SICILY 



5372 



SICILY 



by a successful invasion made himself king of 

 the Two Sicilies, thus inaugurating the reign 

 of the Bourbon family. When the French 

 Revolution broke out, and French armies be- 

 gan to overrun Europe, Ferdinand, king of the 

 Two Sicilies, joined the coalition against 

 France, and was for a time deprived of the 

 mainland part of his kingdom; reinstated, he 

 again lost Naples, this time to Napoleon, who 

 placed on the throne first his brother Joseph 

 and, later, Joachim Murat. After Napoleon's 

 downfall the two parts of the kingdom were 

 reunited. 



Various revolts occurred in the succeeding 

 decades, but Austria forbade any concession on 

 the part of the sovereigns to the people's de- 

 mand for liberal government. Francis I, Ferdi- 

 nand II and Francis II did not need the back- 

 ing of Austria to make them despotic, and their 

 continued cruelties prepared the people to wel- 

 come the advent of Garibaldi and his forces, 

 through whose efforts they were freed and made 

 a part of the new kingdom of Italy, as is related 

 in the article ITALY. A.MC c. 



Consult Freeman's History of Sicily from Earli- 

 est Times. 



Related Subjects. The following articles in 

 these volumes will make clear certain references 

 in the above discussion and will give added in- 

 formation : 



Ferdinand II and IV Naples 

 Garibaldi, Giuseppe Sicily 



Hohenstaufen Succession Wars 



Italy, subtitle History Tancred 



SICILY, sis 'Hi, a mountainous island in 

 the Mediterranean Sea, separated from the 

 mainland of Italy, of which it is politically a 

 part, by the Strait of Messina. An examina- 

 tion of the accompanying map will show that 

 Sicily lies opposite the toe of the "boot," and 

 that it is an irregular triangle in shape. This 

 island, with an area of 9,935 square miles, is 

 the largest in the Mediterranean, and is nearly 

 three times the size of Porto Rico. In 1911 it 

 had a population of 3,672,258. In past geologic 

 ages it was a part of the mainland, and, like 

 the Italian peninsula, it has a chain of moun- 

 tains extending through it. Beautiful Mount 

 Etna, which rises near the eastern coast to a 

 height of 10,750 feet, is the loftiest peak on the 

 island like Mount Vesuvius, a perpetual re- 

 minder of the uncertainty of life. There are no 

 rivers of commercial importance and few lakes, 

 but mineral springs occur in many places. 

 Sicily has a fairly even climate, though the 

 sirocco, with its burning heat, sometimes visits 

 the island. 



The mountain slopes and foothills are cov- 

 ered with lemon, orange and olive groves and 

 with vineyards, and on the flat table-lands ce- 

 reals are raised, but Sicily has lost its name 

 of "the granary of Italy," because /the yield of 

 cereals is sufficient only for the needs of the 

 people of the island. Deep-sea fishing fur- 

 nishes tunny fish, sardines, coral and sponges, 

 and great quantities of sulphur are mined. 

 Sulphur, fruits, vegetables, salt, wine, oil and 



LOCATION MAP 



The small corner map shows the* geographical 

 position of the island with respect to the penin- 

 sula of Italy. 



fish are the chief exports. The three chiei 

 ports are Palermo, Catania and Messina. The 

 people are for the most part illiterate and ver> 

 poor, although there are a few wealthy land- 

 owners. In the mountain fastnesses a few pic- 

 turesque brigands still survive. 



Situated as it is between Europe and Africa 

 the island has been a battle field for the twc 

 continents. The first settlers in Sicily, prob- 

 ably invaders from Italy, were conquered bj 

 the Greeks, who founded colonies Naxos 

 Syracuse, Agrigentum and others and intro- 

 duced Greek culture into the island. The trav- 

 eler in Sicily to-day finds everywhere traces oi 

 that Greek civilization the crumbling ruins 

 of temples and tombs with their sculpturec 

 marbles and friezes. As each of three greal 

 empires of antiquity grew into power, Phoeni- 

 cia, Carthage and Rome, it included Sicily ir 

 its conquests. The Goths and Vandals, bar- 

 barian hordes from the north, drove the Ro- 

 mans out of Sicily, to be themselves driver 

 out when Belisarius conquered the island anci 

 annexed it to the Byzantine Empire. Byzan- 

 tine rule was replaced by Saracen and that ir 

 turn by Norman. For a continuation of the 

 history of Sicily, see SICILIES, KINGDOM OF THE 

 Two. B.M.W. 



Consult Crawford's Southern Italy and Sicily, 

 and Rules of the South. 



