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 The population, which numbered 321,250 in 1881, reached 367,902 in 1897, and 401,100 (estimate) in 1906. They are principally Great Russians and Finns. The people belong mostly to the Orthodox Greek Church, or are Nonconformists. Rye and oats are the principal crops, and some flax, barley and turnips are grown, but the total cultivated area does not exceed 2% of the whole government. The chief source of wealth is timber, next to which come fishing and hunting. Mushrooms and berries are exported to St Petersburg. There are quarries and iron-mines, saw-mills, tanneries, iron-works, distilleries and flour-mills. More than one-fifth of the entire male population leave their homes every year in search of temporary employment. Olonets is divided into seven districts, of which the chief towns are Petrozavodsk, Kargopol, Lodeinoye Pole, Olonets, Povyenets, Pudozh and Vytegra. It includes the Olonets mining district, a territory belonging to the crown, which covers 432 sq. m. and extends into the Serdobol district of Finland; the ironworks were begun by Peter the Great in 1701–1714. Olonets was colonized by Novgorod in the 11th century, and though it suffered much from Swedish invasion its towns soon became wealthy trading centres. Ivan III. annexed it to the principality of Moscow in the second half of the 16th century.

OLOPAN, or  (probably a Chinese form of the Syriac Rabban, i.e. monk: fl.  635), the first Christian missionary in China (setting aside vague stories of St Thomas, St Bartholomew, &c.), and founder of the Nestorian Church in the Far East. According to the Si-ngan-fu inscription, our sole authority, Olopan came to China from Ta T’sin (the Roman empire) in the ninth year of the emperor T’ai-Tsung ( 635), bringing sacred books and images. He was received with favour; his teaching was examined and approved; his Scriptures were translated for the imperial library; and in 638 an imperial edict declared Christianity a tolerated religion. T’ai-Tsung’s successor, Kao-Tsung (650–683), was still more friendly, and Olopan now became a “guardian of the empire” and “lord of the great law.” After this followed (c. 683–744) a time of disfavour and oppression for Chinese Christians, followed by a revival dating from the arrival of a fresh missionary, Kiho, from the Roman empire.

The Si-ngan-fu inscription, which alone records these facts, was erected in 781, and rediscovered in 1625 by workmen digging in the Chang-ngan suburb of Si-ngan-fu city. It consists of 1789 Chinese characters, giving a history of the Christian mission down to 781, together with a sketch of Nestorian doctrine, the decree of T’ai-Tsung in favour of Christianity, the date of erection, and names of various persons connected with the church in China when the monument was put up. Additional notes in Syriac (Estrangelo characters) repeat the date and record the names of the reigning Nestorian patriarch, the Nestorian bishop in China, and a number of the Nestorian clergy.

OLORON-SAINTE-MARIE, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Basses-Pyrenees, 21 m. S.W. of Pau on a branch of the Southern railway. It lies at the confluence of the mountain torrents (locally known as gaves) Aspe and Ossau, which, after dividing it into three parts, unite to form the Oloron, a tributary of the Pau. The united population of the old feudal town of Sainte-Croix or Oloron proper, which is situated on an eminence between the two rivers, of Sainte-Marie on the left bank of the Aspe, and of the new quarters on the right bank of the Ossau, is 7715. Oloron has remains of old ramparts and pleasant promenades with beautiful views, and there are several old houses of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, one of which is occupied by the hôtel de ville. The church of Sainte-Croix, the building of most interest, belongs mainly to the 11th century; the chief feature of the exterior is the central Byzantine cupola; in the interior there is a large altar of gilded wood, constructed in the Spanish style of the 17th century. The church of Sainte-Marie, which formerly served as the cathedral of Oloron, is in the old ecclesiastical quarter of Sainte-Marie. It is a medley of various styles from the 11th to the 14th century. A square tower at the west end shelters a fine Romanesque portal. In the new quarter there is the modern church of Notre-Dame. Remains of a castle of the 14th century are also still to be seen. Oloron is the seat of a sub-prefect, and its public institutions include tribunals of first instance and of commerce, and a chamber of arts and manufactures. It is the most important commercial centre of its department after Bayonne, and carries on a thriving trade with Spain by way of the passes of Somport and Anso.

A Celtiberian and then a Gallo-Roman town, known as Iluro, occupied the hill on which Sainte-Croix now stands. Devastated by the Vascones in the 6th and by the Saracens in the 8th century, it was abandoned, and it was not until the 11th century that the quarter of Sainte-Marie was re-established by the bishops. In 1080 the viscount of Béarm took possession of the old town. The two quarters remained distinct till the union of Béarm with the crown at the accession of Henry IV. At the Reformation the place became a centre of Catholic reaction. In the 17th century it carried on a considerable trade with Aragon, until the Spaniards, jealous of its prosperity, pillaged the establishments of the Oloron merchants at Saragossa in 1694—a disaster from which it only slowly recovered. The bishopric was suppressed in 1790.

OLSHAUSEN, HERMANN (1796–1839), German theologian, was born at Oldeslohe in Holstein on the 21st of August 1796, and was educated at the universities of Kiel (1814) and Berlin (1816), where he was influenced by Schleiermacher and Neander. In 1820 he became Privatdozent and in 1821 professor extraordinarius at Berlin; in 1827 professor at Königsberg, in 1834 at Erlangen. He died on the 4th of September 1839. Olshausen’s department was New Testament exegesis; his Commentary (completed and revised by Ebrard and Wiesinger) began to appear at Konigsberg in 1830, and was translated into English in 4 vols. (Edinburgh, 1847–1849). He had prepared for it by his other works. ''Die Ächtheit d. vier Kanon. Evangelien'' (1823), Ein Wort über tieferen Schriftsinn (1824) and Die biblische Schriftauslegung (1825).

OLTENITZA (Oltenita), a town of Rumania, on the left bank of the river Argesh, 33 m. from its outflow into the Danube, and at a terminus of a branch railway from Bucharest. Pop. (1900) 5801. The principal trade is in grain, timber (floated down the Argesh) and fish. Lake Greca, famous for its carp, lies 10 m. E. and has an area of about 45 sq. m. Its waters reach the Danube through a network of streams, marshes and meres. Oltenitza is the ancient Constantiola, which was the seat of the first bishopric established in Dacia. In the Crimean War the Turks forced the river at this point and inflicted heavy losses on the Russians.

OLUSTEE, a village of Baker county, Florida, U.S.A., in the precinct of Olustee, about 46 m. W. by S. of Jacksonville. Pop. of the precinct (1905) 397. The village is served by the Seaboard Air Line. The battle of Olustee, or Ocean Pond (the name of a small body of water in the vicinity), one of the most sanguinary engagements of the Civil War in proportion to the numbers engaged, was fought on the 20th of February 1864, about 2 m. east of Olustee, between about 5500 Federal troops, under General Truman Seymour (1824–1891), and about 5400 Confederates, under General Joseph Finegan, the Federal forces being decisively defeated, with a loss, in killed and wounded, of about one-third of their number, including several officers. The Confederate losses, in killed and wounded, were about 940.

OLYBRIUS, Roman emperor of the West from the 11th of July to the 23rd of October 472, was a member of a noble family and a native of Rome. After the sack of the city by Genseric