180 



CRETE. 



CUBA. 



mountains the frontier line, which starts from 

 Punta Mona, on the Atlantic coast, crosses north- 

 ward the valleys of the Tarina and Sixola rivers, 

 then follows a line drawn about 9 of north lati- 

 tude, bends so as to correspond with the water 

 parting between the Chiriqui Viejo and the streams 

 falling into the Gulf of Dulce, and ends on the 

 Pacific at Punta Burica. All the islands near the 

 coast east of Punta Mona belong to Colombia, and 

 those farther away from the continent lying be- 

 tween the Mosquito coast and the Isthmus of 

 Panama. In the 1'acilic. the Hurica Islands and all 

 islands to the eastward of them are Colombian; 

 all those west of that point are assigned to Costa 

 Rfeft. 



CRETE, an island in the Mediterranean, for- 

 merly a Turkish vilayet, now an autonomous prov- 

 ince under the suzerainty of the Sultan. Insur- 

 rections of the Christian part of the population 

 have occurred at frequent intervals since the Hel- 

 lenes won their independence. When the people 

 again rose in 1896, aided by volunteers from 

 Greece, the great powers intervened. The naval 

 forces of England, Austria, France, Germany, 

 Italy, and Russia blockaded the coast to prevent 

 the arrival of re-enforcements and the landing of 

 arms, either for the insurgents or the Turkish 

 garrison, and detachments of marines occupied the 

 ports to preserve order. The powers intervened 

 also in the war between Greece and Turkey that 

 jircw out of the Cretan insurrection. The Sultan 

 granted autonomous government to Crete in the 

 final settlement, and at the suggestion of the 

 powers nominated as Commissary General of Crete 

 Prince Georgios of Greece, born June 24, 1869, the 

 M-cond son of the King of the Hellenes. He as- 

 sumed office on Dec. 21, 1898. 



Crete is a mountainous island with patches of 

 exceeding fertility in the valleys and lowlands. 

 The products are olives, grapes, citrus fruits, to- 

 bacco, cotton, silk, grain, etc. The area is 3,326 

 square miles, with 294,192 inhabitants in 1896, of 

 wnom 88,487 were Mohammedans. Canea, the 

 present capital, has, according to a census taken 

 on June 17, 1900, 21,475 inhabitants; Candia, the 

 former capital, 22,026 ; Retimo, 8,354. The number 

 of Mohammedans in the three cities was ascer- 

 tained to be 26,177, which is practically the total 

 Mussulman population remaining on the island, as 

 few of the Mohammedans returned to their homes 

 in the country after the installation of the Chris- 

 tian government, and a large proportion of those 

 who did were obliged to emigrate. About 2,000 

 Mohammedans lost their lives during the insurrec- 

 tions of 1896 and 1897, and 60,000 have since emi- 

 grated. 



Germany and Austria withdrew from the occu- 

 pation of Crete and from the concert of guarantee- 

 ing powers. A constitution was adopted in April, 

 1899, by which the legislative power is vested in a 

 National Assembly of 188 members, of whom 50 

 are Mohammedans, elected for three years by the 

 adult males. The executive power is vested in the 

 Commissary General, advised by a Council of 5 

 members presiding over various branches of the 

 administration, one of whom must be a Mohamme- 

 dan. The island is divided into 5 prefectures. 

 Greek is the official language. A militia has been 

 organized, service in which is compulsory. The 

 c.ovcrmnent was authorized by the Constituent 

 Assembly to contract a loan of 9,000,000 francs at 

 :' per cent., 4,000,000 francs to indemnify the 

 powers for the expenses of the occupation and 

 5.000,000 francs to compensate Cretans for their 

 |c.-~rs suffered during the insurrection ami enable 

 them to resume agricultural production and to 

 found a national bank. The establishment of the 



bank with a capital of 10,000,000 drachmai and an 

 exclusive right to emit bank notes was approved 

 in May, 1899. The Council of Ministers, consti- 

 tuted Feb. 20, 1899, is composed as follows: Min- 

 ister of Justice, C. Venezelos ; Minister of Finance, 

 M. Foumis; Minister of Public Instruction and 

 Worship, Nicolas Giamalakis; Minister of the In- 

 terior and Public Works, Hussein Jenitzarakis. A 

 conference at Rome of the representatives of Eng- 

 land, France, and Russia, and the Italian Minister 

 of Foreign Affairs agreed, in May, 1900, to the 

 issue of a long loan with a sinking fund, besides 

 a special loan for the settlement of indemnities 

 for losses suffered by foreigners, and decided that 

 the question of the share of revenues of the island 

 to be assigned to the Ottoman public debt should 

 be submitted to arbitration. 



CUBA, an island of the West Indies, formerly 

 a Spanish colony; since December, 1898, in the 

 military occupation of the United States. The 

 treaty of peace between the United States and 

 Spain, whereby Spain relinquished all authority 

 over the island, was signed at Paris, on Dec. 10, 



1898, and ratified by the United States Senate on 

 Feb. 6 and by the Queen Regent of Spain on March 

 17, 1899. The United States Government assumed 

 the responsibility of preserving order and protect- 

 ing life and property until such time as the Cuban 

 people should organize a stable government capa- 

 ble of maintaining internal order and fulfillin^ 

 international obligations. Under Gen. John it. 

 Brooke, the first military Governor General, who 

 had control of the civil administration as well as 

 of military affairs, Cuban mayors and aldermen 

 were appointed in every municipality and a Su- 

 preme Court was established. The post office was 

 organized on the model of that of the United 

 States. A new and more general system of public 

 education was introduced. There were 843 publi 

 schools in 1899. Gen. Leonard Wood was a 1 

 pointed Governor General late in 1899. 



Area and Population. The area of Cuba 

 estimated at 45,872 square miles. The populatio 

 enumerated at the census of 1887 was 1,631,687 

 comprising 882,600 males and 749,087 females. Thi 

 colored population was 528,798. Havana, the capi 

 tal, contained 200,448 inhabitants. The total popu 

 lation in 1895 was estimated at 2,018,000. I 



1899, in consequence of the war of liberation, it 

 had diminished to 1,572,797, according to a cens 

 taken under the direction of the United State 

 military authorities, showing a decrease of 58, 



in twelve years, attributable to the war of libera 

 tion, especially the starvation and exposure inci 

 dent to Gen. Weyler's reconcentration policy. Tbj 

 census was taken by Cubans under Cuban super 

 visors, who were instructed for their work in Wa*h- 

 ington. The enumerators were women, it being 

 the first time that Cuban women were employed 

 in the public service. In 79 districts of the 4 west 

 ern provinces viz., Santa Clara, Matan/.as. Ha- 

 vana, and Pinar del Rio there was a diminution 

 of population compared with 1887. In the remain- 

 ing Hi districts there were slight gains, and in the 

 47 districts of Santiago and Puerto Principe, the 

 eastern provinces, the population increased consid- 

 erably. The districts of the western provinces that 

 showed gains were those in which the wcanim 

 tnnlos were collected or those in which there was 

 little or no reconcentration. There are !)(> towns 

 of more than 1.000 inhabitants, 16 of which have 

 more than 8,000, 5 more than 25,000, and 1 more 

 than 200.000. The population of Havana \va> 

 235.981. The center of population is in Santa Clara 

 province, 8 miles northeast of Cienfnegos. having 

 moved 24 miles to the southeast since 18S7. The 

 native whites constitute 57.8 per cent, of the total 



