Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/87

 COLOGNE WATER Cologne was one of the principal cities of the Hanseatic league. When most powerful it could put 30,000 men into the field. In 1259 it obtained the right to require that all goods which arrived in vessels should be unloaded and shipped in Cologne bottoms. Important commercial privileges were granted to it in England. It was the channel of commerce with the East, and had business relations with Spain, Portugal, and Italy. The celebration of the carnival, and the exhibition of puppets, which are still kept up, bear witness to the in- fluence of Italian tastes. Cologne was some- times called the Rome of the north. Various causes contributed to the diminution of its pros- perity. The route of commerce was changed. The clergy acquired undue influence, and feuds arose between them and the citizens. The Jews were expelled. Disturbances were afterward created by the weavers, and the magistrates caused their looms to be destroyed, in conse- quence of which they left the city. In the 16th century restrictions were placed by the Dutch upon the navigation of the Rhine ; and in 1618 the Protestants were banished from the city. As prosperity diminished, the number of beg- gars and priests increased, until it was said that the beggars were 12,000 in number, and that there were as many steeples in Cologne as there are days in the year. In 1794, when the city fell into the hands of the French, it contained about 40,000 inhabitants, of whom more than one fourth lived by mendicity. The French government at once attacked this social evil. It secularized many churches and religious foundations, and adopted the most stringent measures against the abuses which had grown out of them. In 1814 it was restored to Prus- sia. The restrictions upon the navigation of the Rhine were removed in 1837 ; steamboats have been introduced, and railways have been constructed, by which Cologne is connected with all the principal cities of the continent. In February, 1873, a proposition was submit- ted by Prince Bismarck to appropriate $9,000,- 000 for the erection and improvement of forti- fications. The Kolnische Zeitung is one of the most influential newspapers in Germany, being the organ of the liberal party, as the Kolnische Vollcsoldtter is of the Roman Catholics. COLOGNE WATER. See EAU DE COLOGNE. COLOMBIA, United States of (Estados Unidos de Colombia}, formerly NEW GBANADA, a re- public of South America, lying between lat. 12 21' N. and 1 20' S., and Ion. 68 52' and 83 5' W. It is bounded N. by the Caribbean sea, N. E. and E. by Venezuela, S. E. by Brazil, S. by Ecuador, and W. by the Pacific ocean and Costa Rica. Its extreme length from N. to S. is about 1,000 m., extreme breadth about 760 m. ; but its average breadth is much less, it being only 28 m. wide at the isthmus of Panama. The area is estimated at from 480,- 000 to 521,000 sq. m. The republic is divided into nine federal states, which, with their areas, population, and capitals, are as follows : COLOMBIA 83 STATES. Are., q. m. Population, 1870. CAPITALS. Popul*- tion. Antioquia. . . 24828 865 974 MedeUin 14 00(1 Bolivar. 27027 '2'' r > u . r. u. Boyaca 33'849 48^874 K..HMI Cauca Cundinamarca .. Magdalena Panama Santander. Tollma 2fAOOO 7!),*45 26,950 81,921 16,293 18,476 485'078 409,602 85,256 220,542 425,427 230821 Popayan . . . Bogota Santa Marta. Panama Socorro Ibaeue 8.000 46,000 2,000 18,000 12,000 5000 Total 518,884 2 880 638 Bogota, the national capital, with its environs, forms a federal district, but the city is also the capital of the state of Cundinamarca. The coasts of Colombia are deeply indented by large and fine bays, the principal of which are the gulfs of Darien and Maracaibo on the Ca- ribbean sea and the gulf of Panama on the Pa- cific. There are many smaller bays on both oceans, which make excellent harbors. Among the chief ports, besides the free ports of Pa- nama and Aspinwall or Colon, are Cartagena, Sabanilla, Santa Marta, and Rio Hacha on the Atlantic, and Buenaventura on the Pacific. Chiriqui lagoon and Porto Bello, on the Carib- bean sea, and Humboldt, Cupica, and San Juan or Chirambira, on the Pacific, also fur- nish good harbors. There are numerous isl- ands along the coast, none of which are very large. In the Caribbean sea are the islands of San Andres and Providence. In the Chiriqui lagoon are 11 islands, of which Boca del Toro is the largest, and there are many more along the coast of Cartagena. In the gulf of Panama are the island of Tobago and a group called the Archipelago of Pearls. The surface of Colom- bia is more equally diversified than that of any other South American state, being nearly evenly divided into mountain, valley, and plain. Not far from the borders of Ecuador, about lat. 1 20' N., the range of the Andes separates into two branches. The W. branch, which follows the line of the coast, is called la Cordi- llera de la Costa. The E. branch pursues a N. E. course from the point of separation until it reaches lat. 1 50' K, when it again divides and forms two chains nearly parallel, between which lies the valley of the Magdalena. The most easterly of these chains, which follows the right bank of the Magdalena, is called the E. Cordillera of Cundinamarca. Between the central and the coast range is the valley of the Cauca, and W. of the latter the mineral region of Choco. By some the eastern range is called the Cordillera de la Suma Paz, from the moun- tains of the name near Bogota ; the central, the Quindiu ; and the western, the Choco. The latter, though comparatively low, has few and difficult passes. The E. branch is much the greatest in extent, and consists of a series of table lands or plateaus, from 8,000 to 14,000 ft. in elevation. In this plateau, which is cool and salubrious, the ancient Chibchas had their seat. It produces in the greatest profusion the fruits and grains of the temperate zone, and