generally flows southward through the Nāga Hills and past the towns of Singkaling Hkamti, Homalin, Thaungdut, Mawlaik, Kalewa, and Monywa. Below the Hukawng valley, falls and reefs interrupt it at several places. At Haka, goods must be transferred from large boats to canoes.
The Uyu and the Myittha are the main tributaries of the system, which drains approximately 44,000 square miles (114,000 square km). During part of the rainy season (June–November), the Chindwin is navigable by river steamer for more than 400 miles (640 km) upstream to Singkaling Hkamti. It joins the Irrawaddy River near Myingyan. The Chindwin’s outlets into the Irrawaddy are interrupted by a succession of long, low, partially populated islands. According to tradition, the most southerly of these outlets is an artificial channel cut by one of the kings of Pagan. Choked up for many centuries, it was reopened by an exceptional flood of 1824.
|
015f0900fa5b98c1bf995ae194758757 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chirchiq | Chirchiq | Chirchiq
Chirchiq, formerly Chirchik, industrial city, eastern Uzbekistan. It lies along the Chirchiq River, 20 miles (30 km) northeast of Tashkent. Chirchiq was created in 1935 from several villages that developed with the construction of the Chirchiq hydroelectric power station and a large electrochemical works producing nitrogenous fertilizers and related chemicals. Chirchiq also produces ferroalloys, manufactures machinery for agriculture and the chemical and electrotechnical industries, and has a technical institute. Pop. (2014 est.) 149,400.
|
5eada81ca7fca3a922c0a5008a7f4cb1 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Choson | Chosŏn | Chosŏn
…the ancient Korean state of Wiman (later named Chosŏn). Nangnang, which occupied the northwestern portion of the Korean peninsula and had its capital at P’yŏngyang, was the only one of the four colonies to achieve success. It lasted until 313 ce, when it was conquered by the expanding northern Korean…
…most advanced state was Old Chosŏn, established in the Taedong River basin, in the northern part of the peninsula. According to legend, the son of heaven, Hwanung, descended to earth and married a bear-turned-woman, who bore a son, Tan’gun, the founder of Chosŏn. Perhaps Tan’gun and his descendants ruled a…
…of the Korean state of Chosŏn. He moved the capital to the present-day site of P’yŏngyang on the Taedong River, dominating the area on the Korean-Manchurian border, and extended his influence down the Korean peninsula.
|
de738f5a4a6bd2967d5f0087ee1ebccd | https://www.britannica.com/place/Chott-El-Chergui | Chott El-Chergui | Chott El-Chergui
Chott El-Chergui, also spelled Chott Ech-Chergui, shallow saline lake or salt flat in the High Plateaus (Hauts Plateaux) of the Atlas Mountains in northwestern Algeria. It is about 100 miles (160 km) long and has no outlet; its area varies depending upon precipitation.
|
a06dd326e5b1ab01b0a6f29026783163 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Church-Buttes | Church Buttes | Church Buttes
Church Buttes, eroded sandstone cliffs in Uinta county, extreme southwestern Wyoming, about 45 miles (72 km) west-southwest of Rock Springs. Named by Mormon pioneers for their steeple-like needles, the buttes rise 75 feet (23 metres) above the surrounding hills, to an elevation of 6,351 feet (1,936 metres).
|
52e6775d27e2aa6ce03f3ab2ad7d9995 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Church-of-Our-Lady-church-Trier-Germany | Church of Our Lady | Church of Our Lady
The church of Our Lady at Trier (begun c. 1235) and the church of St. Elizabeth at Marburg (begun 1235) both have features, such as window tracery, dependent on northern French example; but the church at Trier is highly unusual in its centralized plan, and St.…
|
e703a7aa88e1dabef387d4af8ca02f5a | https://www.britannica.com/place/Church-of-Saint-Peter-church-Louvain-Belgium | Church of Saint Peter | Church of Saint Peter
The Church of St. Peter, which originally dated from the early 11th century, was twice destroyed before being rebuilt as a Gothic structure (1425–97), and it was again damaged in both world wars. The church contains two fine paintings by Dieric Bouts and ironwork and brasswork—much…
|
15ce8f7fdab0d3ebf54d72dfa9651264 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Church-of-Saint-Urbain | Church of Saint-Urbain | Church of Saint-Urbain
…of the most complete is Saint-Urbain, Troyes (founded 1262). There, one can see the virtuosity practiced by the architects in playing with layers of tracery, setting off one “skin” of tracery against another.
The church of Saint-Urbain in bold Gothic style was almost certainly begun in the 13th century by Pope Urban IV, who was a Troyes shoemaker’s son. In the church of Saint-Jean-au-Marché (14th–17th century) on June 2, 1420, Henry V of England married Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles…
|
46e8c4006af99cc3ee3938fe11ec966f | https://www.britannica.com/place/Church-of-Sainte-Catherine | Church of Sainte-Catherine | Church of Sainte-Catherine
The timber church of Sainte-Catherine, which looks like a ship upside down, was constructed in the 15th century by shipbuilders. It is separated from its wooden belfry, which is in the Place du Marché.
|
58f52c589aeef8293f9dd142e5e9e255 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Church-of-San-Vitale | Church of San Vitale | Church of San Vitale
Church of San Vitale, also called Basilica of San Vitale, church in Ravenna, Italy, that was built in the 6th century and is considered a masterpiece of Byzantine achitecture. It is especially noted for the colourful mosaics of Christian iconography that decorate the interior walls and ceilings.
The church was begun by Bishop Ecclesius in 526 under the Ostrogothic queen Amalasuntha (died 535) and was consecrated in 547. It was dedicated to the martyr Vitalis, the patron saint of Ravenna. At the time, the city was the capital of the Western Roman Empire. The octagonal structure is made of marble and capped by a lofty terra-cotta dome. The celebrated mosaics were strongly influenced by similar work at Constantinople (Istanbul). They depict Old and New Testament figures as well as contemporary Byzantine rulers and Catholic ecclesiastics. Of particular note are the mosaics on the presbytery’s ceiling, which depict the Lamb of God amid plants and animals. In addition, the emperor Justinian (reigned 527–565) and his consort, Theodora, are featured in panels near the apse.
The Church of San Vitale and other Christian monuments in Ravenna were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996.
|
31e4a948cee8e2529acdfe1e1cb30abe | https://www.britannica.com/place/Churchill-Downs | Churchill Downs | Churchill Downs
…first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs racetrack, Louisville, Kentucky. With the Preakness Stakes (run in mid-May) and the Belmont Stakes (early in June), it makes up American Thoroughbred racing’s coveted Triple Crown. The Derby field is limited to three-year-olds and, since 1975, to 20 horses; fillies carry 121 pounds…
|
5d34855f0cbdd066b035666b85057f2a | https://www.britannica.com/place/Ciechanow | Ciechanów | Ciechanów
Ciechanów, city, Mazowieckie województwo (province), east-central Poland. It is located in the Ciechanów Highlands on the Łydynia waterway, the Wkra River inlet, and the Warsaw-Gdańsk railway line, in a fertile agricultural area that produces wheat, rye, sugar beets, and potatoes. A walled city since the 11th century, it was one of the Christian Polish communities placed under the protection of the Teutonic Knights of Mazovia early in the 13th century. Pop. (2011) 45,481.
|
fa115c6b60b77dee5266d0fdc9f7c1e5 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cimarron-River | Cimarron River | Cimarron River
Cimarron River, river rising in northeastern New Mexico, U.S., near Capulin Mountain National Monument and flowing 698 mi (1,123 km) to enter the Arkansas River near Tulsa, Okla. From its source, the Cimarron flows east past Black Mesa, a peak 4,973 ft (1,516 m) high, through the northern Oklahoma Panhandle and bends northward through the southeastern corner of Colorado and the southwestern corner of Kansas. The riverbed in this area is dry except during spring and early summer or during occasional floods. South of Coldwater, Kan., the Cimarron reenters Oklahoma as a permanent stream.
The river probably derives its name from cimarrón, Spanish for “wild.” Although unnavigable, it has played an important part in the history of the western United States. The direct route of the Santa Fe Trail coursed along its valley for 100 mi in southwestern Kansas, and travellers knew the Oklahoma Panhandle as the “Cimarron Cutoff.”
There are no cities of any size on the river, but near its banks are Guthrie, Kingfisher, Fairview, Cushing, and Yale, in Oklahoma, and Folsom, in New Mexico. Chief tributaries are North Fork and Crooked Creek.
|
4dcb32d38587bd616a7faa624ef8cd27 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cincinnati | Cincinnati | Cincinnati
Cincinnati, city, seat of Hamilton county, southwestern Ohio, U.S. It lies along the Ohio River opposite the suburbs of Covington and Newport, Kentucky, 15 miles (24 km) east of the Indiana border and about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Dayton. Cincinnati is Ohio’s third largest city, after Columbus and Cleveland. Other suburban communities include Norwood and Forest Park in Ohio and Florence in Kentucky.
Picturesquely situated between the Little Miami and Great Miami rivers at their confluences with the Ohio, it is encircled by hills rising 400–600 feet (120–180 metres) above the river. It is the hub of a metropolitan area that includes portions of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. Inc. town, 1802; city, 1819. Area city, 80 square miles (206 square km). Pop. (2000) 331,285; Cincinnati-Middletown Metro Area, 2,009,632; (2010) 296,943; Cincinnati-Middletown Metro Area, 2,130,151.
Shawnee peoples were early inhabitants of the region. Columbia, the first settlement, was founded by Benjamin Stites of Pennsylvania near the mouth of the Little Miami in 1788. Another settlement was laid out and called Losantiville, and a third, North Bend, was established a short distance down the Ohio. Fort Washington was built near Losantiville in 1789. In the following year, General Arthur St. Clair, newly appointed governor of the Northwest Territory, renamed the town to honour the Revolutionary War officers’ Society of the Cincinnati and made it the county seat. Growth began after General Anthony Wayne’s victory (1794) at Fallen Timbers lessened the threat of Indian attacks. Cincinnati emerged as a river port after 1811, when the first steamboat west of the Allegheny Mountains, the New Orleans, arrived on its downriver voyage from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Miami and Erie Canal was completed to Dayton in 1829, and the first section of the Little Miami Railway was laid in 1843. River commerce, which reached its height in 1852, stimulated steamboat building and industry. At that time, because of its renown as a pork-packing centre, the city was often called “Porkopolis.” Other titles, such as “Queen City” and “Queen of the West,” were embraced by Cincinnatians in the early 19th century—the latter nickname, which first appeared in print in 1819, was immortalized in a poem (1854) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
In 1842 Cincinnati was one of the few American cities admired by the British author Charles Dickens. The city grew rapidly before the American Civil War, largely through an influx of German and Irish immigrants. Cincinnati had close commercial and cultural ties with the South, and, when war broke out, many sympathized with the Southern cause. However, the city had been the home of such prominent abolitionists as Henry Ward Beecher and Levi Coffin and an important station on the Underground Railroad. Cincinnati remained loyal to the Union, and citizens rallied to the city’s defense when it was threatened by a Confederate force in September 1862.
Cincinnati’s economy flourished during and after the war as new markets in the North were established, and rail connections to the South revived trade there in the 1880s. The population grew steadily, and many civic and cultural institutions were founded. A long period of government corruption was followed by one of reform and civic rejuvenation in the 1920s. Flooding in 1937 devastated low-lying areas of the city, but flood-control measures taken since then have reduced the threat. Beginning in the last decades of the 20th century, the central city was revitalized through a combination of historic preservation and restoration and new civic and commercial construction.
The city’s population peaked at 504,000 in 1950 and thereafter declined, which was mirrored by steady population growth in the metropolitan area. Concurrently, the proportion of people of European ancestry dropped considerably, and that for African Americans rose to more than two-fifths of the total.
Services (wholesale and retail trade, government, education) constitute the main component of Cincinnati’s economy. The city’s highly diversified manufactures include food products, transportation equipment, soap products, chemicals, industrial machinery, pharmaceuticals, metal products, textiles, furniture, and cosmetics; printing is also important. The city remains a national transportation hub that includes one of the country’s largest inland coal ports and an international airport located to the southwest in Kentucky.
A noted cultural centre, Cincinnati has a symphony orchestra and ballet and theatre ensembles. The Cincinnati Opera, founded in 1920, is the second oldest opera company in the country. Cincinnati Museum Center, located in the renovated Union Terminal railway station, includes a children’s museum and museums of history and of natural history and science. The Cincinnati Art Museum and Taft Museum of Art have noted collections. In 2003 the Contemporary Arts Center (founded in 1939 as the Modern Art Society) moved into a new building designed by Zaha Hadid. The city is the seat of the University of Cincinnati (1819), the Cincinnati State Technical and Community College (1969), and the Union Institute and University (1964). There are two Roman Catholic institutes of higher education—Xavier University (1831) and the College of Mount St. Joseph (1920)—and the Athenaeum of Ohio (1829), a seminary. Other religious institutions include Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (1875), the oldest rabbinic college in the United States, and Cincinnati Christian University (1924; Churches of Christ).
Also of interest are the birthplace of President William Howard Taft (at Mount Auburn, designated a national historic site in 1969), the Harriet Beecher Stowe House (1833), and the Tyler-Davidson Fountain (1871) by the sculptor August von Kreling. The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge (1856–67), designed by Roebling, has a main span of 1,057 feet (322 metres) and links Cincinnati and Covington; it was the second bridge across the Ohio. The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, the second oldest zoo in the United States, is notable for its successful breeding of animals in captivity and for its use of naturalistic surroundings.
The Great American Ball Park (opened 2003), built to resemble ballparks of the early 20th century, is the home of the Cincinnati Reds (1869), the country’s oldest professional baseball team; the Bengals (gridiron football) play at nearby Paul Brown Stadium (2000). Both venues are located along the river and flank the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (2004), which offers exhibits and educational programs. The Showboat Majestic, a historic monument, stages popular theatre productions on the riverfront, and renovated stern-wheelers are based across the Ohio River at Covington. Northeast of Cincinnati is a popular theme amusement park. The birthplace of President Ulysses S. Grant (restored as a museum) is along the Ohio at Point Pleasant, about 20 miles (32 km) southeast.
|
4f3544ab5aa0d244ea7286284d76d3c6 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Citium | Citium | Citium
Citium, Greek Kition, principal Phoenician city in Cyprus, situated on the southeast coast near modern Larnaca. The earliest remains at Citium are those of an Aegean colony of the Mycenaean Age (c. 1400–1100 bc). The biblical name Kittim, representing Citium, was also used for Cyprus as a whole. A Phoenician dedication to the god “Baal of Lebanon,” found at Citium, suggests that the city may have belonged to Tyre; and an official monument of the Assyrian king Sargon II indicates that Citium was the administrative centre of Cyprus during the Assyrian protectorate (709–c. 668 bc). During the Greek revolts of 499, 386 and following years, and 353 bc, Citium led the side loyal to Persia. It remained an important city even after Alexander the Great conquered Persia. Citium suffered repeatedly from earthquakes, however, and in medieval times its harbour became silted and the population moved to Larnaca.
|
34fc44264c3778415473bb35fd2ba719 | https://www.britannica.com/place/City-of-Westminster | City of Westminster | City of Westminster
City of Westminster, inner borough of London, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames at the heart of London’s West End. The City of Westminster is flanked to the west by Kensington and Chelsea and to the east by the City of London. It belongs to the historic county of Middlesex. The City of Westminster was established as a borough in 1965 by the amalgamation of the boroughs of Westminster, Paddington, and St. Marylebone. It includes the districts and neighbourhoods of (roughly north to south) St. John’s Wood, part of Maida Vale, Paddington, St. Marylebone, Bayswater, Soho, Mayfair, St. James, Knightsbridge (in part), South Kensington (in part), Westminster, and Pimlico. Between Victoria Station and Hyde Park lies Belgravia, part of the Grosvenor Estate. The Portland and Cavendish estates and the Crown Estate of Regent’s Park are located farther north.
The City of Westminster is the site of some of the finest and most historically important buildings in England and includes some of the most desirable residential properties. It contains Westminster Abbey (Anglican) and Westminster Cathedral (Roman Catholic), Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament and the principal government offices, St. James’s Palace, the most important shopping districts of the country, most of the London area’s luxury hotels, and some of its more-renowned museums of art. The National Gallery has a superb collection of Old Masters paintings, and Tate Britain (a branch of the national Tate galleries), built in 1893–97 on the Thames near Vauxhall Bridge, has large holdings of British paintings and sculpture. The Wallace Collection is kept in Hertford House, Manchester Square, and the National Portrait Gallery is based north of Trafalgar Square.
The avenue of the Mall points eastward from Buckingham Palace, passing St. James’s Palace before arriving at the Admiralty Arch, the entryway to Charing Cross and Trafalgar Square. South of Charing Cross is Whitehall, the site of the main British government offices (as well as the residence of the prime minister, at No. 10 Downing Street), and to the east the Victoria Embankment traces the Thames from the Houses of Parliament to the City of London. Northeast of Somerset House (home of the Courtauld Institute Galleries and the Gilbert Collection [decorative arts]) is the eastern terminus of the Strand, as well as the voluminous Royal Courts of Justice, which replaced Westminster Hall as the chief law court of England in 1882. The theatre district, including Covent Garden, is in the environs. Piccadilly Circus is a busy London intersection that attracts tourists from around the world.
The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine is near the Royal Albert Hall at the southern border of Hyde Park. Other notable buildings include the British Broadcasting Corporation headquarters, Madame Tussaud’s waxworks, the London Planetarium, the Royal Opera House, and the Islamic Cultural Centre and London Central Mosque. Hospitals include St. George’s, St. Mary’s, Middlesex, and Westminster. Also in the borough are Lord’s Cricket Ground, St. James’s Park, Green Park, and parts of Kensington Gardens and Regent’s Park. Nearly one-fourth of the borough area consists of parkland and open space.
Westminster was originally an island above the ill-drained Thames marshes, but there is evidence of early Roman settlement. A community of monks was established on the site by 785 ce. Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042–66) built a palace and a new church there, the latter of which became known as Westminster Abbey. St. Stephen’s Chapel, in the former palace precincts, was used from 1547 for meetings of the House of Commons. A fire in 1834 destroyed almost the entire palace and led to the building of the present Houses of Parliament (1837–60). The complex of the Houses of Parliament (Palace of Westminster), Westminster Abbey, and St. Margaret’s Church was designated a World Heritage site in 1987.
The economy of Westminster is driven by the service sector, which accounts for most employment in the borough. In addition to its retail centres, thousands of business and financial enterprises, and government offices, Westminster is the site of hundreds of hotels and restaurants. It has a significantly higher gross domestic product (GDP) than any other London borough.
Westminster has deep connections with immigration to the London area. Groups of French Huguenots, fleeing religious persecutions in the 17th century and afterward, established themselves in the Soho district, followed by Italians in the late 19th century. Cypriots arrived in Westminster in the early to mid-20th century; they were followed by Chinese and, in the second half of the 20th century, South Asians, Thais, and Arabs. The Arab communities are concentrated just north of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, especially along Queensbury and Edgware Road. Afro-Caribbeans also reside in the borough. Ethnic minorities account for more than one-fifth of the total population. Area 8.3 square miles (21 square km). Pop. (2001) 181,286; (2011) 219,396.
|
c41b0a298be186012396760d2a016de9 | https://www.britannica.com/place/City-Varieties-Music-Hall | City Varieties Music Hall | City Varieties Music Hall
…opened in 1878, and the City Varieties music hall, which was founded above a pub in 1865 and featured performances headlined by Charlie Chaplin, Lillie Langtry, and Harry Houdini, among others. For some 30 years (1953–83), City Varieties also hosted the British Broadcasting Corporation’s television variety show The Good Old…
|
fc545f77d01c48ed6a19ff9059c01757 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Clarence-River-New-South-Wales | Clarence River | Clarence River
Clarence River, coastal river, northeastern New South Wales, Australia, rising in the McPherson Range near the Queensland border, flowing south and northeast for 245 mi (394 km), and emptying into the Pacific 40 mi below Grafton. Its chief tributaries are the Timbarra, Mitchell, and Orara. Woodford, Chatsworth, and Harwood are the largest of its many islands, most of which are subject to floods. The Clarence is navigable by small steamers as far as Grafton and by smaller craft 35 mi farther upstream. Known for many years as the Big River, it was crossed by escaping convicts in the 1820s, but credit for its discovery is generally given to Richard Craig (1831). It was named for the Duke of Clarence.
|
c574464e57807bbd081e83aeab9f27f6 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Clark-Freeport-Zone | Clark Freeport Zone | Clark Freeport Zone
…economic zone, known as the Clark Freeport Zone. The industrial and transportation facilities developed there attracted foreign trade and investment, thereby stimulating the economic growth of central Luzon. The base’s runways and other facilities were converted for use as an international airport.
|
b73a4fbd34c410eb55dbbbd7a0fd19e8 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Clarksburg | Clarksburg | Clarksburg
Clarksburg, city, seat of Harrison county, northern West Virginia, U.S. The city lies along the West Fork River. Settled in 1772, it was named for General George Rogers Clark, a noted Virginia frontiersman. Shortly thereafter Thomas Nutter arrived and built a fort near the site where the town of Nutter Fort (now a southeastern suburb) developed. Clarksburg was chartered as a town in 1785, although it had served as the county seat of Harrison since the formation of the county in 1784. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which arrived in 1856, brought economic prosperity, as did the opening of coalfields (1870) and oil fields (1889) nearby. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, the Confederate military leader, was born there in 1824, as was John W. Davis (1873), a lawyer, diplomat, and 1924 presidential candidate.
During the American Civil War, Clarksburg was the headquarters (1861) of General George B. McClellan, who was charged with holding what was then western Virginia for the Union. The town was also an important Union supply base. On April 22, 1861, Clarksburg held the first meeting in the process leading to the formation of the state of West Virginia in 1863.
Clarksburg’s economy—formerly based on coal mining, oil and natural-gas production, and agriculture—has shifted more toward light manufactures and services. A significant addition to the regional economy is the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s large fingerprint-identification facility, which opened in 1995. A branch campus of Fairmont State College is in Clarksburg. In Salem, just to the west, is Salem-Teikyo University (chartered in 1888 as Salem College), which was created in 1989 as part of the Teikyo University Group of Japan. Watters Smith Memorial State Park is also nearby. Inc. city, 1921. Pop. (2000) 16,743; (2010) 16,578.
|
5563eeafbcd778743959d3b6ae838dd8 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cle-Elum-River | Cle Elum River | Cle Elum River
Cle Elum River, watercourse, central Washington, U.S., rising in the Cascade Range. The river flows generally south through Cle Elum Lake, thence southeast past Cle Elum, joining the Yakima River of the Columbia River system after a course of about 28 miles (45 km). The fast-flowing river is a favourite destination for white-water rafting and kayaking; its name derives from the Yakima Indian phrase tie-el-lum, meaning “swift waters.” Cle Elum Lake, impounded by Cle Elum Dam (1933) at the south end of the lake, is 8 miles (13 km) long.
|
179721333943de699e512b1a30c0c19b | https://www.britannica.com/place/Clonmacnoise | Clonmacnoise | Clonmacnoise
Clonmacnoise, Irish Cluain Mhic Nóis, also spelled Cluain Moccu Nóis, early Christian centre on the left bank of the River Shannon, County Offaly, central Ireland. It lies about 70 miles (110 km) west of Dublin. Clonmacnoise was the earliest and foremost Irish monastic city after the foundation of an abbey there by St. Ciaran about 545. It had become an important centre of learning by the 9th century, and several books of annals were compiled there. The cathedral, or Great Church, was founded about 900 and rebuilt in the 14th century. Other churches are those dedicated to Finian (Finghin), Conor (Connor), St. Ciaran, Kelly, Ri, and Dowling (Doolin). Clonmacnoise became a bishopric, and in 1568 the diocese was merged with that of Meath. The ruins of the churches, known as the Seven Churches of Clonmacnoise, and two 12th-century towers still survive and are protected as part of a national monument. An annual pilgrimage to Clonmacnoise is held on September 9, the feast of St. Ciaran. Attesting to the city’s historic and religious importance, Pope John Paul II visited the town during his trip to Ireland in 1979. Pop. (2011) 337.
|
e5eaf81ddeebb30a06375caad4526f16 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cobre | Cobre | Cobre
…from Santiago de Cuba is Cobre, an old copper-mining town that houses Cuba’s most important shrine—dedicated to the Virgen de la Caridad (Virgin of Charity), proclaimed to be the protectress of Cuba. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors per year seeking blessings and healings. Pop. (2002) 423,392; (2011 est.)…
|
080a9d6ef86dca6618a22349cda7218c | https://www.britannica.com/place/Coco-River | Coco River | Coco River
Coco River, Spanish Río Coco, river in southern Honduras and northern Nicaragua, rising west of the town of San Marcos de Colón, in southern Honduras, near the Honduras-Nicaragua border. The Coco flows generally eastward into Nicaragua, then turns northward near Mount Kilambé. For much of its middle and lower course the river flows generally northeastward, forming a delta and emptying into the Caribbean Sea at Cape Gracias a Dios through three main channels. After much litigation, in 1961 its middle and lower course was declared the international boundary between Honduras and Nicaragua. Although its total length is 485 miles (780 km), only the lower 140 miles (225 km) are navigable. Formerly known as the Segovia and the Wanks, it is not of great economic significance, although there is some placer gold mining along its course, and it is used for floating timber cut from the densely forested Caribbean lowlands.
|
48a25912d7af1d418fc28009e8da9ddb | https://www.britannica.com/place/Coihaique | Coihaique | Coihaique
Coihaique, city, southern archipelagic Chile. It is situated 50 miles (80 km) inland of Puerto Aisén and 25 miles (40 km) west of the Argentine border.
Founded in 1912 by a small group of German colonists, it is situated among grassy steppes between the Coihaique and Simpson rivers, in a densely forested and extremely wet region of Patagonian Chile (rainfall reaches 58 in. [1,485 mm] annually).
Although wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, and fruit have long been produced in the immediate area, some of the city’s growth is attributable to a pastoral industry, primarily cattle and sheep.
In the early 1980s the city became an economic centre, providing commercial and financial services and supporting light industry. It is linked by a gravel road, the Southern Highway (Carretera Austral), to Puerto Montt, Quellón, and Puerto Chacabuco. Pop. (2002) 44,850; (2017) municipality, 57,818.
|
8e49b3c01bfb7c2893f494a86361bf99 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Colfax | Colfax | Colfax
Colfax, county, northeastern New Mexico, U.S., bordered on the north by Colorado. Its westernmost section is in the Southern Rocky Mountains and includes the Cimarron range, topped by 12,441-foot (3,782-metre) Baldy Peak, and the Sangre de Cristo range, which rises to more than 10,000 feet (3,000 metres) and includes the Carson National Forest. Between the two mountain ranges is Eagle Nest Lake, the county’s largest body of water. Cimarron Canyon State Park, Vietnam Veterans Chapel, and Angel Fire and Enchanted Forest ski areas are all in western Colfax county. Near Raton Pass, on the Colorado border, are Sugarite State Park and the Sugarite Ski Area. The Canadian River rises in the north and flows southward through the centre of the county.
Colfax county has a colourful history. The region was Apache Indian territory for several centuries before the Santa Fe Trail opened in 1821. The cowboy town of Cimarron became a major stop on the trail; gambling, prostitution, and the presence of frontier outlaws gave the town a reputation for vice and violence. The county was established in 1869 and was named for Schuyler Colfax, then U.S. vice president. The county seat is Raton. Cattle ranching, tourism and recreation, lumbering, and banking are major elements in the economy. Area 3,757 square miles (9,730 square km). Pop. (2000) 14,189; (2010) 13,750.
|
7635e37dd71c733076827c09862dba91 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Colima-Mexico | Colima | Colima
Colima, city, capital of Colima estado (state), west-central Mexico. It lies along the Colima River in the northeastern part of the state, in the Sierra Madre foothills some 1,700 feet (520 metres) above sea level. Founded close to the coast in 1523 by an envoy sent by the conquistador Hernán Cortés, Colima was later moved to its present location. It was an early base for the Spanish conquest of the Pacific coastal plain, although it was subsequently overshadowed by Acapulco. In the 19th century it was connected by rail to Guadalajara and the port of Manzanillo.
It is now also linked by highway. Industries centre on the processing of local agricultural products—cotton, rice, coconuts, bananas, and corn (maize)—together with salt refining, alcohol distilling, and the manufacture of shoes and leather goods. Tourists are attracted by the city’s well-preserved colonial centre, by its lush tropical setting, and by its proximity to Nevado de Colima National Park, 25 miles (40 km) north. The city is the site of the University of Colima (founded 1940; reorganized 1962). Pop. (2000) 119,639; metro. area, 275,677; (2010) 137,383; metro. area, 334,240.
|
5d42c5270b89932bd364641a502e332a | https://www.britannica.com/place/Colombia/Revolution-and-independence | Revolution and independence | Revolution and independence
The French invasion of Spain in 1808 caused an outburst of loyalty to the king and country and excited grave concern for the church. Profound Granadine anxiety over the fate of the empire and conflicting courses of action attempted by colonial and peninsular subjects over control of government during the captivity of the Spanish king Ferdinand VII led to strife in New Granada and to declarations of independence. In 1810 the subordinated jurisdictions in New Granada threw out their Spanish officials, except in Santa Marta, Ríohacha, and what are now Panama and Ecuador. The uprising in Bogotá on July 20, 1810, is commemorated as Independence Day in Colombia, although these new governments swore allegiance to Ferdinand VII and did not begin to declare independence until 1811. Idealists and ambitious provincial leaders desired federation. Creole leaders sought to centralize authority over the new governments. A series of civil wars ensued, facilitating Spanish reconquest of the United Provinces of New Granada between 1814 and 1816. A remnant of republican forces fled to the llanos of Casanare, where they reorganized under Francisco de Paula Santander, a Colombian general who remained a prominent figure in Granadine politics until his death in 1840.
Any remaining loyalty to the crown was alienated by the punitive arbitrary conduct of the European and partisan troops, whose actions gave validity to the attack on Spanish civilization that began late in 1810 and continued through the 19th century. The rebel forces in Casanare joined those of Simón Bolívar in the Orinoco basin of Venezuela. By 1819 arrangements for a regular government were completed, and a constitutional convention met at Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela) with delegates from Casanare and some Venezuelan provinces. In that same year Bolívar invaded Colombia and decisively defeated the Spanish forces on August 7 at Boyacá. There followed the decisive Battle of Carabobo, Venezuela, in 1821 and that of Pichincha, Ecuador, in 1822. Mopping-up operations were completed in 1823, while Bolívar led his forces on to Peru.
The Congress of Angostura laid the foundation for the formation of the Republic of Colombia (1819–30), which was generally known as Gran Colombia because it included what are now the separate countries of Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador. The republic was definitively organized by the Congress of Cúcuta in 1821. Prior to that time the government was highly military and hierarchically organized, with regional vice presidents exercising direct power while its president, Bolívar, was campaigning. Organized as a centralized representative government, the republic retained Bolívar as president and acting president Santander as vice president.
Gran Colombia had a brief, virile existence during the war. Subsequent civilian and military rivalry for public office and regional jealousies led in 1826 to a rebellion in Venezuela led by General José Antonio Páez. Bolívar returned from Peru to restore unity but secured only the acknowledgment of his personal authority. As discontent spread, it became clear that no group loved the republic enough to fight for its existence. By 1829 Bolívar had divided the land into four jurisdictions under Venezuelan generals possessing civil and military authority. Meanwhile the convention of Ocaña had failed to reorganize the republic, and the brief dictatorship of Bolívar (1828–30) had no better success. Bolívar then convoked the Convention of 1830, which produced a constitution honoured only in New Granada (the name then referring only to Colombia, with the Isthmus of Panama). During this convention Bolívar resigned and left for the northern coast, where he died near Santa Marta on December 17, 1830. By that time Venezuela and Ecuador had seceded from Gran Colombia. New Granada, a country of 1.5 million inhabitants in 1835, was left on its own.
Santander, the vice president under Bolívar and then leader of the opposition to Bolívar’s imperial ambitions in 1828, held the presidency from 1832 until 1837 and was the dominant political figure of that era. The 1830s brought some prosperity to the new nation, but a civil war that broke out in 1840 ended a nascent industrial development, disrupted trade, and discouraged local enterprise. The seeds of political rivalry between liberals and conservatives had already been sown, and they bore fruit in the bloody revolution and costly violence that ravaged the country in the years between 1840 and 1903.
|
b872447cd290607be8cfb48bf0b71ffb | https://www.britannica.com/place/Colonial-Historic-District | Colonial Historic District | Colonial Historic District
The city’s 40-block Colonial Historic District contains more structures dating from before the American Revolution than any other U.S. historic district. The narrow, crooked streets of Annapolis, the houses abutting directly on the brickwork sidewalks, the graceful tree-covered green about the statehouse, and the myriad masts of boats…
|
7eb67b8710ed6913373aa1daed637fbc | https://www.britannica.com/place/Colorado-state/Resources-and-power | Resources and power | Resources and power
Although not the leader that it was in the mining bonanzas of the 19th century, Colorado’s mineral industry continues to make substantial contributions to the economy. Among the principal minerals are coal, petroleum, molybdenum, gold, and sand and gravel. Northwestern Colorado has some of the largest and most-valuable coal deposits in the country. Fossil fuels—notably natural gas—account for more than four-fifths of the state’s mineral output. Petroleum and natural gas reserves are mostly in the form of oil shales, a potentially highly productive source of fuel that, until about 2000, remained largely undeveloped. Since then, both oil and gas have been extracted from shale formations by using newer technology such as fracking (hydraulic fracturing).
The bulk of Colorado’s electricity is generated from coal, but the proportion of the total has dropped from some four-fifths to a declining two-thirds; natural gas provides about another one-fifth. Wind power has become increasingly important since 2000, constituting nearly all the remainder of the power generated, with hydroelectric and other renewable sources providing smaller proportions. Consumption is immense, and demands are difficult to meet. Some three-fifths of the total capacity and production is privately owned.
Colorado’s major industrial products include transportation equipment and machinery (including precision equipment), foods and beverages, fabricated metals, chemicals, lumber and wood products, and military and aerospace equipment. Several Front Range communities have developed high-technology manufacturing parks devoted to the production of semiconductors and other components used in computers and robotics. Colorado has become renowned for its scores of craft breweries.
Although manufacturing, agriculture, and summer tourism are the mainstays of Colorado’s economy, winter sports have grown at a rapid rate since the 1970s. Transport, housing, and lift facilities are continually expanding to meet the annual ski invasion, and whole communities—including Vail, Aspen, Steamboat Springs, and Breckenridge—are economically dependent on those revenues. Colorado provides outstanding opportunities for outdoor recreation. Among its premier attractions are its four national parks—Rocky Mountain, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Great Sand Dunes, and Mesa Verde—which together encompass some 710 square miles (1,840 square km). Many millions of tourists visit Colorado each year, a large part of them on vacations to outdoor destinations.
Colorado has a well-developed transportation system and ranks high among the Mountain states in road mileage. Main highways tend to be east-west, circumvent high mountain masses, and follow valleys and canyons to their heads in the more than 30 mountain passes over the Continental Divide. The highest of the passes, at 12,183 feet (3,713 metres), is on the seasonal Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. A number of other passes exceed 10,000 feet (3,000 metres) in elevation. One of the country’s major east-west arteries, Interstate Highway 70, runs through the state, utilizing twin vehicular tunnels under the Continental Divide west of Denver.
Denver International Airport is a major hub in the country’s air traffic pattern. It is served by almost all major U.S. airlines; carriers link Denver with other Colorado cities, with neighbouring states, and with international destinations. Railroad lines in Colorado are mainly bulk-freight carriers using multilevel railcars and flatcars for containerized freight, although a main east-west Amtrak passenger route passes through Denver and the Rockies.
In the late 20th century, Colorado was the site of a telecommunications boom. Several national high-technology and telecommunications companies located their headquarters in Denver and elsewhere in the state. Despite a subsequent downturn in the industry, Colorado remained a national leader in the field into the 21st century.
|
1af454ff6ac5818c873f0f4fd1b6712d | https://www.britannica.com/place/Columbia-Park | Columbia Park | Columbia Park
” Kennewick’s Columbia Park was the site of the discovery, in July 1996, of human remains that have been determined to be about 9,400 years old. The skull was long and narrow, suggesting European, rather than Asian, descent. This characteristic touched off a scholarly debate about the…
|
2fc6bb7b03ab83ce423fd3bada1f814c | https://www.britannica.com/place/Columbia-Plateau | Columbia Plateau | Columbia Plateau
Columbia Plateau, also called Columbia Intermontane, geographic region, northwestern United States. It forms part of the intermontane plateaus and is bordered east by the Northern Rocky Mountains and west by the Sierra Nevada–Cascade region. The plateau covers an area of about 100,000 square miles (260,000 square km) in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho and is noted for its diverse landforms (see video). It is uniformly covered with basaltic lava flows, but significant warping and faulting have caused elevations to range from 200 to 5,000 feet (60 to 1,500 m) above sea level. The climate is semiarid, and vegetation is limited mostly to shrubs and grasses. The Columbia and Snake rivers drain the region.
|
17e8833c9d4cad6a0c559e878f0c8768 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Columbia-River | Columbia River | Columbia River
Columbia River, largest river flowing into the Pacific Ocean from North America. It is exceeded in discharge on the continent only by the Mississippi, St. Lawrence, and Mackenzie rivers. The Columbia is one of the world’s greatest sources of hydroelectric power and, with its tributaries, represents a third of the potential hydropower of the United States. In addition, its mouth provides the first deepwater harbour north of San Francisco. Two-fifths of the river’s course, some 500 miles (800 km) of its 1,240-mile (2,000-km) length, lies in Canada, between its headwaters in British Columbia and the U.S. border.
The Columbia drains some 258,000 square miles (668,000 square km), of which about 85 percent is in the northwestern United States. Major tributaries are the Kootenay, Snake, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Okanogan, Yakima, Cowlitz, and Willamette rivers. High flows occur in late spring and early summer, when snow melts in the mountainous watershed. Low flows occur in autumn and winter, causing water shortages at the river’s hydroelectric plants.
The Columbia flows from its source in Columbia Lake, at an elevation of 2,700 feet (820 metres), in British Columbia near the crest of the Rocky Mountains, to the Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Oregon. For the first 190 miles (305 km), its course is northwesterly. It then flows to the south for 270 miles (435 km) to the border of Canada and the United States (elevation 1,290 feet [390 metres]), where it enters northeastern Washington. It traverses east-central Washington in a sweeping curve known as the Big Bend, its prehistoric course having been disarranged first by lava flows and later by ice sheets. The ice sheets were instrumental in creating the Channelled Scablands, a series of coulees (steep-walled ravines) trending northeast-southwest in the northern part of the Columbia Plateau; Grand Coulee is the largest of these. The scablands were formed as immense torrents of water, released intermittently from ice-dammed lakes upstream, swept down-valley. Shortly below the confluence with the Snake River, its largest tributary, the Columbia turns west and continues 300 miles (480 km) to the ocean as the boundary between Oregon and Washington; in this last stretch the river has carved the spectacular Columbia River Gorge through the Cascade Range.
Tides flow upriver for 140 miles (225 km). Portland, Oregon (about 110 miles [180 km] from the mouth), and Vancouver, Washington (100 miles [160 km]), are the upper limit of oceangoing navigation, aided by a dredged channel. Through the use of a series of locks, barge traffic is made possible to Lewiston, Idaho, more than 460 miles (740 km) inland from the river’s mouth at the junction of the Clearwater and Snake rivers.
The Columbia River basin’s climate, strongly affected by orographic influences, is partly continental and partly marine. The Rocky Mountains to the east block out most of the severe winter storms of the interior of the continent, and the Cascade Range to the west shields the basin from moist Pacific Ocean air. Summers are typically hot and dry with only occasional thundershowers; winters are moderately cold and dry with occasional snow or even rain. Temperature and precipitation vary greatly with elevation, but in the central basin January average daily temperatures are between about 25 and 30 °F (−4 and −1 °C), and July averages are mostly between 70 and 75 °F (21 and 24 °C). Average annual precipitation ranges from less than 8 inches (200 mm) at the lowest elevations to about 15 inches (380 mm) near the mountain foothills and 40 inches (1,000 mm) or more in the mountains. West of the Cascades the climate is marine-influenced, with long, rainy winters and cool, dry summers.
Native vegetation at lower elevations of the interior basin is mostly of the shrub-steppe variety, dominated by sagebrush and bunchgrasses. With increasing elevation, shrub-steppe gives way to ponderosa pines and then to firs, larches, and other pines. More than half of the original shrub-steppe vegetation has been eliminated by grazing and farming. Cheatgrass has become a troublesome invader. Greasewood and alkali salt grass dominate on poorly drained saline soils, while willows and black cottonwoods dominate along watercourses. West of the Cascades, forests of Douglas firs with hemlocks and western red cedars prevail in upland areas.
Animal life was abundant and varied prior to white settlement. Notable were the great runs of salmon and steelhead trout; populations of beavers, deer, elk, bears, and bighorn sheep; flocks of waterfowl and upland birds, including eagles, ospreys, hawks, and falcons; and numbers of western rattlesnakes. The ability of the region to sustain large populations of wildlife has been drastically reduced, especially for salmon and beavers. Bald eagles and peregrine falcons were once listed as endangered but have recovered in numbers throughout the region. However, there has been continued concern over the declining number of salmon, despite the presence of fish ladders and other passage facilities designed to make possible the continued annual upstream run of spawning salmon beyond dams on the river.
|
c189faf33d6a3f84a49840d72fd25c81 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Conakry | Conakry | Conakry
Conakry, also spelled Konakry, national capital, largest city, and chief Atlantic port, western Guinea. Conakry lies on Tombo (Tumbo) Island and the Camayenne (Kaloum) Peninsula. Founded by the French in 1884, it derived its name from a local village inhabited by the Susu (Soussou) people. Subsequently it became capital of the protectorate of Rivières du Sud (1891), of the colony of French Guinea (1893), and of independent Guinea (1958). Tombo Island, the site of the original settlement, is linked to the peninsula by a 328-yard (300-metre) causeway; it contains Conakry’s deepwater harbour (accommodating vessels of 36-foot [11-metre] draft), which exports alumina (treated bauxite), bananas, oranges, pineapples, coffee, palm produce, and fish. The port is the terminus of motor roads, a 411-mile (661-km) railroad from Kankan, and a 90-mile (145-km) branchline from Fria. Guinea’s international airport is 9.5 miles (15 km) northeast.
Conakry became industrialized in the 1950s with the development of iron mining on the Kaloum Peninsula and the exploitation of bauxite on the nearby Los Islands. Local enterprises include fruit canning, fish packing, printing, automobile assembly, and the manufacture of aluminum utensils and plastics. Major industrial plants, however, lie to the northeast at Sanouya (textiles), Wassawassa (tobacco and matches), Sofoniya (furniture), Kobala (bricks), Simbala (mining explosives), and Camp Alpha Yaya (shoes and clothing).
Conakry is the nation’s educational centre and the seat of the University of Conakry (1962). There are also teacher-training, vocational, nursing, midwifery, and military schools. Conakry’s museum, library, and national archives were established in 1960; its botanical garden at Camayenne (a residential district) was founded by the French. Prominent structures in the city include the National Assembly building (Palais du Peuple), the sports stadium (Stade du 28-Septembre), the monument to anticolonial martyrs, the central mosque, and the Roman Catholic cathedral. There are several distinct quarters, including the Centre (commercial), Boulbinet (with its picturesque fishing harbour), and Administrative sections. Pop. (2004 est.) 1,851,800.
|
8760b3e5cce0ab4076366b5b8fe5d161 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Concepcion-Volcano | Concepción Volcano | Concepción Volcano
Concepción Volcano, one of two volcanic cones (the other is Madera) forming Ometepe Island in Lake Nicaragua, southwestern Nicaragua. Also known as Ometepe, it rises to 5,282 ft (1,610 m) and comprises the northern half of the island. Concepción is one of the country’s most active volcanoes and has frequent eruptions. Its first recorded activity was in 1883.
|
9a2d36135aa051c67a7327dbb1eddc0f | https://www.britannica.com/place/Congo-Free-State | Congo Free State | Congo Free State
Congo Free State, French État Indépendant du Congo, former state in Africa that occupied almost all of the Congo River basin, coextensive with the modern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was created in the 1880s as the private holding of a group of European investors headed by Leopold II, king of the Belgians. The king’s attention was drawn to the region during Henry (later Sir Henry) Morton Stanley’s exploration of the Congo River in 1874–77. In November of 1877 Leopold formed the Committee for Studies of the Upper Congo (Comité d’Études du Haut Congo, later renamed Association Internationale du Congo) to open up the African interior to European trade along the Congo River. Between 1879 and 1882, under the committee’s auspices, Stanley established stations on the upper Congo and opened negotiations with local rulers. By 1884 the Association Internationale du Congo had signed treaties with 450 independent African entities and, on that basis, asserted its right to govern all the territory concerned as an independent state. At the Berlin West Africa Conference of 1884–85, its name became the Congo Free State, and European powers recognized Leopold as its sovereign.
Leopold extended his military control over the interior in the early 1890s. The Arab slave traders of the Lualaba River region succumbed in 1890, when their leader Tippu Tib left for Zanzibar. Katanga, rich in copper and other minerals, fell in 1891 after Leopold’s troops shot the ruler, Msiri. Later rebellions were repressed. Transportation links to the interior were established with the construction (1890–98) of a railway to bypass the Congo River rapids below Stanley (now Malebo) Pool; the upper course of the river and its tributaries were all navigable by steamboat.
The regime, under Leopold’s unrestrained personal control, became notorious for its treatment of the Congolese. Forced labour was used to gather wild rubber, palm oil, and ivory. Beatings and lashings were used to force villages to meet their rubber-gathering quotas, as was the taking of hostages: one method employed by Leopold’s agents was kidnapping the families of Congolese men, who were then coerced into trying to meet work quotas (often unattainable) in order to secure the release of their families. Rebellious actions by the Congolese elicited swift and harsh responses from Leopold’s private army, the Force Publique (a band of African soldiers led by European officers), who burned the villages and slaughtered the families of rebels. Force Publique troops were also known for cutting off the hands of the Congolese, including children. This mutilation not only served as a punishment and a method to further terrorize the Congolese into submission, but it also provided a measure (the collection of severed hands) by which the soldiers could prove to their commanding officers that they were actively crushing rebellious activity. Brutality was widespread in mines and on plantations. The population of the entire state is said to have declined from some 20 million to 8 million.
The truth about Leopold’s brutal regime eventually spread, largely owing to the efforts of the Congo Reform Association, an organization founded by British citizens in the early 20th century. Finally, indignation among people in Britain and other parts of Europe grew so great that Leopold was forced to transfer his authority in the Congo to the Belgian government. In 1908 the Congo Free State was abolished and replaced by the Belgian Congo, a colony controlled by the Belgian parliament.
|
4dc53b1646124db1d2a434b3f3565408 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Congo-River/Animal-life | Animal life | Animal life
The animal life of the Congo basin is identified to a certain extent with that of the equatorial forest, which is sharply distinct from the wildlife of the savannas. Within this equatorial domain, the Congo and its principal tributaries form a separate ecological milieu. The animal population of the great waterways often has fewer affinities with the neighbouring marshes or the forests on dry land than it has with other river systems, whether of the coastal region or the savannas.
Numerous species of fish live in the waters of the Congo; more than 230 have been identified in Malebo Pool and the waters that flow into it alone. The riverine swamps, which often dry up at low water, are inhabited by lungfish, which survive the dry periods buried and encysted in cocoons of mucus. In the wooded marshlands, where the water is the colour of black tea, the black catfish there assume the colour of their environment. The wildlife of the marshes and that of the little parallel streams do not mix with the wildlife of the river itself.
The waters of the Congo contain various kinds of reptiles, of which crocodiles are the most striking species. Semiaquatic tortoises are also found, as are several species of water snakes.
The forest birdlife constitutes, together with the birdlife of the East African mountains, the most specifically indigenous birdlife found on the African continent. In the Congo region more than 265 species typical of the equatorial forest have been recorded. Occasionally or seasonally, however, nontypical birds may be observed. Seabirds, such as the sea swallow, fly upstream from the ocean. Migratory birds from Europe, including the blongios heron and the Ixobrychus minutus (little bittern), pass through the region. Species with a wide distribution within Africa, such as the Egyptian duck, also have been sighted. Ducks, herons, storks, and pelicans are abundantly represented.
Aquatic mammals are rare, consisting of the hippopotamus, two species of otters, and the manatee. The manatee (sea cow), which lives entirely in the water, has been officially identified only on the Sangha tributary but appears to have given rise to some curious legends on the lower Congo, including its association with a creature called Mami Wata (a kind of siren), stories of which were carried by African slaves to the Americas.
|
2407bfe210acb33bf0339b8b3ec14eac | https://www.britannica.com/place/Connecticut | Connecticut | Connecticut
Connecticut, constituent state of the United States of America. It was one of the original 13 states and is one of the six New England states. Connecticut is located in the northeastern corner of the country. It ranks 48th among the 50 U.S. states in terms of total area but is among the most densely populated. Lying in the midst of the great urban-industrial complex along the Atlantic coast, it borders Massachusetts to the north, Rhode Island to the east, Long Island Sound (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean) to the south, and New York to the west. Hartford, in the north-central part of the state, is the capital. The state is roughly rectangular in shape, with a panhandle of Fairfield county extending to the southwest on the New York border. The state’s greatest east-west length is about 110 miles (180 km), and its maximum north-south extent is about 70 miles (110 km). Connecticut takes its name from an Algonquian word meaning “land on the long tidal river.” “Nutmeg State,” “Constitution State,” and “Land of Steady Habits” are all sobriquets that have been applied to Connecticut.
With its many beaches and harbours, its forest-clad hills, and its village greens surrounded by houses dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, Connecticut represents a special blend of modern urban life, rustic landscape, and historic sites. It is a highly industrial and service-oriented state, and its personal income per capita is among the highest in the country. Connecticut ranks among the top U.S. states in average annual individual salary, median household income, teachers’ salaries, major corporate headquarters per capita, and access to primary health care. The strength of its economy lies in a skilled workforce, much of it engaged in fabricating products that have been manufactured in Connecticut since the products were invented.
The population is heavily urban. The state has no single large city, however, and the intense crowding characteristic of many urban areas is not found in Connecticut. It continues its long tradition of prosperity, with in-migrants attracted by the good employment opportunities, excellent educational facilities, and pleasant living conditions for the majority of its people. However, Connecticut also displays sharp contrasts between areas of great wealth and great privation. The city centres of Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport are particularly poverty-ridden. In this sense there are “two” Connecticuts. Area 5,543 square miles (14,357 square km). Population (2010) 3,574,097; (2019 est.) 3,565,287.
Connecticut covers the southern portion of the New England section of the Appalachian Mountain system. It contains three major regions: the Western Upland, the Central Lowland (Connecticut River valley), and the Eastern Upland. The northern part of the Western Upland—a southern extension of the Berkshire Hills—contains the highest elevation in the state, 2,380 feet (725 metres), on the southern slope of Mount Frissell in the northwest corner. It is drained by one major river, the Housatonic, and numerous tributaries. The state is dotted with lakes, the largest of which, Lake Candlewood, lies north of Danbury in the western part of the state and covers 8.5 square miles (22 square km). It was created in 1929 by impounding the Rocky River.
The Central Lowland is different in character from the other two regions, being a downfaulted block of land approximately 20 miles (30 km) wide at the Massachusetts border and narrowing as it progresses toward the sea, which it meets at New Haven. It is filled with sandstone and shale. Periodic volcanic activity some 150–200 million years ago pushed immense quantities of molten rock to the surface and produced the igneous deposits of the central valley. These layers of sandstones and traprock have been faulted, broken, and tipped so that there are numerous small ridges, some reaching as high as 1,000 feet (300 metres) above their valleys. The Connecticut River, the state’s longest, runs southward through the lowland to empty into Long Island Sound. The Connecticut and other rivers in the region have eroded the soft sandstones into broad valleys.
The Eastern Upland resembles the Western in being a hilly region drained by numerous rivers. Their valleys come together to form the Thames River, which reaches Long Island Sound at New London. Elevations in this area rarely reach above 1,300 feet (400 metres). In both uplands the hilltops tend to be level and have been cleared for agriculture.
In Connecticut’s moderate climate, the average January temperature is around 26 °F (−3 °C), and most of the state receives about 35 to 45 inches (890 to 1,145 mm) of snow each year. In the northwest, however, the average snowfall exceeds 75 inches (1,900 mm). Snow may remain on the ground until March, but mild spells and rains usually melt it earlier in the year. Summers average between 70 and 75 °F (21 and 24 °C), with occasional heat waves driving daytime temperatures above 90 °F (32 °C). Precipitation, averaging 3 to 4 inches (75 to 100 mm) per month, is evenly distributed. The coastal portions have somewhat warmer winters and cooler summers than does the interior, and the northwestern uplands are high enough to have cooler and longer winters with heavier falls of snow. Occasionally hurricanes have caused flooding and other damage, particularly along the coastline. Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms sometimes occur in the Connecticut River valley.
Longtime Hartford resident Mark Twain could very well have meant Connecticut when he coined the now widely appropriated saw, “If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.” Changeability is perhaps the state’s most marked weather characteristic. Cold waves and heat waves, storms and fine weather can alternate with each other weekly or even daily.
Prior to its settlement by Europeans, Connecticut was a forested region. The few man-made clearings, the swampy floodplains, and the tidal marshes accounted for only about 5 percent of the total area. The southern two-thirds was largely oak forest, and the northern border belonged to the northern hardwood region of birch, beech, maple, and hemlock. Some higher elevations and sandy sections supported coniferous forest cover. Virtually all of the primeval forest has been cut, however, and, although some of the original speciation still exists, the woodland that now covers nearly two-thirds of the state more closely resembles a mixed forest.
The animal life extant when the first European settlers arrived included deer, bears, wolves, foxes, and numerous smaller mammals, such as raccoons, muskrats, porcupines, weasels, and beavers. Deer are still abundant in the less densely settled regions, but in general the populations of larger animals have been severely reduced. More than 300 species of birds are often seen in the state, though sightings of the Connecticut warbler are rare. The wild turkey, missing from the state since the early 19th century, is abundant again after having been reintroduced in the 1970s. Shorebirds, waterfowl, and seabirds abound along the coast.Lyme disease, a potentially debilitating bacterial infection spread by ticks, was first identified in the southeastern town of Lyme.
|
2953b4f4f6af2510e92e3f14038ae6a6 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Continental-Divide | Continental Divide | Continental Divide
Continental Divide, fairly continuous ridge of north-south–trending mountain summits in western North America which divides the continent’s principal drainage into that flowing eastward (either to Hudson Bay in Canada or, chiefly, to the Mississippi and Rio Grande rivers in the United States) and that flowing westward (into the Pacific Ocean). Most of the divide runs along the crest of the Rocky Mountains, through British Columbia and along the British Columbia–Alberta border in Canada, and through the states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico in the United States. It continues southward into Mexico and Central America, roughly paralleling the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre del Sur, with their associated ranges in Central America. In general usage the name continental divide is applied to the main water parting in any continent.
|
7013f395fa47afb61450748a3b8793aa | https://www.britannica.com/place/Coral-Sea | Coral Sea | Coral Sea
Coral Sea, sea of the southwestern Pacific Ocean, extending east of Australia and New Guinea, west of New Caledonia and the New Hebrides, and south of the Solomon Islands. It is about 1,400 miles (2,250 km) north-south and 1,500 miles east-west and covers an area of 1,849,800 square miles (4,791,000 square km). To the south it merges with the Tasman Sea, to the north with the Solomon Sea, and to the east with the Pacific; it is connected to the Arafura Sea (west) via the Torres Strait. North of latitude 20° S, the seafloor is dominated by the Coral Sea Plateau, which is marked north and south by the Osprey and Swain reefs. To the north of the plateau is the Coral Sea Basin. The South Solomon Trench reaches depths of 24,002 feet (7,316 m), and the New Hebrides Trench plunges to 25,134 feet.
The sea was named for its numerous coral formations, highlighted by the Great Barrier Reef, extending 1,200 miles (1,900 km) down the Australian northeast coast. Ocean shipping between eastern Australia and the South Pacific islands and China traverses the sea by way of a channel 200 miles (320 km) east of the reef. The sea has a subtropical climate and is subject to typhoons, especially from January to April. Economic resources include fisheries and petroleum deposits in the Gulf of Papua.
|
7e6760367d42c507f9c811833e7c1927 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cordillera-Central-mountains-Peru | Cordillera Central | Cordillera Central
…the plateau: the Cordilleras Occidental, Central, and Oriental. In the Cordillera Occidental, at latitude 10° S, the deep, narrow Huaylas Valley separates two ranges, Cordillera Blanca to the east and Cordillera Negra to the west; the Santa River runs between them and cuts Cordillera Negra to drain into the Pacific.…
|
bc2866d73aa54ffacabeef4860015712 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cordillera-de-Talamanca | Cordillera de Talamanca | Cordillera de Talamanca
Cordillera de Talamanca, range in southern Costa Rica, extending to the border with western Panama. Its highest peak, Chirripó Grande, rises to 12,530 feet (3,819 metres). Poor transportation facilities limit access to the Talamanca region, where several national parks and Indian reservations are located, including Chirripó National Park. The Cordillera de Talamanca and La Amistad (Friendship) National Park, adjoining Panama, have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, the first binational biosphere reserve. The two parks comprise about 900 square miles (2,400 square km) of land.
|
5993b1920b449f1022aa6ab4a63ac065 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cordillera-Oriental-mountains-Colombia | Cordillera Oriental | Cordillera Oriental
…and western ranges—respectively named the Cordillera Oriental and the Cordillera Occidental—are characteristic of most of the system. The directional trend of both the cordilleras generally is north-south, but in several places the Cordillera Oriental bulges eastward to form either isolated peninsula-like ranges or such high intermontane plateau regions as the…
The Cordillera Oriental trends slightly to the northeast and is the widest and the longest of the three. The average altitude is 7,900 to 8,900 feet. North of latitude 3° N the cordillera widens and after a small depression rises into the Sumapaz Uplands, which range…
The massive Cordillera Oriental, separating the Magdalena valley from the Llanos, is composed chiefly of folded and faulted marine sediments and older schists and gneisses. Narrow to the south, it broadens out in the high, unsettled massif of Sumapaz, with elevations up to 13,000 feet (4,000 metres).…
…three distinct ranges: the Cordilleras Oriental, Central, and Occidental. The valley of the Magdalena River, between the Oriental and the Central ranges, and the valley of the Cauca River, between the Central and the Occidental ranges, are huge rift valleys formed by faulting rather than by erosion. An aerial view…
|
4648732f37bc152c802b5840c5690f6d | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cordillera-Oriental-mountains-Peru | Cordillera Oriental | Cordillera Oriental
Cordilleras Occidental, Central, and Oriental. In the Cordillera Occidental, at latitude 10° S, the deep, narrow Huaylas Valley separates two ranges, Cordillera Blanca to the east and Cordillera Negra to the west; the Santa River runs between them and cuts Cordillera Negra to drain into the Pacific. Cordillera Blanca…
|
a52e15bbcb305a0e79797e4ae2c3f3e7 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cork-Ireland | Cork | Cork
Cork, Irish Corcaigh (“Marsh”), seaport and seat of County Cork, in the province of Munster, Ireland. It is located at the head of Cork Harbour on the River Lee. Cork is, after Dublin, the Irish republic’s second largest conurbation. The city is administratively independent of the county.
The centre of the old city is an island in the Lee, and the original site was probably near St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral, whose 7th-century monastery attracted many students and votaries (no traces of the earliest constructions remain). Cork was raided and burned in 821, 846, and 1012 by Norsemen who eventually settled there and founded a trading centre on the banks of the Lee. The then-walled town passed into Anglo-Norman hands in 1172, became a royal borough in 1177, and was granted its first city charter by Prince (later King) John in 1185. The city supported Perkin Warbeck, the pretender to the English throne, when he visited Ireland in 1491–92. The city revolted against Charles I in favour of Oliver Cromwell in 1649. In 1690 Cork was taken by John Churchill, earl of Marlborough, for William of Orange (William III).
In 1919–20 Cork became a centre of Irish nationalist resistance to British military and police repression, and parts of the city were burned by British forces in retaliation for an ambush on a convoy carrying members of the elite Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). Two of the city’s lord mayors, Thomas MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney, both of whom were also local republican leaders, died in 1920: MacCurtain was shot dead in his bed by the RIC, and his successor, MacSwiney, died in Brixton prison after a 74-day hunger strike. Further devastation followed the conclusion of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921, when Irish republican forces unwilling to accept the treaty held the city for a time.
The Gothic Revival-style Protestant cathedral of St. Fin Barre, designed by William Burges and completed in 1879, replaced a structure that had been built in 1735 on the site of the 7th-century monastery. The Roman Catholic St. Mary’s Cathedral was built in 1808. Queen’s College, opened in 1849, became part of the National University of Ireland in 1908. It is now known as University College Cork–National University of Ireland, Cork. Cork also has an institute of technology (which is a training centre for Ireland’s merchant navy and is the country’s only nautical college) that incorporates the former Regional Technical College, the Crawford College of Art & Design, and the Cork School of Music.
The city has a thriving cultural life, with a municipal art gallery (the Crawford), a major theatre (the Cork Opera House), a vigorous arts centre (the Triskel), a civic museum (Cork Public Museum), and many art galleries (notably that of the Cork Arts Society) and bookshops. It is also the entrepôt for the flourishing craft workers of West Cork, which is home to numerous indigenous and foreign artists and writers. The former butter market now houses a number of craft workshops, and the nearby Firkin Crane Centre is a dance development centre. The city is home to the long-established Guinness Jazz Festival. A covered market is one of Cork’s most notable attractions, with many specialty foods and examples of local produce as well as traditional meat, poultry, and fish stalls.
Cork Harbour is one of the best natural harbours in Europe, which facilitated the founding of one of the world’s first yachting clubs in 1720. The port of Cork is divided between terminals at Tivoli on the outskirts of the city and deepwater facilities (including an automobile ferry) at Ringaskiddy. The port of Cobh is on Great Island at the head of the outer harbour. There is an international airport just outside the city. Tourism contributes to the regional economy, and the city is a gateway for visitors to southwestern Ireland. The city’s industrial base, once dominated by assembly works for tractors and automobiles, now depends on electronics, petrochemicals, and the pharmaceutical industry. Pop. (2006) 119,418; (2011) 119,230.
|
3c3514ada3b01bb70717a23dd986af16 | https://www.britannica.com/place/CoRoT-7b | CoRoT-7b | CoRoT-7b
CoRoT-7b, the first extrasolar planet that was shown to be a rocky planet like Earth. CoRoT-7b orbits a main-sequence star, CoRoT-7, of spectral type K0 (an orange star, cooler than the Sun) that is about 500 light-years from Earth. CoRoT-7 was discovered in 2009 by the French satellite CoRoT (Convection, Rotation and Planetary Transits), when it passed in front of its star. CoRoT-7b orbits its star every 0.85 day at a distance of 2.6 million km (1.6 million miles). It is so close to its star that its surface temperature is about 2,000 °C (3,600 °F). CoRoT-7b’s radius was determined to be 10,700 km (6,600 miles)—only 1.68 times that of Earth, and its mass was initially found to be at most 21 times that of Earth. Such extrasolar planets that are larger than Earth but are not gas giants are called “super-Earths.” Later observations of CoRoT-7’s radial velocity, which measured how it moved in response to the gravitational tug of its planet, showed that the mass of CoRoT-7b was 4.8 times that of Earth. This meant that the density of CoRoT-7b was about the same as that of Earth and, therefore, that CoRoT-7b was made of rock like Earth and was not a gas giant like Jupiter. The radial velocity observations of CoRoT-7 also detected a second super-Earth, CoRoT-7c, which has a mass 8.4 times that of Earth and orbits every 3.7 days at a distance of 6.9 million km (4.3 million miles).
|
5b0b73516c9dff8941ee3ae922d0536a | https://www.britannica.com/place/Corrientes-province-Argentina | Corrientes | Corrientes
Corrientes, provincia (province), northeastern Argentina. It is bounded by the Paraná River (north and west), which forms the border with Paraguay (north), and by the Uruguay River (southeast), which borders Uruguay and Brazil. The city of Corrientes, in the northwest on the Paraná, is the provincial capital.
Corrientes, which forms part of a region known as the Argentine Mesopotamia, is a low-lying subtropical province of plains, channels, lakes, and marshes ascending to slightly higher elevations in the east. A dominating feature is the expansive Iberá wetlands area (Esteros del Iberá) in the north-central part of the province.
The area was settled by Jesuits who established reducciones (work missions) in the 16th century. In 1865, during the War of the Triple Alliance, Paraguayan forces invaded the province and were defeated at the city of Corrientes.
Economic activities are based on agriculture (rice, cotton, citrus fruits, tobacco, and cattle raising), and logging is also important. Tourism, based on hunting and fishing facilities throughout the province, is an additional source of income. There is little industry. Rivers provide the chief means of communication in the northeast, but the chief towns are connected by rail and road. Area 34,054 square miles (88,199 square km). Pop. (2001) 930,991; (2010) 992,595.
|
e98b93a96cebb247a614e2eb50aa6927 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Corum | Çorum | Çorum
Çorum, city, north-central Turkey. It lies on the edge of a fertile plain.
A historic town on old trade routes from central Anatolia to the Black Sea coast, Çorum became famous for its hand-spinning and weaving cottage industries, the manufacture of copper utensils, and its leather products. It is also the main trading centre for the surrounding plain; the plain, watered by the Kızıl River (the ancient Halys), produces cereals, fruits, tobacco, and sugar beets. The city has a 13th-century mosque and several Ottoman structures. Pop. (2000) 161,321; (2013 est.) 231,146.
|
1ebb29fa0bc261d2b64218596a756d3a | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cos-island-Greece | Cos | Cos
Cos, Modern Greek Kos, Italian Coo, Turkish İstanköy, island off the southwestern coast of Turkey, the third largest of the Dodecanese Islands, Greece.
A ragged limestone ridge runs along the southern coast. The highest point of the island, Mount Dhíkaios (2,776 feet [846 metres]), divides the island near its centre. A fertile lowland stretches along the north coast that is irrigated by the deep springs of the Prión Ridge, which also provides water for the capital, Kos, on the northeast coast. The regular coastline finds its only suitable harbour at Mandráki, the port of Kos.
The island’s principal resources are vineyards, figs, and olives; vegetables are also grown, especially around the village of Andimákhia, the corn (maize) centre of the central lowland. Melons, grapes, and other fruits are exported, and tobacco and sesame are other products. There are mineral springs and modern bathing installations in the mountains in the south.
The Cos of antiquity, inhabited from prehistory, was resettled by Dorian colonists from Epidaurus (Peloponnesus) and became a minor member of the Delian League in the 5th century bc. The sanctuary of Asclepius became a health resort and the first school of scientific medicine in Greece. Among its most famous citizens were the physician Hippocrates, the painter Apelles, and the poets Philetas and Theocritus. Cos was occupied by Alexander III the Great (336 bc) and subsequently (323) passed to the Ptolemies, who used its schools extensively. Annexed to the Roman province of Asia, in ad 53 it was declared a free city. It became a Byzantine bishopric, and many early Christian basilicas have been unearthed. In the 11th century it was ravaged by the Saracens and was occupied in 1215 by the Knights of St. John, who built a fortress to help guard the approaches to the island of Rhodes. In 1523 it passed to the Ottomans after three sieges. Occupied by Italy (1912), which restored the sanctuary destroyed in the earthquake of ad 554, the island was ceded to Greece by Italy in 1947. In 1933 the town of Kos was destroyed by an earthquake but was rebuilt over the old Turkish quarter.
|
72846f229e648c9a31cc66aa68562979 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Costa-Brava | Costa Brava | Costa Brava
Costa Brava, coastal region of the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Catalonia, northeastern Spain, extending for about 75 miles (120 km) along the Mediterranean Sea from the French border at Port-Bou to the Spanish beach resort of Blanes and thus coinciding with the coast of Girona province. This part of the Spanish coast was almost unknown to tourists until the 1920s, when the rugged grandeur of its rocky shores, deeply indented by small sandy bays bathed in warm seas, and its temperate climate began to win recognition. Picturesque villages, now busy resorts, include Lloret de Mar, San Felíu de Guixols, Palamós, and Port-Bou. Tourism and construction are the main economic activities. Agriculturally, it is the most important cork-growing region, supplying the wine producers of the world.
|
b5e0c082a54c34b239c568578764de95 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cote-dIvoire | Côte d'Ivoire | Côte d'Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire, country located on the coast of western Africa. The de facto capital is Abidjan; the administrative capital designate (since 1983) is Yamoussoukro.
Côte d’Ivoire is bounded to the north by Mali and Burkina Faso, to the east by Ghana, to the south by the Gulf of Guinea, to the southwest by Liberia, and to the northwest by Guinea.
The ground rises constantly as it recedes from the coast, and the northern half of the country consists of high savanna lying mostly 1,000 feet (300 metres) above sea level. Most of the western border with Liberia and Guinea is shaped by mountain ranges, whose highest point, Mount Nimba (5,748 feet [1,752 metres]; see also Nimba Range), is situated in the Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve (designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982), where the borders of the three countries meet.
The country is made up of four natural regions. The coastal fringe consists of a strip of land, no more than 40 miles (64 km) wide, studded with lagoons on its eastern half. Access from the sea is made difficult by the surf and by a long submarine sandbar. Behind the coastal fringe lies the equatorial forest zone that until a century ago formed a continuous area more than 125 miles (200 km) wide. It has now been reduced to an area roughly triangular in shape, with the apex lying a little to the north of Abidjan and with the base lying along the Liberian border. The cultivated forest zone, which lies to the east of this triangle, consists of forest land that has been partially cleared for plantations, especially along the Ghana border and in the area around Bouaké. The fourth region, the northern savanna, consists of a sparsely populated plateau, offering open ground favourable for stock breeding. About 4,500 square miles (11,650 square km) in this region have been set aside to form Komoé National Park, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983.
Apart from the Cavally River, which forms most of the border with Liberia, major rivers from west to east are the Sassandra, the Bandama, and the Komoé, all of which drain southward into the Gulf of Guinea. Because all are broken by numerous falls and rapids, their value for transportation is minimal. Their hydroelectric potential is being tapped, however.
The forest soils of the south tend to lose their fertility because of excessive leaching and turn into laterites, which contain iron oxide. The poorly drained, yellow, swampy soils, also found largely in the south, more readily maintain their fertility because of their silica and clay minerals content. Crustlike “shields,” formed as a result of rapid evaporation, alternate with rich black silico-clayey soils in the savanna areas.
|
6153ffd433e23aadd451630f74092141 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cottbus-Germany | Cottbus | Cottbus
Cottbus, also spelled Kottbus, city, Brandenburg Land (state), eastern Germany. It lies on the Spree River, at the southeastern edge of the Spree Forest, near the German border with Poland. First mentioned in 1156 and chartered in the early 13th century, Cottbus became an exclave of Brandenburg in 1445–55 in Niederlausitz (Lower Lusatia) and part of Saxony in 1807–13. It has 14th- and 15th-century churches and remains of the old fortifications, notably the Spremberg Tower. A railway junction and industrial centre, Cottbus manufactures textiles, food products, and electrotechnical equipment. It is also the site of a large brown-coal-fired power plant. Cottbus is the seat of Brandenburg Technical University (founded 1991). The city’s popular Staatstheater Cottbus, founded in 1908, is situated in an art nouveau building. Cottbus has extensive municipal parks and hosts an annual national garden show. Pop. (2003 est.) 107,549.
|
fd88d7a4c251099e8e01e689b2e0ba18 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cotton-Belt | Cotton Belt | Cotton Belt
Cotton Belt, Agricultural region of the southeastern U.S. where cotton is the main cash crop. Once confined to the pre-Civil War South, the Cotton Belt was pushed west after the war. Today it extends primarily through North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, western Tennessee, eastern Arkansas, Louisiana, eastern Texas, and southern Oklahoma.
|
23d7b5794e37dae6439d8db55a0160ec | https://www.britannica.com/place/Covadonga | Covadonga | Covadonga
Covadonga, village, Asturias provincia (province) and comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), northwestern Spain. It lies east of Oviedo city, at the head of the Sella River valley, near the base of the Europa Peaks, which form the highest massif of the Cantabrian Mountains. The village is noted as the reputed site of the defeat of the Moors in the Battle of Covadonga (c. 718–725) by Pelayo, the first Christian king of Asturias. The battle traditionally marks the beginning of the Christian reconquest of Spain, and, despite the legendary character of the stories about Pelayo, he became a major symbol of Christian resistance in medieval Spanish history.
The tiny village has become a national shrine and place of pilgrimage. The cueva (grotto) where Pelayo and his followers reputedly took refuge from battle contains the tombs of the king and his wife and sister, as well as the small Chapel of Our Lady (Virgen de las Batallas); the chapel has been frequently destroyed and restored, most recently after the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). The Basilica of Nuestra Señora de las Batallas was built between 1877 and 1901.
Southeast of the village, in the Europa Peaks, is the Covadonga Mountains National Park, which was established in 1918. The park’s heavily wooded area of 65 square miles (169 square km) shelters chamois, roe deer, wildcat, bear, and numerous birds. Pop. (2007 est.) 62.
|
0a559fa165b0cb98707884d979254645 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cowes | Cowes | Cowes
Cowes, town (parish) at the northern extremity of the Isle of Wight, historic county of Hampshire, southern England, 11 miles (18 km) south of Southampton. The estuary of the River Medina separates East Cowes and Cowes.
Cowes Castle (1540) was built for coastal defense by Henry VIII; it has been the headquarters of the Royal Yacht Squadron (founded 1815) since 1856. Nearby Osborne House became the seaside residence of Queen Victoria in 1845, and she died there in 1901. Annual sailing regattas culminate in Cowes Week (early August). Cowes is the most industrialized part of the Isle of Wight. Its industries include the manufacture of hovercraft, yachts, and sails. Pop. (2001) 9,663; (2011) 10,405.
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.