From the southeast and northwest extremities of the republic there extend the peninsulas of Yucatan and Lower California, enclosing the Gulfs of Campeche and California, respectively. In area (751,300 square miles) Mexico almost equals Great Britain and Ireland, France, Germany and Austria-Hungary together.
Surface.—For the most part Mexico consists of an immense tableland, which commences in the United States, and rises to over eight thousand one hundred feet at Marquez, seventy-six miles north by west of Mexico City; at El Paso, on the northern frontier, the elevation is only three thousand seven hundred and seventeen feet. The most important mountain range is the Sierra Madre (over ten thousand feet, and extending from Tehuantepec into the United States); parallel with this run the Sierras of the east coast and of Lower California.
The surface of the country is also much broken up by short cross-ridges and detached peaks. There are numerous volcanoes, but only a few of them are more or less active. The more prominent are Orizaba (Citlaltepetl, “star mountain”), Popocatepetl (“smoking mountain”); Ixtaccihuatl (“white woman”); Nevada de Toluca, and Malinche.
On the Atlantic side the plateau descends abruptly to the narrow strip (about sixty miles) of gently sloping coast land; toward the Pacific, where the coast lands vary in width from forty to seventy miles, the descent is more gradual.
Rivers and Lakes.—From their rapid fall the rivers of such a mountainous region could never be of value for transport or communication. The Rio Grande del Norte, the boundary river, is only navigable for sixty miles up from the Gulf of Mexico, and the largest interior river—the Rio Grande de Santiago, flowing west to the Pacific—is barred across by many waterfalls, though its upper course expands to form Lake Chapála, the largest sheet of water in Mexico, fully fifty miles in length.
Climate and Landscape.—Though Mexico lies just on the border of the torrid zone, the climate is governed to a far greater extent by elevation than by position in latitude, and distinct climates are recognized at different stages just as in the plateau of Abyssinia.
The low coast land and the maritime region below an elevation of two thousand feet, called the Tierra Caliente, presents all the characteristics of tropical lands.
Above an elevation of two thousand feet, and up the slopes of the mountains to a height of about five thousand feet, a climate is found in which the landscape takes the aspect of that of the temperate zone.
This stage is known as the Tierra Templada.
NATIONAL PALACE, CITY OF MEXICO
NATIONAL PALACE, CITY OF MEXICO
Still higher, above five thousand feet, a cool region is reached, which is known as the Tierra Fria. This includes the summit of the tableland and the pine covered slopes of the mountains up to the height at which some of the peaks are capped with perennial snows. Much of this high tableland is valuable only for pasture; towards the north and northeast, where the plateau is wider, the landscape becomes bare and dry, and salt lakes like those of the plateau region of the western United States appear. Deeply cut “cañons” or “barrancas,” gorges with steep walls furrowed out by the mountain torrents, are characteristic of the plateau.
Production and Industry.—The vegetation of Mexico has the same wide range as the climate. In the lowlands dye woods and valuable timbers abound in the virgin forests, as well as medicinal plants, india rubber, palms, etc.; and oranges and bananas, many varieties of cactus, agave, sisal, olives, sugar, coffee, cocoa, rice, indigo, cotton and tobacco, besides the omnipresent maize, all thrive. The vine flourishes in some districts, especially near El Paso, Durango, and Parras, in Coahuila, where a good wine is made; and mulberry plants have been imported from Europe to develop the silk industry. In Lower California a good deal of archil is collected, and chicle gum is extracted and prepared in the forests along the coast.
Agriculture in Mexico is steadily developing. Silver mining has been an important industry ever since the conquest. Gold is also produced. Copper is largely mined in some sections, being found in a pure state in Chiapas and Guanajuato, and elsewhere associated with gold. Other important minerals are iron, including enormous masses of meteoric iron ore, and the mountain a mile from Durango, the Cerro de Mercado, a solid mass of magnetic iron ore; lead, found associated with silver; and sulpher, zinc, quicksilver, platinum, cinnabar, asphalt and petroleum, besides salt, marble, alabaster, gypsum, and rock salt in great quantities. There are also said to be large deposits of coal, some of excellent quality.
Mexico is the original home of the “cattle range” business, and there vast herds of horses, cattle, and sheep form the principal wealth of the people.
Woolen and cotton spinning and weaving, and other branches of industry are encouraged by high protective duties.
People.—The population of Mexico consists mainly of the indigenous Indian race, and of the dominant Spaniards or their descendants. Spaniards born in Europe are now very few in number, but the government of the country is in the hands of the “Creoles,” or people of Spanish descent born in Mexico. They number about twenty per cent, mixed Hispano-Americans, or mestizos, forty-three per cent, and full blood Indians thirty-five per cent of the whole population. The mestizos are the farmers and rancheros, the muleteers and servants. Whites and mestizos speak Spanish.
The Roman Catholic is the religion of the country, but all beliefs are tolerated, and education, now free and compulsory, is making steady progress.
Government.—The Mexican constitution is closely modeled upon that of the United States. The president, who is assisted by secretaries of state, is elected for four years, and can be re-elected for a second term. The[671]legislative power is vested in a Congress, consisting of a Senate of fifty-six members, and a Chamber of Deputies of two hundred and thirty-three members. The judicial system occupies the same position as that of the United States; and the several states have elective governors and legislatures.
Owing to revolutionary conditions the civil government was practically suspended in September, 1914. (See underHistory of Mexico.)
THE CATHEDRAL, CITY OF MEXICO
THE CATHEDRAL, CITY OF MEXICO
Cities.—The principal cities are Mexico City, the capital, population 470,000. Puébla, east of the capital, among the mountains, is the second town and the most industrious place in Mexico. Guadalajara, northwest, is also a city of magnificent palaces and churches. Vera Cruz, founded by Cortez, is the only port on the Atlantic. On the Pacific side the chief seaports are Mazatlan and Acapulco, with a fine harbor. Other important towns are Oaxaca, Puebla, and Durango.
The railway system joins that of the United States at El Paso on the Rio Grande.
Mexico Cityis situated seven thousand four hundred and ten feet above the sea at the lowest level of the great basin (fourteen hundred square miles) of the Anahuac plateau.
All the main streets converge on the Plaza Mayor, where the site of the old teocalli is occupied by the no less famous Cathedral. The walls of this imposing building, forming a cross four hundred and twenty-six by two hundred and three feet, alone cost nearly two million dollars, and the interior with its twenty chapels and elaborate ornamentation, much more. Built into the foot of one of the two open towers (two hundred and eighteen feet) is the famous “Aztec” (Toltec) calendar stone.
Facing the cathedral is the Municipal Palace, and on the sides of the plaza are the National Palace (the old vice-regal residence), the national Monte de Piedad, the postoffice, and the national museum.
Other noteworthy buildings are the national picture gallery and library (two hundred and fifty thousand volumes), the national observatory, the school of mines, the mint, the Iturbide hotel, and the former palace of the Inquisition, now a medical college; and, mostly in secularized ecclesiastical edifices, there are also schools of law and engineering, a conservatory of music, and an academy of fine arts.
Among the monuments of the city are the noble Columbus monument, the statue of Cuauhtemotzin, the last of the Aztec emperors, and that of the engineer Martinez.
The principal streets are broad, clean, and well paved and lighted, with houses of stone gaily painted in bright colors. In addition to the alameda, with its stately beaches, Mexico is remarkable for the extent and beauty of its paseos, or raised paved roads, planted with double rows of trees, which diverge far into the country from every quarter; and there are still on Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco, where a line of steamers runs, a few of the floating gardens for which the ancient city was so celebrated.
Attempts had long been made to drain the valley of Mexico. The federal government finally undertook the work, and operations begun in 1890 were completed in 1898 at a cost of about sixteen million dollars. Extensive drainage and sanitation works have since been carried out at a cost of five million seven hundred and fourteen thousand nine hundred and eighty-two dollars.
In 1905 a sumptuous legislative palace, a national Pantheon for the ashes of the great men of Mexico, and a monument to perpetuate the heroes of the independence were under construction, at a cost of thirty million dollars.
The trade of Mexico is chiefly a transit trade, but it has now extensive cotton and linen factories, paper mills, tobacco and cigars, gold and silver work, pottery, silverware, cork, bricks, and soap—many of them due to foreign enterprise.
History of Mexico.—The history of ancient Mexico exhibits two distinct and widely differing periods—that of the Toltecs and that of the Aztecs. Both were Nahua nations, speaking a language which survives in Mexico to this day.
The eighth century is the traditional date when the Toltecs are related to have come from the north, from some undefined locality, bringing to Anahuac, or Mexico, its oldest and its highest native civilization, about 1325. A[672]hundred years later, under the reign of Montezuma II., they had attained a suzerainty over all the tribes from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
On the coming of the Spaniards under Cortez in 1519, Aztec rule was finally overthrown, chiefly by means of the assistance the Spaniards received from those peoples whom the Aztecs had held in cruel bondage.
In 1540 Mexico was united with other American territories—at one time all the country from Panama to Vancouver’s Island—under the name of New Spain, and governed by viceroys (fifty-seven in all) appointed by the mother country, Spain. For nearly three centuries it may be said to have lain in sullen submission beneath its cruel conqueror’s heel, till in 1810 the discontent, which had been gaining ground against the vice-regal power during the war of Spain with Napoleon, broke into open rebellion under the leadership of a country priest named Hidalgo.
In 1822 General Iturbide had himself proclaimed emperor; but the guerilla leader Guerrero, his former ally, and General Santa Anna raised the republican standard, and in 1823 he was banished to Italy with a pension. Returning the following year he was taken and shot, and the federal republic of Mexico was finally established.
For more than half a century after this (till 1876) the history of Mexico is a record of chronic disorder and civil war. In 1836 Texas secured its independence, for which it had struggled for several years, and which Mexico was compelled to recognize in 1845. In that year Texas was incorporated with the United States, and after the Mexican war of 1848 Mexico ceded half a million square miles to the United States.
The Emperor Napoleon III. declared war against the president, Juarez, in 1862; the Austrian Emperor of Mexico, Maximilian, imposed by the French, was executed in 1867, and the republic re-established. Diaz was re-elected president for the eighth time in 1910, but, being too autocratic, had to resign under pressure of revolution in 1911. In the ensuing welter of revolts and conspiracies President Madero was set aside and killed, and the United States applied pressure to eliminate President Huerta. From this time on the relations of the United States with Mexico became more strained. During 1915-1916, following repeated attacks made by bands of Mexican bandits upon American border towns and assaults by Mexicans upon Americans and other foreigners in Mexico, the relations between the two countries approached a crisis. Early in 1916 nineteen men, nearly all of them Americans, were taken from a train near Chihuahua and killed by a band of bandits.
Conditions became still more tense when, on March 9, several hundred bandits led by Villa raided and burned the town of Columbus, N. M., killing nine American civilians and eight United States soldiers. On March 10 President Wilson ordered five thousand United States troops into Mexico to catch Villa, and two days later the first troops crossed the border. On March 16 the first clash occurred between Villa outposts and the American expeditionary force. On June 18 the war department ordered all the state militia mobilized, and within the next two weeks fifty thousand of the state soldiers had been rushed to the border.
President Wilson later in the year named an American commission at the suggestion of General Carranza, which, jointly with a Mexican commission, began its sessions at New London, Conn. The sessions continued until November 24, when a protocol was signed providing for the withdrawal of the United States troops from Mexico in forty days, conditioned upon the Carranza Government showing within that time that it could protect the border and prevent raids by bandits upon American territory.
Two days before the signing of this protocol Villa, at the head of a strong force, attacked Chihuahua City, and after a battle lasting several days captured the city.
Carranza forces regained control of Chihuahua City December 3, and Villa’s forces fled to the mountains west of the city, where they were later reported to be gathering new recruits in preparation for more extensive operations.
The year 1917 was ushered in with the struggle between the Carranza and Villa factions still in progress.
ARGENTINA, orARGENTINE REPUBLIC, takes its name from the river La Plata (“River of Silver”). After Brazil, it is the largest state of South America. Its territory reaches from the Pilcomayo River, on the borders of Bolivia, southward for two thousand four hundred miles to Staten Island, off the southeastern extremity of Tierra del Fuego; and from the slope of the Andes on the west to the Uruguay River and the Atlantic in the east.
Physical Features.—Excepting on the northwest, where the spurs of the Andes reach down into the state, the surface of Argentina presents vast monotonous and level plains, broken only by the detached ridges of Córdova and San Luis, in the western interior. In the north the portion of the region called the Gran Chaco, within the frontier, is partly forest covered, but all the central and southern region presents only vast treeless plains or “pampas,” covered at most seasons with coarse grass, which is green in the winter months, but which dries up in summer so as to give an aspect of aridity to the plains. Some portions of the interior, called “Salinas,” are barren and white throughout the year.
Rivers.—The great watercourse of the country is the Paraná, formed by the union of the Upper Paraná and Paraguay rivers near the northeastern corner of the state. This is a noble river, in all parts of its course through Argentine territory scarcely ever less than a mile in width, and in some places spreading out in lateral channels, or “riachos,” to a breadth of ten miles.
The Pilcomayo, which forms part of the northern boundary, has now been explored throughout its length, and is navigable athigh water; the Vermejo, the next river southward, has of late years become a regularly navigated highway from the Paraguay up to the northeastern provinces; the Salado, farther south, flowing directly to the Paraná, is also an important river; but the remaining streams which tend eastward to the Paraná have not strength of water sufficient to resist evaporation in crossing the dry plains, and terminate for the most part in marshes and salt lakes.
Climate.—The climate in the extreme north is very hot, for it lies north of the tropic of Capricorn. The more remote southern territories have an extremely disagreeable climate, but are not really so cold as might be expected from their relatively high latitude. But the country in general enjoys an equable, temperate, and healthful climate. Stormy southwest winds, called “pamperos,” sweep over the plains at times, and raise great clouds of dust, which fly across the plains.
Production and Industry.—The principal productions are wheat, maize, oats, linseed, sugar, wool, hides, cattle, sheep, and horses.
The great wealth of the state, however, lies in its countless herds of cattle and horses and flocks of sheep, which are pastured on the “pampas,” and which multiply there very rapidly. The rearing and tending of these herds is the great and characteristic industry of the country; these also yield enormous quantities of hides, horns, and salted beef.
The northwestern provinces of the Argentine Republic, crossed by the lower ramifications of the Andes, are rich in metals, including gold, silver, nickel, copper, tin, lead, and iron, as well as in several kinds of marble, jasper, and precious stones. On the Rio Vermejo petroleum wells have recently been discovered.
The export of frozen beef and mutton is an important industry. The exports are made up entirely of pastoral and agricultural products, with the exception of quebracho, copper, manganese, and wolfram.
People.—The people of the country are mostly Spanish in their language and descent, although there are many Italians, French, Americans, Swiss, and Germans. The Gauchos, or herdsmen of the plains, are a hardy and spirited, but ignorant race, often of partial Indian descent. Some of the Indians of the remote districts have become skilled in the rearing of flocks and herds.
The religion is Roman Catholic. The government is closely modeled upon that of the United States.
Education.—Primary education is secular, free and nominally compulsory from the ages of six to fourteen. Schools are maintained by provincial taxation, and controlled by provincial boards (except in the capital, where there is a National Council), with grants from the Federal Government. Secondary education is controlled by the Federal Government in lyceums and normal schools. There are also Special Government Schools—one naval, one military, one mining, and one agriculture. There are National Universities at Cordoba and Buenos Aires, and Provincial Universities at La Plata, Santa Fé, and Paraná.
Government.—The Constitution vests the executive power in the hands of a President, who is also Commander-in-chief of the troops, elected by representatives of the provinces for six years, not being immediately re-eligible; and the legislative authority in that of a Senate of thirty members, two chosen by the capital and two by the legislature of each province, and a House of Deputies of one hundred and twenty members elected for four years by the people, one-third of the Senate retiring every three years, and one-half of the House retiring every two years.
The Judicial system consists, like that of the United States, of a Federal Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal, with Provincial Courts in each state for non-national or single state cases.
Cities.—The chief seaport is Buenos Aires, the capital and largest city, with a population of 1,315,000 in 1911. La Plata lies twenty-five miles to the southeast of the Federal capital, and, although founded in only 1882, already numbers 80,000 inhabitants. A canal joins it to the vast docks of Ensenada.
Córdova (53,000), nearly in the center of the state, is the seat of the chief observatory of the Republic.
Rosario (135,000), on the right bank of the Paraná, more than two hundred miles up from the La Plata inlet, is a substantially built town, and a great outlet of the animal produce of the interior plains.
Tucuman (55,000) and Salta in the northwestern mountain region, and Mendoza (32,000) at the eastern base of the Andes, where they are crossed to enter Chile, with Corrientes (18,000) on the Paraná, are other important places.
Buenos Aires(bwā´nōs ī´rez; Sp. pron.bwā´nōs ī´res; Eng. pron. usuallyBonos Ai´rez) stands on the right bank of the Plata, which here, at a distance of one hundred and fifty miles from the open sea, is twenty-eight miles across.
The city is partitioned into blocks of about one hundred and fifty yards square. The streets are regularly laid out at right angles to each other and well lighted. Many are planted with trees, and there are numerous open squares and several fine parks, the most famous being Palermo Park (eight hundred and forty acres). The main buildings are the Roman Catholic Cathedral, the chapel of Santa Felicitas, the Casa Rosada, or Government House, the university, the Opera House, and various government and municipal buildings. Much of the town has lately been rebuilt on European lines. It is the terminus of six railway lines, and has excellent street car, cable, and telephone services. There are manufactories of furniture, machinery, carriages, leather, hats, textiles, boots, tobacco, liquors, etc., and the trade is very large.
An elaborate system of harbor works was carried out between the years 1887 and 1895 at a cost of twenty million dollars; it includes an advanced river wall, a north and south basin, and a series of four docks, which connects two channels of the Rio de La Plata, and so brings large vessels up to the wharfs. About half of the inhabitants are of European birth or descent. Among the Europeans the vast majority are Italian; the rest are principally Spanish, French and British. Newspapers are published in French, English, Italian, and German, as well as in Spanish.
History.—The river La Plata was visited by the Spaniards in 1516, and the country was[674]colonized in 1535, when Buenos Aires was founded. For many years the country was regarded as a part of Peru. The progress of the colony was not more hindered by the bloody wars which prevailed with the natives for a hundred years than by unwise legislation at Madrid.
In 1776 Buenos Aires became the capital of a new viceroyalty. In 1806 that capital was occupied by a British force under General Beresford, but the town was soon besieged and compelled to surrender. In 1808 the British forces under Whitlock assaulted the town, but after very severe loss were themselves compelled to capitulate.
In 1810 the colonists founded a local provisional government. A sanguinary war for independence followed, which did not cease till 1824. Spain acknowledged the independence of the country in 1842. The first half-century of Argentine autonomy was much disturbed by revolutions.
The Brazilian-Argentine war against Paraguay (1865-1870) was interrupted and followed by renewed revolts at home. For a time the great material progress of the country was accompanied by an equally remarkable movement in favor of stability of government and the repression of factions. But once more dissensions and an insurrection in Buenos Aires led to civil war (1890), which again was followed by a disastrous financial panic (1891); and political and commercial crises, with riots and risings in various parts of the country, continued to succeed one another and to prevent progress. In May, 1910, the Argentine celebrated its centenary of independence.
BRAZIL(brä-zil´; Portuguese pron.brä-zēl´), a republic of South America, of which it covers nearly half, is little less in area than the whole of Europe, its area being 3,300,000 square miles, including the Acrá territory bought from Bolivia in 1902. It has a length of 2,660 miles, and a breadth of 2,705 miles between extreme points. It borders on every state in South America except Chile. The name was given by early explorers from thinking that the red dyewood (brazil-wood) found here was identical with the East Indian dyewood known to them as Brasil.
Surface.—This vast territory presents two contrasted regions. First, the wide, low lying, and humid forest plain of the Amazon River in the north; second, the uplands in the south, which are traversed by radiating hills and mountain ridges, and which present wide grass plains between woods and bush-covered country.
The northern coast is bordered by low, alluvial bottom lands and sandy plains, full of lakes, and in places very sterile; while the southern angle of the country is rolling campo land, bordered by a low sandy coast. Above its eastern angle a large area of coastlands and neighboring plateau is subject to periodical devastating drought.
The highest mountain ranges of Brazil rise in the center of the southeastern uplands, where the Montes Pyrenéos rise to nine thousand five hundred feet, but the coast range, or Serra do Mar, to the south of the beautiful Gulf of Rio de Janeiro, hardly yield to these, for within it the Itatiaiossu is scarcely six hundred feet lower, while the Organ Mountains, at the back of Rio, have summits which reach up to seven thousand five hundred feet.
Rivers.—Brazil possesses three great river-systems—the Amazon, La Plata, and San Francisco.
The Amazon and its tributaries drain fully a half of the country. To the east of the Madeira these tributaries are tableland rivers, broken by rapids and freely navigable for comparatively short distances. West of the Madeira they are lowland rivers, sluggish, bordered by extensive flood plains, and afford free navigation for long distances. The La Plata system drains nearly one-fifth of the country through its three branches—the Paraguay, Paraná, and Uruguay.
The first of these is a lowland river, freely navigable for a long distance, while the other two are tableland rivers, full of obstructions, and without free outlets for their upper level navigation.
The San Francisco is a tableland river, flowing northeast between the Goyaz and maritime mountains, and then, breaking through the latter, southeast to the Atlantic. It is not freely navigable because of the Paulo Affonso Falls. The other coast rivers are generally short.
Climate.—Brazil lies almost wholly within the tropics, and is still in great part unexplored and unsettled. The climate of Brazil varies greatly—the lowlands of the Amazon and a great part of the coast being hot, humid, and unhealthy, while the tablelands and some districts of the coast swept by the trade winds are temperate and healthy.
Production and Industry.—The minerals are very considerable and valuable, comprising gold, silver, iron, diamonds, topazes, and other precious stones. Its forests are immense, abounding in the greatest variety of useful and beautiful woods adapted for dyeing, cabinet work, or ship-building; among these are mahogany, logwood, rosewood, brazil-wood, etc.
Its agricultural produce is abundant; maize, beans, cassava root, and nuts are very generally cultivated; also, in some parts, wheat and other European cereals.
Cattle raising is an important industry, the number being computed at eighteen million. Cotton is being largely cultivated for export, and is being used for home manufactures. Sugar cane is grown in large and increasing quantities in the northern provinces, Pernambuco being the center of the sugar-producing zone.
India rubber comes from the more northern provinces, especially the valley of the Amazon, and is shipped from Pará and Manáos; and coffee, though also grown in the north, comes chiefly from Rio de Janeiro, Minas, São Paulo, and Esperito Santo. Tobacco and cocoa are grown largely, especially in Bahia. The exports consist solely of the raw produce of the soil.
People.—The inhabitants of Brazil, as of other parts of South America, present three great elements—that of the aboriginal Indians, that of the European conquerors and colonists and their descendants, and that of the Africansintroduced as slaves. The most important section of the Brazilians are the descendants of the Portuguese settlers. There are, however, several flourishing German and Italian colonies in the southern states.
The number of pure white people is very small in proportion to those who have some mixture of Indian or African blood, and the Brazilians themselves have developed into a number of more or less distinct physical types in the widely separated provinces of the republic. Formerly about one-half of the entire population of Brazil was formed of negro slaves.
The Roman Catholic is the established religion, and is supported by the state; but all other sects are tolerated. There are, however, very few Brazilians who are not Roman Catholics.
Education is still in a very backward condition. The language is Portuguese, with dialectal varieties.
Government.—According to the new Constitution of 1890, the empire was abolished and the Brazilian nation is constituted a Federal Republic under the title of the United States of Brazil, each of the twenty provinces forming a separate state with local self-government. At the head of the federation is a president with executive authority, elected by the people for six years. The National Congress with legislative functions comprises a Senate and Chamber of Deputies, the senators being chosen three for each state, for nine years, the deputies for three years in the proportion of one to every seventy thousand of the population. The franchise extends to all citizens not under twenty-one years of age.
Cities.—The capital city is Rio de Janeiro, the second largest in South America. Next in importance is the city and seaport of Bahia (230,000), finely placed on an inlet of the Atlantic, the oldest city of Brazil. Pernambuco, also called Recife from a reef of rock which forms the natural breakwater of its harbor, is the fourth in population, being now surpassed by São Paulo, which ranks next to the capital (332,000). Maranhão, on an island of the north coast; Pará, in the Tocantins estuary; Rio Grande, and Santos are the other notable places along the Atlantic. In the interior the principal towns are Ouro Preto, in the gold mining region, and Diamantina, the center of the diamond fields. Cuyabá, in the interior, is important as being at the head of the regular navigation into Brazil by way of the Paraná and Paraguay rivers.
Rio de Janeiro(Ree´o deh Zha-nay´e-ro) stands on the west side of one of the most magnificent natural harbors in the world. An inlet of the Atlantic, the bay of Rio de Janeiro runs fifteen miles northwards, varying in width from two miles to seven; it is girdled on all sides by picturesque mountains (one thousand five hundred to three thousand feet), covered with tropical vegetation. The entrance, less than a mile wide, passes between two bold headlands, one of them called the Sugar-loaf (one thousand two hundred and seventy feet).
The city and its suburbs stretch nearly ten miles along the shore. About three miles southwest of the city stands the precipitous cone of Corcovado (two thousand three hundred and thirty-six feet), with a cog-railway up to the top. Public institutions are the vast hospital of La Misericordia; the national library with three hundred thousand volumes; the national museum; the large lunatic asylum; the botanical gardens, with a celebrated avenue of palms; the observatory; the Geographical and Historical institute; the former royal palace at Sāo Christovão, the arsenal, the naval dockyards, the academy of fine arts, a cadet-school, a school of medicine, a conservatory of music, a polytechnic school, etc. A good water supply, chiefly by an aqueduct twelve miles long, and a new system of sewage draining, much improved the city health; but surrounding hills shut out the breezes, and the heat grows intense in summer.
The population includes many foreigners: Portuguese, British, French, and Germans.
Rio de Janeiro is also the commercial capital, sending out one-sixth of the total exports of Brazil, and bringing in forty-five per cent of the imports. The chief export is coffee.
The whole sea frontage of the city is lined with quays, and has been improved by extensive new harbor works, embracing a dock of seventy-five acres, a breakwater three thousand two hundred yards long, an elevated railway, hydraulic cranes, warehouses, etc.
The city possesses cotton, jute, and silk mills, tobacco and hat factories, machine shops and tanneries.
History of Brazil.—As early as 1480, expeditions sailed from Europe in search of the island of Brasil, rumored to exist in the western seas. Brazil was discovered on January 26, 1500, by Vincent Yañez Pinzon, who landed at Cape St. Augustine, near Pernambuco, and then followed the coast north to the Orinoco. In the same year a Portuguese expedition to the East Indies, under Pedro Alvarez Cabral, discovered the Brazilian coast near Porto Seguro on April 25 (April 22, Cazal). Cabral took formal possession, and named his new discovery “Terra de Vera Cruz.” Two Portuguese expeditions were sent out in 1501 and 1503, the first exploring the coast, and the second planting a colony and bringing back a rich cargo of brazil-wood, which gave a name to Portugal’s new possession.
In 1530 the Portuguese government resolved upon the definite settlement of Brazil. Many of the earliest colonies failed through lack of means, and from inability to hold their ground against the natives. In 1567 a Huguenot colony, established on the bay of Rio de Janeiro twelve years before, was overthrown by the Portuguese, who then founded the present capital of Brazil.
The discovery of gold in Minas Geraes in 1693, and of diamonds in 1729, gave a new impetus to the growth of the country, one result of which was the removal of the colonial capital from Bahia to Rio de Janeiro. The cultivation of cotton, tobacco, and sugar cane had already attained great prominence and prosperity.
In 1808 the royal family of Portugal was expelled by the French and took refuge in Brazil, and the very first act of Dom João VI. was to open Brazilian ports to foreign commerce. He then removed various restrictions on domestic industries, founded a printing office and library, created new courts, and opened various schools and public institutions. All these acts greatly stimulated the growth of the country.
In 1821 he returned to Portugal, leaving his eldest son in Brazil as prince regent. Personal ambition, and the advice of men opposed to government from Lisbon, led the young prince to declare for Brazilian independence, September 7, 1822. He was proclaimed and crowned emperor as Dom Pedro I. before the end of the year, the small Portuguese force in the country being quickly and easily expelled. The constitution was ratified and sworn to early in 1825, and some amendments were added in 1835.
The new empire, however, did not start smoothly, nor was the reign of Dom Pedro I. a fortunate one. Vexed with the opposition encountered, he in 1831 voluntarily abdicated in favor of his eldest son, and withdrew to Portugal. During the next nine years Brazil was governed by regencies, but in 1840 a popular agitation led to the declaration of the young prince’s majority, at fifteen years of age, and to his coronation the following year as Dom Pedro II. The reign was one of almost unbroken peace, interrupted by two wars—one with Buenos Aires in 1852, and the other with Paraguay in 1865-1870.
At the revolution of November, 1889, the empire became a republic, and Dom Pedro and his family were exiled. Under the new and enlightened constitution and a succession of patriotic presidents, Brazil has enjoyed a season of peace and prosperity such as it has not experienced since its colonial times. In 1904 the third Pan-American congress was held in Brazil, and did much to bind closer the bonds existing between her and the other American republics.
CHILE(Tchee´lee; Span.Chile, pron.Tchee´lay), is one of the republics of South America, on the west coast, and borders on Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. It reaches from the southern boundary of the coast line of Peru to the southern extremity of Tierra del Fuego, through a distance of about two thousand eight hundred miles, rising inland to the summits of the Andes, which here form a single chain at a distance of about one hundred miles from the ocean. The Strait of Magellan is by treaty considered neutral as between Chile and Argentina. Its breadth varies from forty to two hundred miles.
Physical Features.—The range of the Andes, visible from the sea all along the coast of Chile, towers up in a series of volcanic cones and snowclad peaks; the loftiest summit, that of Aconcagua, being probably the highest point of all the South American continent.
Numbers of streams descend from the range, and have furrowed deep valleys across the width of the country. The most considerable of these are the Maypú near the center of Chile, and the Maule and Biobio in the south, both of which are to some extent navigable.
In the south are also many deep lakes. Mineral waters, chiefly saline and sulphureous, are abundant. The most important islands are those constituting the southern province of Chiloé; Juan Fernandez also belongs to Chile.
Climate.—This long strip of maritime country presents remarkable gradations of climate from north to south. Nearest the Peruvian frontier the coast-land of Tacna, Tarapacá and Atacama is a hot, rainless, sandy desert without sign of vegetation. Southward is found a temperate climate which enjoys a moderate rainfall. This central belt is the most valuable and the most productive agricultural region of Chile. Farther south the westerly winds blow toward the mountains from over the wide Pacific and bring with them such quantities of moisture that the rainfall is excessive; here, in southern Chile, in consequence of the abundant moisture, the mountain slopes are densely covered with evergreen forest.
Production and Industry.—Agriculture and mining are the principal occupations. Wheat, maize, barley, oats, beans, peas, lentils, wines, tobacco, flax, hemp, Chile pepper, and potatoes are grown extensively; the vine and all fruit trees flourish. The live stock includes cattle, sheep, horses, goats, and pigs. The mineral wealth is considerable, the country being extremely rich in copper ore, and some rich gold mines have been discovered. The rainless north yields more especially nitrate of soda, iodine, borate of soda, gold and silver, a large number of mines yielding both being in actual work in Tarapacá, Guanaco, and Cachinal in Atacama, and Caracoles in Antofagasta; the center, copper and silver; and the south, iron and coal. The nitrate exports are extremely valuable. There are smelting works for copper and silver, tanneries, corn and saw mills, starch, soap, biscuit, rope, cloth, cheese, furniture, candle, and paper factories, breweries and distilleries; and the domestic industry furnishes cloth, embroideries, baskets, and pottery. The many ports favor commerce, and six lines of steamers connect the country with Panama and the Magellan Strait. The staple articles of export are nitrate of soda, iodine, copper bars and ores, silver ores, corn, flour, hides, and guano.
People.—The inhabitants of northern and central Chile are, for the most part, descendants of the intermixed Spaniards and native Indians. In the upper classes the race has been kept more purely Spanish than in any other South American country.
Chile is a Roman Catholic country, but other religions are tolerated. Education receives much attention. There is a first class university at Santiago, and a lyceum in every provincial capital. The language spoken in Chile is Spanish, but with many local words of Indian origin.
Government.—Under the constitution voted in 1833, Chile is governed by a president who is elected for five years by delegates nominated by ballot, who is not re-eligible. A Senate and Chamber of Deputies form the legislature. The Senate, of thirty-two members, is elected by the provinces for six years; the Chamber, of ninety-four members, by the departments for three years, by electors over twenty-one, and able to read and write.
Cities.—Santiago, the capital, has 350,000 inhabitants; Valparaiso, 180,000; Concepcion, Iquique, Talca, Chillan, Antofagasta, over 30,000.
Santiago(San-tee-âh´go) stands near the western base of the Andes, one thousand seven hundred feet above sea-level, and one hundred and fifteen[677]miles by rail east by southeast of Valparaiso. The snow-capped mountains seem to enclose it on the north and east; while in the east of the city rises the picturesque park, Cerro de Santa Lucia (eight hundred feet above the plain), dotted with grottoes, statues, kiosks, restaurants, an historical museum, and an observatory. The small but turbulent stream, the Mapocho, is crossed by five bridges.
The city is regularly laid out, lighted with gas and electric light, and has electric railways in all directions. Most of the houses are of one story only, owing to the earthquakes (the most serious occurred in 1575, 1647, 1730, 1822, 1835, 1906).
On the great Plaza Independencia are the government palaces, the Grand English Hotel, the cathedral, and the archbishop’s palace. On the site of the Jesuit church, burned down in 1863, a monument was erected in memory of the two thousand worshipers who perished in the fire.
Santiago boasts a noble Alameda, or boulevard, adorned with four rows of poplars and statues. Facing it are the University and the National Institute. The city has also a military school, schools of arts and agriculture, a conservatory, a national library with one hundred and two thousand volumes; botanical and zoological gardens, etc.
The manufactures include cloth, ship’s biscuits, beer, brandy, etc., and it has also an ice factory, a fruit-conserving establishment, and copper-smelting works.
Santiago was founded by Pedro de Valdivia in 1541.
History of Chile.—The name Chile is supposed to be derived from an ancient Peruvian word signifying “snow.” The first European to land in Chile was the Portuguese discoverer Magellan, after his famous voyage through the strait which now bears his name. He landed at Chiloé in 1520.
After the conquest of Peru by Pizarro, an expedition was made to Chile from that country overland under the leadership of Diego de Almagro in 1535. This expedition penetrated as far as the Rio Clano, but returned unsuccessful. Another was sent under command of Pedro Valdivia in 1540, which succeeded in annexing the territory as far as the River Maipu. Santiago, the capital, was founded by Valdivia in 1542. During the colonial period the governors of Chile were appointed by the viceroys of Peru.
In 1810 a revolt against the Spanish power broke out, in which Don Bernardo O’Higgins, son of one of the last viceroys of Peru, but a native of Chile, played a conspicuous part, and finally became the first dictator of the new republic. The first constitutional president was General Blanco Encalada. The government was unsettled until 1847. A revolution broke out in 1851, but since then there has been no serious attempt to overturn the government by force of arms.
In 1864 Chile gave Peru very valuable support in her war with Spain. Valparaiso was bombarded by the Spaniards in 1866. In 1879 Chile declared war against Bolivia, and immediately thereafter against Peru, with which Bolivia was allied. For a time the Peruvian fleet kept the Chileans in check, but in August, 1879, the Peruvian ironcladHuascarwas captured by the Chilean men-of-warCochraneandBlanco Encalada, both armor plated. After this event the success of the Chileans was uninterrupted—Peruvian towns were bombarded, warships captured, and Lima taken by storm June 21, 1881. The Chileans occupied Lima and Callao until 1883, when a treaty of peace was signed.
President Balmaceda’s unconstitutional government led to civil war in 1891, when the congressionalists were victorious. The decisive battle was fought near Valparaiso on August 28, and Balmaceda committed suicide.
In September, 1910, the centennial celebration of the first declaration of independence from the Spanish crown took place, many foreign governments sending special delegations.
CHINA, or more accurately the Chinese Republic, is an extensive dominion of Eastern Asia of which China proper constitutes the principal portion. For centuries this dominion has been known as the Chinese Empire, and it is still frequently referred to as such, although the form of government is now republican. China includes a number of dependencies or subject territories, viz.: Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet, East Turkestan, and the small territories between Mongolia and Tibet.
By its natives China is never so called, but usually by the Chinese words for “The Middle State,” or “The Republic of the Middle Flower.” The name China (Chi-na, land of Chin) comes to us from India through Buddhism. Various old names are Serica and Cathay, and in the Bible “Land of Sinim.”
China and its dependent territories have an area of 4,300,000 square miles. The population of the whole is variously estimated at from 300,000,000 to 440,000,000. The great bulk of this falls to the provinces of China proper: the population of all the dependencies (Manchuria, Tibet, Mongolia, East Turkestan), making but some 16,000,000 or 25,000,000 of the total.
Surface.—Occupying all the central and eastern portion of the continent of Asia, the limits are for the most part very distinctly marked out by great natural features. The boundary with Russian Siberia on the north runs along the Amur River and the crests of the Sayan and Altai Mountains; towards western Turkestan the alpine heights of the Thian Shan and the Pamir form the limit; the snow clad Himalaya range separates China from the hot plains of India in the south, and the mountains of Yunnan continue the natural frontier eastward again to the coasts of the Pacific.
Within these wide exterior limits China includes a number of regions, some of which are strongly contrasted with one another in their natural features and in the character of their population. Along the eastern or maritime border, where the rivers flowing down from the mountain region of the interior have spread out in wide alluvial plains next the sea, lie China proper and Manchuria, filled with a teeming population of busy agriculturists and townsfolk. Within, on the high plateau of Central Asia, the region of bare steppes and deserts, and the mountain skirts round it, are the countries of Mongolia, Eastern[678]Turkestan, and Tibet, thinly peopled for the most part by nomadic pastoral tribes.
China Propermay be described as sloping from the mountainous regions of Tibet and Nepal toward the shores of the Pacific on the east and south. The most extensive mountain range in it is the Nan Ling or Southern Range, a far extending spur of the Himalayas. Commencing in Yunnan, it bounds Kwangsi, Kwangtung, and Fukien, on the north, and, passing through Chekiang, enters the sea at Ningpo.