476 



CORDOBA 



COREA 



building, with walls from 4 to 6 feet thick, a 

 national observatory, and noble baths. The uni- 

 versity (1613) sank greatly after the expulsion of 

 the Jesuits (1767), until in 1870 several German 

 professors settled here. The town possesses also a 

 national college, a school of art, and an academy 

 of sciences, which publishes a valuable Boletin. 

 Founded by Cabrera in 1573, the town was 

 famous during the Spanish occupation as a seat 

 of learning and the centre of the Jesuit missions 

 in South America. It was afterwards falling into 

 decay, but the opening of the railway in 1870, with 

 the transit trade which this brought, has greatly 

 restored its prosperity. In the hot months of 

 December, January, and February, however, the 

 place is a very trying residence. Pop. (1869) about 

 28,500; (1895) 42,700. 



Cor'doba* a town of Mexico, 66 miles WSW. 

 of Vera Cruz by rail, in a fruitful valley, 3045 feet 

 above the sea. Formerly important, it sank greatly 

 after the revolution ; but in later years it has in 

 some degree recovered its trade. It is surrounded 

 by rich coffee-plantations. Pop. about 12,000. 



Cordon, in military operations, is a line of 

 sentries within sight of each other inclosing or 

 guarding any particular space of ground, to prevent 

 the passage or unauthorised persons. If intended 

 to guard against contagious diseases, it is called a 

 cordon sanitaire. 



Cordon Bleu, originally the 'blue ribbon' 

 which in France supported the insignia of the Order 

 of the Holy Ghost ; but playfully transferred to 

 good cooks, who after examination received a 

 medal, also suspended from a ' blue ribbon.' 



Cor'dova, or CORDOBA, a city of Spain, capital 

 of the province of Cordova, 81 miles ENE. of 

 Seville by rail. It stands on the right bank of the 

 Guadalquivir, here crossed by the Moorish ' Puente 

 Viejo ' of sixteen arches, and occupies a slope con- 

 nected with the Sierra Morena. The old turreted 

 walls inclose gardens and vineyards ; but the 

 interior shows narrow and dirty streets. Cordova 

 was from the 9th to the close of the 12th century a 

 Moorish town of the first rank, renowned for its rich 

 mosques and palaces, and still more for its uni- 

 versity. Among the principal buildings is the cathe- 

 dral, built as a mosque in the 8th century, the most 

 magnificent Mohammedan temple in Europe, and 

 converted ( 1236) into a Christian church. Cordova 

 was at one time celebrated for its manufacture of 

 goat leather, called cordovan, whence the term 

 cordwain, but that industry is now almost entirely 

 gone from it. Cordovan, still prepared in the 

 Levant, is used in bookbinding and for finer boots 

 and shoes. Cordova has a bishop's palace, a lyceum, 

 a theatre, a fine casino, museum, &c. It manufac- 

 tures silverware, silk fabrics, paper hats, &c. 

 Called by the Carthaginians the 'gem of the 

 south,' Cordova was (152 B.C.) founded by the 

 Romans as Corduba. Taken by the Goths in the 

 6th century, it fell (711) to the Moors, in whose 

 hands it remained till 1236, when Ferdinand III. 

 of Castile struck it a blow from which it has never 

 recovered. In 1808 Cordova was taken and plun- 

 dered by the French. Cordova was the birthplace 

 of the poet Lucan, and the philosophers Seneca and 

 Averroes. Pop. (1895) 57,450. The province of 

 Cordova has an area of 5190 sq. m., and a pop. of 

 420,000. See ANDALUSIA. 



Corduroy, a ribbed kind of fustian, a cotton 

 stuff made after the fashion of velvet. See 

 FUSTIAN. 



Corea (native name Choson, 'Morning Calm'), 

 a kingdom on the east coast of Asia, stretching as 

 a peninsula from 34 30' to 43 N. lat. , and from 124 

 30' to 130 30' E. long., between the Sea of Japan 



and the Yellow Sea, and separated by the Strait 

 of Corea from the Japanese Islands. It has a coast- 

 line of about 1740 miles, and a total area of about 

 90,000 sq. m. The north boundary line is formed 

 by the river Tu-man flowing north-east, and the 

 Am-nok flowing south-west from the watershed of 

 Paik-to-san. The Tu-man, for the last 5 miles of 

 its course, separates Russian Asia from Corea. A 

 belt of land, 5600 sq. rn. , on the north side has for 

 the last three centuries been constituted a neutral 

 zone between Corea and Manchuria, but is now 

 being gradually encroached upon both from the 

 Chinese and Corean side. The east coast is high, 

 monotonous, and but slightly indented, with very 

 few islands and harbours. The south and west 

 shores are deeply and manifoldly scooped, and beset 

 by numberless picturesque islands. From these 

 island-fringed shores, especially on the west coast, 

 mud-banks extend out to sea beyond sight. While 

 the tide on the east coast is very slight only 2 feet 

 at Gensan it increases on the south and west coast 

 in a north direction, rising to 33 feet at Chemulpo. 

 The rapid rise and fall of tides and the vast area of 

 mud left bare at low-water cause frequent fogs, 

 and render the numerous inlets little available 

 except for native craft. On the west coast the 

 rivers are frozen in winter, but the east coast 

 is open the whole winter through. Quelpart, the 

 largest island, 40 by 17 miles, lies 60 miles S. of 

 the mainland. Port Hamilton, between Qnelpart 

 and Corea, was for a time an English possession, 

 but in 1886 was given to China. The Russians 

 have been credited with a desire to possess the 

 magnificent harbour of Port Lazareff on the Corean 

 mainland. See the map of CHINA. 



Occupying ajbout the same latitude as Italy, 

 Corea is also like Italy hemmed in on the north by 

 alpine ranges, and traversed from north to south 

 by a branch chain. From the north the chain runs 

 close to the coast, till, about the 37th parallel, it 

 trends inland. The chain rises in elevation from 

 the north to the centre, throwing out feelers to the 

 west which break up the country into a series of 

 narrow valleys debouching on the sea. Precipitous 

 on the east, the chain slopes towards the broader 

 west side, which is accordingly the more developed 

 part ; though Kyong-sang province in the south- 

 east is one of the richest in Corea. Corea is on the 

 whole very mountainous. Among the summits are 

 Hien-fung, measured from sea at 8114 feet high, 

 though later travellers deem this height an exagger- 

 ation ; Mount Popoff, at 37th parallel ; Coxcomb, 

 north-east of Seoul ( Soul ), rises to 4800 feet. The 

 mountains are mostly of primary rock; those of 

 Hwang-hai-do are, however, mesozoic, and about 

 the centre are lava and volcanic rocks. The chief 

 rivers on the west coast are Keum, navigable for 

 boats drawing 4^ feet 30 miles up ; Han, navigable 

 to a little above Seoul, 80 miles ; Tai-dong, navi- 

 gable to Phyong-yang, 75 miles ; Am-nok, far the 

 greatest, navigable to above Wi-won, 175 miles. 

 Flowing through beautiful well-timbered moun- 

 tains, the Am-nok has many affluents, and in the 

 summer floods its waters rise to full 40 feet even 

 where a mile or more wide. In the south-east the 

 Nak-tong is navigable for boats drawing 4^ feet for 

 140 miles up. 



The climate is healthy, bracing in the north, but 

 colder in winter and hotter in summer than in cor- 

 responding European latitudes. The heat is tem- 

 pered by sea-breezes, but in the narrow inclosed 

 valleys becomes very intense. The Han is frozen 

 in winter so as to be available at Seoul, where it is 

 400 yards broad, for cart traffic three months in the 

 year. The Tu-man is usually frozen five months 

 in the year. Various kinds of timber-trees abound, 

 except in the west, where wood is scarce, and is 

 sparingly used ; and in other parts the want of coal 



