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Some mountain ranges besides those of the volcanoes rise above the plain, as one bordering it on the eastern side, and the Sierra Madre, which, commencing at lat. 21° N., and extending 60 m. further north, separates it for this distance into two portions. Other ridges here unite with it, spreading out into the mountainous district of Zacatecas, celebrated for its rich silver mines. Beyond this the Sierra Madre forms a belt of full 100 m. in breadth of parallel ridges and valleys extending to New Mexico, where it unites in lat. 33° N. with the southern portion of the Rocky mountains. Between the Rio Colorado and the Rio Grande del Norte, some of the summits of the Sierra Madre exceed 10,000 ft. in height above the sea, and are continually covered with snow. The geological structure of the Cordillera of Mexico is that of granitic and volcanic rocks, together with the micaceous, talcose, and clay slates, which form a considerable portion of the range, especially in the mining districts. So many of the rich silver mines of Mexico are found in porphyry, that its presence is regarded as particularly favorable for the existence of this metal. It is also found, however, in the metamorphic limestones, and in those called by Humboldt the Alpine and the Jura. In no part of the range of the Cordilleras in North and South America has the production of this metal been so great as in Mexico. It was estimated by Humboldt to be ten times as great as that furnished by all Europe, and two thirds of the whole production of the globe. The vegetation of the | elevated country varies with its height. On the high plains the forests destroyed by the early Spanish settlers have never been renewed, though there are still to be seen fine open groves of gigantic oaks and pines, clear of undergrowth. The plains as seen about the city of Mexico are not always fertile, but are covered in many places with saline incrustations. CORDOVA (Span. Córdoba). I. A S. province of Spain, in Andalusia, bounded N. W. by Badajoz, N. by Ciudad Real, E. by Jaen, S. E. by Granada, S. by Malaga, and S. W. and W. by Seville; area, 5,190 sq. m.; pop. in 1867, 379,464 (estimated). The Sierra de los Pedroches, a range of the Sierra Morena, crosses from E. to W. the part of the province N. of the Guadalquivir, which is generally mountainous. The Guadalquivir flows from E. N. E. to W. S. W. across the province, receiving from the north the Rio de las Yeguas, Cuzna, Guadiato,

and Bembezar, and from the south the Guadajoz. From the Guadalquivir southward stretches a fertile plain, the Campiña, to where the Sierra de Priego occupies a small tract of country in the extreme south. The province is somewhat deficient in water, but produces grain enough for its own use, and great quantities of wine, oil, hemp, flax, saffron, honey, and wax. Fine mules and horses are bred, and bees, game, fish, cattle, and swine are plentiful. There are numerous mines of coal, copper, iron, silver, and lead, and manufactures of silk, woollens, and pottery. The principal towns are Cordova, Baena, Cabra, Castro del Rio, Fuente Ovejuna, Lucena, Montilla, Montoro, and Rambla. II. A city (anc. Corduba), capital of the province, in lat. 37° 52' 15" N., lon. 4° 49' 37" W., 70 m. N. E. of Seville, situated in a beautiful plain on the right bank of the Guadalquivir, here crossed by a Moorish bridge of 16 arches; pop. in 1867,

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Prison of the Inquisition.

41,976. It is renowned for its picturesque buildings, its beautiful location on the southern declivity of the Sierra de Cordova, and its unsurpassed cathedral, once a Moorish mosque. The town itself resembles eastern towns in its inconveniently narrow streets, and its want of ventilation and cleanliness. It is enclosed by high walls flanked by square, round, and octagonal towers, built by the Moors on the foundations of the old Roman line of circumvallation. There are several churches and religious houses, a bishop's palace, a theatre, a museum, a lyceum, a plaza de toros, and several hospitals. The great mosque was founded by Abderrahman I., A. D. 786. It was an edifice of marvellous beauty, with a light, elegant roof, springing from clusters of slender pillars, and was lighted with 4,000 silver lamps. There were originally 1,200 pillars, but 400 have been taken away to make an open space suitable for Christian worship.

Cordova was once celebrated for its manufactures of leather, but this industry was transferred by the Moors to Morocco. Its silversmiths and filigree workers are still cele

The Great Mosque (now Cathedral). brated.-Corduba was the birthplace of the two Senecas and of Lucan the poet. It sided with the sons of Pompey, and after the battle of Munda it was taken by Cæsar, when 23,000 of its inhabitants are said to have been put to death. Its foundation is attributed to Marcellus, the commander in the Celtiberian war (152 B. C.), and being peopled by poor patricians of Rome, it was hence called Colonia Patricia. Under the Goths it was called the "holy and learned." Osius, the friend of St. Athanasius and the counsellor of Constantine, was its bishop from the end of the 3d to the middle of the 4th century. Under the Moors Cordova became a great centre of learning and power; produced Averroes, Maimonides, and other famous scholars; rose to be the capital of the Moorish empire of Spain, and the seat of the caliphate from 756 to 1031, eclipsing Bagdad by its splendor, and containing in the 10th century nearly 1,000,000 inhabitants, 300 mosques, and 900 baths. After the overthrow of the caliphate, Cordova passed into the hands of various rulers. In 1236 it was conquered and almost wholly destroyed by Ferdinand III. of Castile, a blow from which it never recovered. In 1808 it was taken and pillaged by the French under Dupont.

CORDOVA. I. A central province of the Argentine Republic, lying between lat. 29° and 34° 15' S., and lon. 61° and 66° 15' W., bounded S. by the Pampas; area, 60,000 sq. m.; pop. in 1869, 208,771. The E. and S. parts are barren and almost uninhabited, but the remainder is generally fertile. Near the W. border is the mountain range called the Sierra de Cordova, running N. W. and S. E. It separates into two branches and ramifies through the central parts of the province, but has no very

lofty peaks, the highest, La Cuesta, rising about 2,500 ft. above the plain. Numerous rivers, the principal of which are the Primero, Segundo, Tercero, Cuarto, and Quinto, descend from this chain, but the most of them are lost in the sandy plains. Only one, the Tercero, finds its way into the Paraná, under the name of Carcaraña. The sierras abound in copper ore, but little has been done to develop the mines. Near the mountains the country is covered with dense forests, mostly of trees of the mimosa variety. The valleys are fertile, but the people are engaged generally in cattle and sheep raising, and pay little attention to agriculture. The plains, irrigated by the mountain streams, furnish abundant pasturage, and are frequented by vast herds of the guanaco. Wheat and the sugar cane grow to perfection, but scarcely enough is raised for home consumption. Hides and wool, the latter of very superior quality, are almost the only exports. Besides Cordova, the capital, there are no towns of any consequence. II. The capital of the province, situated on the right bank of the river Primero, in lat. 31° 24' S., lon. 64° 9' W., 375 m. N. W. of Buenos Ayres, on a plain 1,240 ft. above the level of the Paraná at Rosario; pop. in 1869, 28,523. It is laid out in straight, narrow streets, intersecting at right angles, forming squares of 150 yards each. The better houses are of stone, one story in height, and built around paved courts into which all the rooms open. The Alameda, a square of about 150 yards, has a miniature lake and fine trees. The principal public buildings are the cathedral, a handsome structure in the renaissance style, several other churches, three monasteries, and a nunnery; the university, occupying the buildings of the old Jesuit college, which was for more than a century the principal seat of learning in La Plata; the Argentine national observatory, not yet (1873) entirely completed, though in successful operation, under the charge of Mr. B. A. Gould; the cabildo or government house, an orphan asylum, and an infirmary. The city, once the ecclesiastical metropolis of South America, still retains much of its former character, and the clergy and their connections form the most influential part of society. Its trade is important, as all the traffic of the W. and N. W. provinces passes through it to the east. The exports are chiefly hides and wool, and the imports manufactured goods. The city was founded in 1573 by Don Luis de Cabrera, with the design of opening a route from Peru to the Paraná. It is now connected with the latter at Rosario by a railway, about 215 m. long.

CORDOVA, a city of Mexico, in the state and 57 m. W. S. W. of the city of Vera Cruz, at the foot of the volcano of Orizaba; pop. about 6,500. It is regularly built, with broad well paved streets, and a fine square in the centre, having Gothic arcades on three sides, and a fountain in the middle. The cathedral, a very handsome edifice, with a richly decorated in

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terior, occupies the fourth side. Its houses are mostly built of stone. The soil of the surrounding country is rich, and the climate being moist and warm, it is very productive. Tobacco, coffee, and sugar are raised and exported in large quantities, and cotton, woollen goods, and leather are manufactured.

sheds are the Falu, which flows from the Chimtai into the strait of Corea, and the Tumen, a large river in the northeast which flows into the sea of Japan. The coast, which is generally high and rocky, is particularly abrupt on the E. side. On this side there are few islands except in lat. 39° 45' N., in Broughton's bay. CORDOVA, Fernando Fernandez de, a Spanish In the strait of Corea there are many islands, general, born in Madrid in 1792. He entered and between lat. 34° and 35° N., on the W. the military service in 1810, and was rapidly side, are the Amherst isles and the Corean promoted during the war with Napoleon. In archipelago. These coast islands are seldom 1841 he was implicated with Gen. Concha in more than three or four miles long, are rocky the movement instigated by O'Donnell against and high, but generally inhabited. The island Espartero. In 1847 he was a short time min- of Quelpaert, 60 m. S. of the peninsula, is about ister of war, and was appointed inspector gen- 60 m. in circumference, and on it is Mt. Auckeral of infantry. Two years afterward he land, 6,558 ft. high. The climate is cold, espewas sent to Gaeta in Italy at the head of an cially in the north, where the Tumen is frozen army to aid in the restoration of the pope. On for six months in the year, and barley is the only March 8, 1850, he was appointed captain gen- grain which can be raised. In the southwest, eral of New Castile, in the following year of where the climate is more temperate, the soil is Cuba, and in 1853 general-in-chief of the more fertile than elsewhere. The country.procavalry. Immediately after the outbreak of duces wheat, rice, millet, cotton, hemp, ginseng, the revolution of 1854, he was called upon by and fruits. Tobacco and cotton are cultivated Queen Isabella to form a new cabinet. This he to some extent. The orange, citron, hazlenut, declined, but he ordered his soldiers to fire pear, chestnut, peach, mulberry, and wild grape upon the insurgents, and when the latter are common. Cattle, a breed of diminutive proved victorious he fled to France. In 1856 horses, hogs, and many domestic animals comhe returned to Spain, and in 1864 was made mon to Europe, are raised. The keeping of minister of war in the cabinet of Narvaez. sheep, however, is said to be prohibited by the CORDOVA, Francisco Fernandez de, a Spanish government. In the forests of the coast and navigator, born in the latter part of the 15th mountainous districts of the north bears, wildcentury, died in Cuba in 1518. He com- cats, panthers, deer, and the sable and other manded a small expedition which sailed from fur-bearing animals are found. The royal tiger Havana in 1517, discovered Yucatan, where he is a native of the country, and has a longer and had several encounters with the natives, and closer fur than in Bengal. Gold, silver, iron, touched at Florida on his return. His report and salt are said to abound, but mining is reled to the expedition of Juan de Grijalva, who stricted by the government to its own requirereceived the credit of the discovery.

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CORDOVA, Gonsalvo de. See GONSALVO DE CORDOVA.

COREA, a kingdom on the E. coast of Asia, bounded N. by Mantchooria, N. E. by the Russian Amoor country, E. by the sea of Japan, S. by the strait of Corea, and W. by the Yellow sea and the Chinese province of Liaotung, and lying between lat. 34° 25′ and 43° N., and lon. 124° and 130° 30' E.; area, 90,000 sq. m. The population has been variously estimated from 8,000,000 to 20,000,000. No accounts of the geography or constitution of the Corean kingdom are in existence, and only the barest notion of the internal configuration of the country has been arrived at. It comprises a peninsula 400 m. long and 140 m. wide, most of the adjacent islands, especially numerous on the W. coast, and a part of the main continent. Its length from N. to S. is 660 m. It is separated from Mantchooria by the Shangpeshan mountains, and the Chimtai range follows the E. coast along its whole extent. Nearly all the principal rivers run W. down the larger watershed which slopes from the Chimtai to the Yellow sea. The largest is the Yalu in the northwest, which is deep and rapid, and navigable for large ships 22 miles. South of this are the Tatong and the Han. On other water

Coreans.

ments. Coal is also said to exist.-The inhabitants are of the Mongolian race, of larger size than the Chinese, resembling the Japanese, but with features more prominently Mongolian

in type. In dress, architecture, and social life they much resemble the Chinese, with the exception of being the only people in eastern Asia with whom the ancient caste distinctions are still rigidly in force. They do not cut off their hair, nor are their women kept under such restraint as in China. The language differs widely from both Chinese and Japanese, but it is like the latter in its polysyllabic form, and its alphabet of 27 letters. The higher classes are well educated, use the Chinese characters in writing, and are followers of Confucius. The mass of the people are Buddhists. Roman Catholic missionaries have been laboring in Corea since 1632, and in 1857 there were 15,200 converts. On account of the strict laws against them, the missionaries work in secret. The Coreans oppose not only the introduction of Christianity, but of all foreign civilization and commerce. The only intercourse allowed with China is officially confined to two points, viz., Peking, which is annually visited by an envoy accompanied by a few privileged traders, and the "gate town' near the city of Funghwang in Liaotung, on the frontier dividing the two countries, where a fair is periodically held. But the Chinese manage secretly to carry on trade at the islands on the coasts of Corea. The principal manufactures are silk, cotton, cotton paper, grass cloth, rice paper, arms, and horsehair caps; which articles, with ginseng, skins, gold, silver, iron, rice, and oil, are the chief exports. The principal trade is with Japan, from which are imported pepper, aromatic woods, horns, and European and Japanese manufactured goods.-The government is despotic, and as regards the mass of the people is unrestrained; but powerful parties among the nobles appear to exercise a certain control over the king's actions, and decide questions of disputed succession, which frequently arise. Absolute power over the lives and property of the people seems to be in the hands of even the lowest officials, and frightful flagellations are often inflicted by their order on persons guilty only of trifling offences. The king pays tribute to China and Japan. The ministry is divided into five departments, and the country into eight taos or administrative districts. Over each tao is a governor responsible to the king. These taos are subdivided into 41 koons, with 33 towns of the first class, 38 of the second, and 70 of the third. Kienghi-tao, or Hanching, or Wangking as the Chinese call it, literally royal capital (called by the French Séoul), the capital, is at a short distance inland on the river Han. The other principal towns are Kieng, Tsien, Piengyang on the Tatong river, and Hienhing on Broughton's bay. The whole population is liable to military service, but no standing army is maintained, unless it be a guard to the king. They know accordingly nothing of military discipline and tactics. The people take turns in doing duty as armed police, and while serving in that capacity wear

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a rounded top to the crown of their hat. They have spears, bows, and a kind of matchlocks, which, in spite of their primitive description, exhibit a very workmanlike finish. The guards are furnished with an armor of chain mail, which was found in the recent encounter with the United States naval force to be proof against sword cuts and musket balls, but not against rifle shots; it was however so heavy, a single suit with helmet weighing about 20 pounds, that the troops were rendered almost incapable of locomotion. The Coreans live in the most frugal manner, and articles of daily necessity to the Chinese and Japanese are unknown among them. They do not drink tea, and their most palatable beverage is the water in which rice or millet has been boiled. The wealthy indulge in an infusion of ginseng, and in a kind of rough spirit distilled from various grains. The universal material for clothing is a coarse white fabric of cotton or hemp. The lower classes wear in summer jackets and wide short trousers; the higher classes wear over a vest and trousers a long gown with buttons in front, and sometimes dyed of a blue color. Every Corean carries a belt with a tobacco pouch and a pipe, a long stem of bamboo. Officials wear upon their hats the figures of different birds or animals, and a variety of small balls of amber or silver, securing the chin strap above the ear. Military officials denote their rank by an outer jacket of colored silks.-Corea was known from a very early period to the Chinese, who claim that it was civilized by their sovereign Khil-su in 1120 B. C. In the 13th century the Mongol conquerors incorporated the greater part of Corea with the Chinese empire; but in the 14th century the founder of the Ming dynasty acknowl edged the claimant of the Corean throne, and conferred upon him the title of feudatory king. or Kao-li Wang, which designation is the origin of our word Corea (Fr. Corée), obtained from the Japanese, who represent the Chinese sound as Ku-rai. The Coreans were conquered by the Japanese in 1592, but in 1598, with the aid of the Chinese, compelled their conquerors to abandon the country. In 1866 a French expedition escaladed Kanghoa, a town on the Han, 40 m. from its mouth, and endeavored to obtain satisfaction from the Corean government for the murder of two Roman Catholic bishops and seven priests who had been put to death by order of the ministry; but the town was found to be wholly deserted. The Coreans sent to the French some professions of desiring to negotiate with them, but were only bent on gaining time for the purpose of overwhelming the handful of invaders. The French found themselves one day confronted by about 500 soldiers, who discharged on them a heavy fire, wounding 32 men and 3 officers. Admiral Roze had to embark his forces, and returning to Chefoo found that the French government would not support this hasty action, inaugu rated by the ambassador at Peking. In the

same year an American trading ship, the General Sherman, ascended the Piengyang river, and was destroyed with all on board, in obedience to orders from the regent, while lying dry on the shore, having departed from the proper channel during a period of floods. In 1871 a United States squadron under Admiral Rodgers sailed to Corea from Nagasaki, advanced up the river Han, and began to survey the river and forts in the direction of the capital. While thus occupied they were fired upon from the forts, and as a punishment for this action the Americans on June 11 captured and destroyed several of their river fortifications. Being unable however to open negotiations with the king, Admiral Rodgers released the prisoners whom he had taken.

CORENTYN, a river of South America, which rises in the Sierra Acaray, flows generally N., forming for its whole length the dividing line between British and Dutch Guiana, and enters the Atlantic by an estuary about 25, m. wide at its mouth. Sir R. Schomburgk ascended it in 1836 as far as lat. 4° 21' 30" N., lon. 57° 35' 30" W., 150 m. from its mouth, where is a series of cataracts 900 yards across, beyond which it is only navigated by small vessels. CORFU. I. A nomarchy of the kingdom of Greece, comprising the islands of Corfu, Paxo, Leucadia, and several smaller islands; area, 427 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 96,940. II. One of

the Ionian islands (anc. Corcyra), lying between lat. 39° 21' and 39° 51' N., and lon. 19° 36' and 20° 8' E., off the S. part of the coast of Albania, from which it is separated by an irregular channel from 1 to 20 m. in width; length from N. W. to S. E., 40 m.; greatest breadth, 20 m.; area, 227 sq. m.; pop. in 1871, 75,466. From the north it tapers gradually to its S. extremity, where it ends in Cape Branco. The surface is mountainous, especially in the north, where Mt. Pantocratoras rises to upward of 3,000 ft. The high lands are rugged and bare, but the valleys are very fertile and watered by small streams, which in summer are mostly dry. The climate is mild, the annual range of the thermometer being from 31° to 88°, but with sudden changes. Earthquakes are frequent. The principal products are olive oil, of which the yield in ordinary seasons is about 200,000 barrels, wheat, maize, oats, wine, cotton, flax, oranges, citrons, salt, honey, and wax. The island is divided into three eparchies, Corfu, Oros, and Mesi, and sends 12 members to the legislative assembly of Greece.

Corfu is believed to be the Homeric Scheria, the domain of King Alcinous. About 734 B. C. it was colonized by the Corinthians, and soon after it became a leading maritime power, and a formidable rival of Corinth. In 665 the Corcyrean fleet vanquished one sent against it by the mother city, and this engagement is said by

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Thucydides to be the first naval battle on record. In the Persian wars the Corcyreans, according to Herodotus, betrayed the national cause, and subsequently by calling in the aid of Athens against Corinth kindled the Peloponnesian war, during the progress of which they lost their power and importance through the rainous struggles of the democratic and oligarchical factions. In 229 B. C. the island fell into the hands of the Romans. It afterward belonged successively to the Eastern empire, the Normans, and the Venetians, and in 1797 was occupied by the French. Two years later it was taken by the Russians and Turks, subse

VOL. V.-23

quently united with the other Ionian islands, ceded to France, and captured by the English. With the rest of the Ionian islands it was placed under the protection of Great Britain by the congress of Vienna, but was ceded to Greece in 1864. A Greek garrison took possession on May 28 of that year. III. A city, capital of the nomarchy, situated on the E. coast of the island, 5 m. from the coast of Albania, and 212 m. N. W. of Athens; pop. in 1871, 15,452. It consists of two parts, the town and citadel, and has several suburbs. The citadel is built upon a rocky point projecting into the sea, and between it and the town is an es

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