Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/263

Rh S A M S A M 243 Samara, purchased from the crown or from the Bashkirs at nomi- nal prices very often a few copecks per acre are in the hands of no more than 1704 persons. The aggregate taxes exacted from the peasants amounting to 5,782,870 roubles (1879), that is to say, from 8 to 10 roubles per male, they are, when account is taken of the advances received during scarcity, reduced to absolute destitu- tion whenever the crops are short, so as to be compelled to sell their last horse and cow. In 1880 the arrears reached 7,000,000 roubles, to which must be added about 8, 000, 000 roubles of advances, and in 1882, out of the 1,196,646 roubles proposed to be levied by the zerastvos, 376,643 remained in arrears. The general impoverish- ment may be judged from the death-rate, which for several years has ranged from 46 to 48 per thousand. In 1879 61,488 families were compelled to abandon their homes and disperse throughout Russia in search of employment ; while 100,000 families were left wholly destitute of cattle in 1880. Notwithstanding an increase of population by nearly one-third during the last twenty years the numbers of sheep and cattle decreased by about one-half from 1863 to 1882. The manufactures of Samara are unimportant, the aggregate production (chiefly from tanneries, flour-mills, tallow-melting houses, and distilleries) in 1882 reaching only 7,671,000 roubles (767,100). Petty trades, especially the weaving of woollen cloth, are making progress in the south. The culture of oil-yielding plants is developed in several districts, as is also that of tobacco (10,690 acres, yielding 101,980 cwts., in" 1884). Trade is very active corn, tallow, potash, salt, and some woollen cloth being exported ; the imports of raw cotton from Central Asia by the Orenburg railway to be forwarded to the interior of Russia are increasing. The aggregate value of merchandise shipped on the Volga and its tributaries within the government reached 27, 025, 000 roubles in 1882 ; while 9,100,000 cwts. of merchandise were carried in both directions on the Orenburg railway. The chief loading places are Samara, Stavropol, Baiakova, and Pokrovsk on the Volga, Staro- Mainsk on the Maina, and Ekateriuinsk on the Bezentchuk. The government is divided into seven districts, the chief towns of which, with population as estimated in 1879, are Samara (63,400 inhabitants), Bugulma (13,000), BugurusJan (18,000), Buzutuk (10,500), Nikolaevsk (9,900), Novo-Uzen (9700), and Stavropol (4265). Serghievsk (1000) also has municipal institutions ; its mineral waters are becoming more and more frequented. Pokrov- skaya Stoboda (20,000), Ekaterinenstadt, Glushitza, and Alexan- droff Gay, each with more than 5000 inhabitants, the loading place of Batakova (2500), and several others, although still but villages, have more importance than most of the above towns. The territory now occupied by Samara was until last century the abode of nomads. The Bulgarians who occupied it until the 13th century were followed by Mongols of the Golden Horde. The Russians penetrated thus far in the 16th century, after the defeat of the principalities of Kazaft and Astrakhan. To secure com- munication between these two cities, the fort of Samara was erected in 1586, as well as Saratoff, Tsaritsyn, and the first line of Russian forts, which extended from Byeiyi Yar to the neighbour- hood of Menzelinsk near the Kama. A few settlers began to gather under its protection. In 1670 it was taken by the insur- gent leader Stenka Razin, whose name is still remembered in the province. In 1732 the line of forts was removed a little farther east, so as to include Krasnyi Yar and parts of what is now the district of Bugurustan. The Russian colonists also advanced eastwards as the forts were pushed forwards and increased in number. The southern part of the territory, however, remained still exposed to the raids of the nomads. In 1762 Catherine II. invited foreigners, especially Germans, and Nonconformists who had left Russia, to settle within the newly-annexed territory. Emigrants from various parts of Germany responded to the call, as also did the Raskolniks, whose communities on the Irghiz soon became the centre of a formidable insurrection of the peasantry which broke out in 1775 under Pugatcheff and was supported by the Kalmucks and the Bashkirs. After the insurrection, in 1787, a new line of forts from Uzen to the Volga and the Urals was erected to protect the southern part of the territory. At the end of the 18th century Samara became an important centre for trade. As soon as the southern part of the territory became quiet, great numbers of Great and Little Russians began to settle there the latter by order of Government for the transport of salt obtained in the salt lakes. In the first half of the present century the region was rapidly colonized. In 1847-50 the Government introduced about 120 Polish families ; in 1857-59 Mennonites from Dantzic also founded settlements ; and in 1859 a few Circassians were brought hither by Government ; while an influx of Great Russian peasants continued and still goes on. The territory of Samara remained long under Kazan, or Astrakhan, or Simbirsk and Oren- burg. The separate government dates from 1851. (P. A. K.) SAMARA, capital of the above government, is situated on the slopes of the left bank of the Volga, 743 miles to the south-east of Moscow, at the mouth of the Samara and opposite the hills of Zheguleff. It is one of the most important towns of the lower Volga for its trade, and its importance cannot fail to increase as the railway to Central Asia advances eastwards. Its population rose from 34,500 in 1869 to 63,400 in 1879. Samara is built mostly of wood, and large spaces remain vacant on both sides of its broad unpaved streets. Its few public buildings are insignificant. A number of the inhabitants support them- selves by agriculture and gardening, for which they rent large areas in the vicinity of the town. The remainder are engaged at the harbour, one of the most important on the Volga. Three fairs are held annually, with aggregate returns exceeding 2,000,000 roubles. Samara is becoming more and more a resort for consumptives on account of its koumiss establishments (see vol. xvi. pp. 305-6). SAMABANG. See JAVA, vol. xiii. p. 606. SAMARCAND. See SAMARKAND. SAMARIA (Heb. pint?, Shdmerdn; LXX. Sa/wtpeio, except in 1 Kings xvi. 24 1 ), the capital of Northern Israel from the time of Omri to the fall of the kingdom, which was consummated in the long siege of the royal city by Shalmaneser (2 Kings xvii. 5) and its capture by his successor Sargon (c. 721 B.C.). The choice of Samaria as his capital by the warlike and energetic prince to whom the kingdom of Ephraim mainly owed its greatness is easily understood. It stands in the very centre of Palestine and of the country of the dominating tribe of Joseph, and, built on a steep and almost isolated hill, with a long and spacious plateau for its summit, was naturally a position of much strength, commanding two of the most important roads the great north and south road which passes immediately under the eastern wall, and the road from Shechem to the maritime plain which runs a little to the west of Omri's capital. The hill of Samaria is separated from the surrounding mountains (Amos iii. 9) by a rich and well-watered plain, from which it rises in successive terraces of fertile soil to a height of 400 or 500 feet. Only on the east a narrow saddle, some 200 feet beneath the plateau, runs across the plain towards the mountains ; it is at this point that the traveller coming from Shechem now ascends the hill to the village of Sebastiya (now pronounced Sebastiya), which occupies only the extreme east of a terrace beneath the hill top, behind the crusading church of John the Baptist, which is the first thing that draws the eye as one approaches the town. The hill-top, the longer axis of which runs westward from the village, rises 1450 feet above the sea, and commands a superb view towards the Mediterranean, the mountains of Shechem, and Mount Hermon. The situation as a whole is far more beautiful than that of Jerusalem, though not so grand and wild. The line of the ancient walls has not been determined, the chief visible ruins being of the time of Herod ; but, if they followed the natural lines of defence, the city may have been almost a mile in length from east to west. -y The foundation of the new capital was speedily followed by the wars with Damascus, in which repeated ineffectual sieges by the Syrians proved the value of the stronghold ; and even the Assyrians, as has been mentioned, reduced the place with difficulty. During part of the struggle with Damascus the kings of Israel often resided at Jezreel, which was nearer the seat of war ; but Omri's city never lost its pre-eminence. While it stood, Samaria and not Jerusalem was the centre of Hebrew life, and the prophets sometimes speak of it as also the centre of corrupt Jehovah- worship and idolatry (Hos. viii. 5, Mic. i. 5, Isa. x. 10). The 1 The first 6 in Shdmerdn can hardly represent the old pronunciation. In 1 Kings xvi. 24, the name of the city is derived from that of Shemer, from whom Omri bought the site, and here LXX. seems to have origin- ally had S.a.jjifpdiv or Zepfptiav (Cod. Vat. Safwpwv), afterwards corrected to ^o(j.opt&v (as in Lagarde's edition of Lucian's text) from the Hebrew tradition (compare Field's Hexapla on the passage). The Assyrian monuments have Samirina.