Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/496

 472 S T A S T A Stavanger was only 2500; by 1855 it was 12,000, and by 1875 20,350. STAVROPOL, a government of Northern Caucasia, Russia, having an area of 26,530 square miles, and a population (rapidly increasing by Russian immigration) last returned at 637,893. It is bounded by Astrakhan and the province of the Don Cossacks on the N., Kuban on the W., Terek on the S., and the Caspian Sea on the E., occupying the eastern part of the broad plains and steppes which fringe the main chain of CAUCASUS (q.v.) on the north. In the western part of the government a broad undulating swelling, ranging from 1500 to 2000 feet above sea-level, extends northwards from the central mountain chain ; in the southern part of this swelling, in the vicinity of Pyatigorsk, there is a group of sixteen mountains, 2800 to 4600 feet in height the Beshtau, which, as shown by Abich, ought to be considered as a porphyritic upheaval which took place at a point where the two predominant directions in Caucasus (south-west to north-east and south-east to north-west) meet. Northward and eastward of the above plateau are extensive steppes, from 400 to 200 feet above the sea, having gentle slopes both to the north (to the depression of the Manytch) and to the east (towards the low and dry steppes of the Caspian littoral). The geological structure of Stavropol is most interesting. The mountains in the southern parts of Pyatigorsk consist of trachytic porphyries and volcanic rocks. Numberless hot mineral springs (see PYATIGORSK) occur in this group, and earthquakes are most common in the region. A broad belt of Miocene deposits, represented by the " steppe limestone " with Mactra podolica, girdles the hilly tracts, attaining a breadth of 40 miles or rather more ; while the remainder of the steppes, which gently slope towards the Manytch and the Caspian, are occupied by the Post-Tertiary Caspian formation (loess). Stavropol is chiefly watered by the Kuma and its tributaries (Podkumok, Karamyk, Buivola, &c.), its basin being the most fertile part of the province, but the evaporation is so great that the Kuma never reaches the Caspian except in spring. The Manytch is less a river than a series of lakes occupying a depression which formerly was a connecting channel between the Black Sea and the Caspian. This channel has two slopes, the eastern some- times discharging its scanty water-supply into the Kuma, while on the western slope the elongated lakes which fill up the depression drain into the Don, reaching it, however, only during spring. Two Yegorlyks (Great and Middle), the Kalaus, and the Tchogra (temporary tributaries of the Manytch) water the west part of Stavropol ; while the Yeya and the Barsukly a tributary of the Kuban rise in the district of Pyatigorsk. On the whole, irrigation is scanty, and in the eastern steppes water is supplied only by cisterns. Besides the few lakes of the Manytch depres- sion, there are many smaller salt lakes around the Caspian. Timber is scarce, even in the hilly tracts. The climate is severe. Although Stavropol and Pyati- gorsk both have an average yearly temperature of 48 Fahr., frosts of -22 Fahr. are not uncommon, and the average winter temperature is only 28 C> 7 at Stavropol (January, 25 ; July, 71). Yellow and other endemic fevers, sometimes very severe, are common on the low banks of the Kuma and Manytch. The region is traversed by both the great highways along the western shore of the Caspian (the Vladikavkaz and the Derbent routes), and accordingly several nations in their migrations have left stragglers on the steppes of Stavropol. Thus we now find in these steppes Lamaite Kalmucks (about 10,000), Mohammedan Turcomans and Nogais (together about 60,000), as well as less con- siderable remains of several other tribes. On the other liand, immigrants from Great and Little Russia, Poles, Germans, Esthonians, Greeks, and even a few Scots (in. a colony close to Pyatigorsk) have settled in the most fertile and best watered parts of Stavropol in the course of the present century. The Russian population is grow- ing very rapidly, and already numbers upwards of 500,000. There are three administrative districts, the chief towns of which are Stavropol (35,470 inhabitants in 1884), Pyati- gorsk (11,115), and Alexandrovskaya (8710), and a terri- tory of nomad natives which occupies more than two-fifths of the entire area of the government, The educational returns for 1883 show 7 gymnasiums and " real schools," with 1081 boys and 491 girls, and 139 elementary schools, with only 5310 boys and 1034 girls. Agriculture is the chief occupation of the settled population, and so large is the harvest that no less than 16,000 labourers, attracted by high wages, come annually from European Russia to assist in gathering in the crops. Large amounts of corn are exported both to the mountainous districts of Caucasus and to Russia (Rostoil- on-the-Don). Cattle-breeding is engaged in very largely, not only by the Kalmucks, Turcomans, and Nogais, but also by the Russians. In 1884 Stavropol had 154,000 horses, 808,500 cattle, 2,540,000 sheep, 45,000 goats, 75,000 pigs, and 7500 camels. Cattle and horses, as also wool, hair, hides, and sheepskins, are exported in considerable quantities. A remarkable feature of Stavropol is the rapid growth among the Russian peasant population of a great variety of domestic trades both for local supply and for exportation. Silk wares are now woven in the villages to such an extent as to- become an important article of export to Russia. Many other petty trades have also grown up of late, such as various kinds of cotton- weaving, the manufacture of leather wares, small metallic wares, and so on. Manufactures proper (chiefly distillation) employed some 1000 persons in 1870, and their produce was estimated at about 140,000 per annum. Since that time they have slowly expanded. A brisk trade is carried on in the above-mentioned articles of export, and twenty-nine village fairs show an aggregate annual return of nearly 300,000. History. The northern slopes of Caucasus began to be colonized by Russians at a very early period, and as early as the llth cent- ury part of the territory now occupied by Stavropol was known to Russian annalists as the Tmutarakah principality, which had Russian princes. A new attempt to colonize North Caucasus was made in the 16th century, under Ivan the Terrible, who married a Kabardian princess. This was again unsuccessful, and it was not till 1711 that Russia began regularly to colonize the territory by Cossack settlements. The military colonization was continued during the whole of last century; Kizlar was founded in 1736, Stavropol in 1776 or 1777. Immense tracts were given by Catherine II. to her courtiers, who began to people them with serfs brought from Russia. The flow of immigrants rapidly increased as soon as peace was firmly established, and it is still on the increase, especially since the emancipation of the serfs, SO' that Stavropol is rapidly becoming a Russian province, with a comparatively limited number of natives in the steppes of its eastern part. STAVROPOL, capital of the above province, is situated on a plateau 2000 feet above the sea, on the northern slope of the Caucasus, 360 miles to the north-west of Tiflis and 914 miles from Moscow. It is connected by rail with Rostoff-on-the-Don. Although founded only in 1776 for military purposes, it has rapidly grown, and has now a population of 35,500, while it is one of the best built provincial towns of the Russian empire. It has wide streets, and its houses are mostly of stone ; large gardens surround the houses; and numerous farms and gardens, occupy the territory (nearly 50,000 acres) belonging to the town. It is well provided with educational institu- tions, there being four gymnasia for boys and girls and several primary schools. Nearly all the manufactures of the province are concentrated in Stavropol. The trade is considerable, large numbers of cattle (more than 35,000 head annually) being sent to Moscow and St Petersburg, while tallow and more than 15,000 sheepskins are exported via Rostoff to Russia. Corn is also exported to the value of nearly 300,000, while manufactured wares are imported to the value of nearly 150,000. Armenian, Georgian, and Persian merchants carry on a lively trade in local wares.