← Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Bohemia" to "Borgia, Francis" / Volume 4, Slice 2
Chapter 3
Volume IV Slice II Bohemia to Borgia, Francis (part 2)
BOLEYN (or Bullen), ANNE (c. 1507-1536), queen of Henry VIII. of England, daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, afterwards earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde, and of Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Howard, earl of Surrey, afterwards duke of Norfolk, was born, according to Camden, in 1507, but her birth has been ascribed, though not conclusively, to an earlier date (to 1502 or 1501) by some later writers. In 1514 she accompanied Mary Tudor to France on the marriage of the princess to Louis XII., remained there after the king’s death, and became one of the women in waiting to Queen Claude, wife of Francis I. She returned in 1521 or 1522 to England, where she had many admirers and suitors. Among the former was the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt, and among the latter, Henry Percy, heir of the earl of Northumberland, a marriage with whom, however, was stopped by the king and another match provided for her in the person of Sir James Butler. Anne Boleyn, however, remained unmarried, and a series of grants and favours bestowed by Henry on her father between 1522 and 1525 have been taken, though very doubtfully, as a symptom of the king’s affections. Unlike her sister Mary, who had fallen a victim to Henry’s solicitations, Anne had no intention of being the king’s mistress; she meant to be his queen, and her conduct seems to have been governed entirely by motives of ambition. The exact period of the beginning of Anne’s relations with Henry is not known. They have been surmised as originating as early as 1523; but there is nothing to prove that Henry’s passion was anterior to the proceedings taken for the divorce in May 1527, the celebrated love letters being undated. Her name is first openly connected with the king’s as a possible wife in the event of Catherine’s divorce, in a letter of Mendoza, the imperial ambassador, to Charles V. of the 16th of August 1527, during the absence in France of Wolsey, who, not blinded by passion like Henry, naturally opposed the undesirable alliance, and was negotiating a marriage with Renée, daughter of Louis XII. Henry meanwhile, however, had sent William Knight, his secretary, on a separate mission to Rome to obtain facilities for his marriage with Anne; and on the cardinal’s return in August he found her installed as the king’s companion and proposed successor to Catherine of Aragon. After the king’s final separation from his wife in July 1531, Anne’s position was still more marked, and in 1532 she accompanied Henry on the visit to Francis I., while Catherine was left at home neglected and practically a prisoner. Soon after their return Anne was found to be pregnant, and in consequence Henry married her about the 25th of January 1533 (the exact date is unknown), their union not being made public till the following Easter. Subsequently, on the 23rd of May, their marriage was declared valid and that with Catherine null, and in June Anne was crowned with great state in Westminster Abbey. Anne Boleyn had now reached the zenith of her hopes. A weak, giddy woman of no stability of character, her success turned her head and caused her to behave with insolence and impropriety, in strong contrast with Catherine’s quiet dignity under her misfortunes. She, and not the king, probably was the author of the petty persecutions inflicted upon Catherine and upon the princess Mary, and her jealousy of the latter showed itself in spiteful malice. Mary was to be forced into the position of a humble attendant upon Anne’s infant, and her ears were to be boxed if she proved recalcitrant. She urged that both should be brought to trial under the new statute of succession passed in 1534, which declared her own children the lawful heirs to the throne. She was reported as saying that when the king gave opportunity by leaving England, she would put Mary to death even if she were burnt or flayed alive for it. She incurred the remonstrances of the privy council and alienated her own friends and relations. Her uncle, the duke of Norfolk, whom she was reported to have treated “worse than a dog,” reviled her, calling her a “grande putaine.” But her day of triumph was destined to be even shorter than that of her predecessor. There were soon signs that Henry’s affection, which had before been a genuine passion, had cooled or ceased. He resented her arrogance, and a few months after the marriage he gave her cause for jealousy, and disputes arose. A strange and mysterious fate had prepared for Anne the same domestic griefs that had vexed and ruined Catherine and caused her abandonment. In September 1533 the birth of a daughter, afterwards Queen Elizabeth, instead of the long-hoped-for son, was a heavy disappointment; next year there was a miscarriage, and on the 29th of January 1536, the day of Catherine’s funeral, she gave birth to a dead male child.
On the 1st of May following the king suddenly broke up a tournament at Greenwich, leaving the company in bewilderment and consternation. The cause was soon known. Inquiries had been made on reports of the queen’s ill-conduct, and several of her reputed lovers had been arrested. On the 2nd Anne herself was committed to the Tower on a charge of adultery with various persons, including her own brother, Lord Rochford. On the 12th Sir Francis Weston, Henry Norris, William Brereton and Mark Smeaton were declared guilty of high treason, while Anne herself and Lord Rochford were condemned unanimously by an assembly of twenty-six peers on the 15th. Her uncle, the duke of Norfolk, presided as lord steward, and gave sentence, weeping, that his niece was to be burned or beheaded as pleased the king. Her former lover, the earl of Northumberland, left the court seized with sudden illness. Her father, who was excused attendance, had, however, been present at the trial of the other offenders, and had there declared his conviction of his daughter’s guilt. On the 16th, hoping probably to save herself by these means, she informed Cranmer of a certain supposed impediment to her marriage with the king—according to some accounts a previous marriage with Northumberland, though the latter solemnly and positively denied it—which was never disclosed, but which, having been considered by the archbishop and a committee of ecclesiastical lawyers, was pronounced, on the 17th, sufficient to invalidate her marriage. The same day all her reputed lovers were executed; and on the 19th she herself suffered death on Tower Green, her head being struck off with a sword by the executioner of Calais brought to England for the purpose. She had regarded the prospect of death with courage and almost with levity, laughing heartily as she put her hands about her “little neck” and recalled the skill of the executioner. “I have seen many men” (wrote Sir William Kingston, governor of the Tower) “and also women executed, and all they have been in great sorrow, and to my knowledge this lady has much joy and pleasure in death.” On the following day Henry was betrothed to Jane Seymour.
Amidst the vituperations of the adherents of the papacy and the later Elizabethan eulogies, and in the absence of the records on which her sentence was pronounced, Anne Boleyn’s guilt remains unproved. To Sir William Kingston she protested her entire innocence, and on the scaffold while expressing her submission she made no confession. Smeaton alone of her supposed lovers made a full confession, and it is possible that his statement was drawn from him by threats of torture or hopes of pardon. Norris, according to one account, also confessed, but subsequently declared that he had been betrayed into making his statement. The others were all said to have “confessed in a manner” on the scaffold, but much weight cannot be placed on these general confessions, which were, according to the custom of the time, a declaration of submission to the king’s will and of general repentance rather than acknowledgment of the special crime. “I pray God save the king,” Anne herself is reported to have said on the scaffold, “and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never; and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord.” A principal witness for the charge of incest was Rochford’s own wife, a woman of infamous character, afterwards executed for complicity in the intrigues of Catherine Howard. The discovery of Anne’s misdeeds coincided in an extraordinary manner with Henry’s disappointment in not obtaining by her a male heir, while the king’s despotic power and the universal unpopularity of Anne both tended to hinder the administration of pure justice. Nevertheless, though unproved, Anne’s guilt is more than probable. It is almost incredible that two grand juries, a petty jury, and a tribunal consisting of nearly all the lay peers of England, with the evidence before them which we do not now possess, should have all unanimously passed a sentence of guilt contrary to the facts and their convictions, and that such a sentence should have been supported by Anne’s own father and uncle. Every year since her marriage Anne had given birth to a child, and Henry had no reason to despair of more; while, if Henry’s state of health was such as was reported, the desire for children, which Anne shared with him, may be urged as an argument for her guilt. Sir Francis Weston in a letter to his family almost acknowledges his guilt in praying for pardon, especially for offences against his wife; Anne’s own conduct and character almost prepare us for some catastrophe. Whether innocent or guilty, however, her fate caused no regrets and her misfortunes did not raise a single champion or defender. The sordid incidents of her rise, and the insolence with which she used her triumph, had alienated all hearts from the unhappy woman. Among the people she had always been intensely disliked; the love of justice, and the fear of trade losses imminent upon a breach with Charles V., combined to render her unpopular. She appealed to the king’s less refined instincts, and Henry’s deterioration of character may be dated from his connexion with her. She is described as “not one of the handsomest women in the world; she is of a middling stature, swarthy complexion, long neck, wide mouth, bosom not much raised, and in fact has nothing but the English king’s great appetite, and her eyes which are black and beautiful, and take great effect.” Cranmer admired her—“sitting in her hair” (i.e. with her hair falling over her shoulders, which seems to have been her custom on great occasions), “upon a horse litter, richly apparelled,” at her coronation.
Bibliography.—Art. in the Dict. of Nat. Biographyand authorities cited; Henry VIII. by A.F. Pollard (1905); Anne Boleyn, by P. Friedman (1884); The Early Life of Anne Boleyn, by J.H. Round (1886); The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, by J.A. Froude (1891); “Der Ursprung der Ehescheidung König Heinrichs VIII.” and “Der Sturz des Cardinals Wolsey,” by W. Busch (Historisches Taschenbuch, vi. Folge viii. 273 and ix. 41, 1889 and 1890); Lives, by Miss E.O. Benger (1821); and Miss A. Strickland, Lives of the Queens of England (1851), vol. ii.; Notices of Historic Persons Buried in the Tower of London, by D.C. Bell (1877); The Wives of Henry VIII. by M.A.S. Hume (1905); Excerpta Historica, by N.H. Nicolas (1831), p. 260; Spanish Chronicle of Henry VIII. tr. by M.A.S. Hume (1889); Records of the Reformation, by N. Pocock (1870); Harleian Miscellany (1808), iii. 47 (the love letters); Archaeologia, xxiii. 64 (memorial of G. Constantyne); Eng. Hist. Rev. v. 544, viii. 53, 299, x. 104; State Trials, i. 410; History of Henry VIII. by Lord Herbert of Cherbury; E. Hall’s Chronicle: Original Letters, ed. by Sir H. Ellis, i. ser., ii. 37, 53 et seq., ii. ser., ii. 10; Extracts from the Life of Queen Anne Boleigne, by G. Wyat (1817); The Negotiations of Thomas Wolsey, by Sir W. Cavendish (1641, rep. Harleian Misc. 1810 v.); C. Wriothesley’s Chronicle (Camden Soc., 1875-1877); Notes and Queries, 8 ser., viii. 141, 189, 313, 350; Il Successo de la Morte de la Regina de Inghilterra (1536); The Maner of the Tryumphe of Caleys and Bullen, and the Noble Tryumphaunt Coronacyon of Queen Anne (1533, rep. 1884); State Papers Henry VIII.; Letters and Papers of Henry VIII., by Brewer and Gardiner, esp. the prefaces; Cal. of State Pap. England and Spain, Venetian and Foreign (1558-1559), p. 525 (an account full of obvious errors); Colton MSS. (Brit. Mus.), Otho C. 10; “Baga de secretis” in Rep. iii., App. ii. of Dep. Keeper of Public Records, p. 242; “Römische Dokumente,” v., M.S. Ehses (Gorres-gesellschaft, Bd. ii., 1893). See also articles on Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII.
(P. C. Y.)
See Anne Boleyn, by P. Friedman; The Early Life of Anne Boleyn, by J.H. Round; and J. Gairdner in Eng. Hist. Review, viii. 53, 299, and x. 104.
According to the Chronicle of King Henry VIII., tr. by M.A.S. Hume, p. 68, she was his mistress.
Of this there is no direct proof, but the statement rests upon contemporary belief and chiefly upon the extraordinary terms of the dispensation granted to Henry to marry Anne Boleyn, which included the suspension of all canons relating to impediments created by “affinity rising ex illicito coitu in any degree even in the first.” Froude rejects the whole story, Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, p. 54; and see Friedman’s Anne Boleyn, ii. 323.
Cat. of St. Pap. England and Spain, iii. pt. ii. p. 327.
According to Cranmer, Letters and Papers of Henry VIII. vi. p. 300, the only authority; and Cranmer himself only knew of it a fortnight after. The marriage was commonly antedated to the 14th of November 1532.
Cat. of St. Pap. England and Spain, v. 198.
Letters and Papers of Henry VIII., x. pp. 374, 381, 385.
According to the most trustworthy accounts, but see Letters and Papers, x. p. 382. The well-known letter to Henry VIII. attributed to her is now recognized as an Elizabethan forgery.
Archaeologia, xxiii. 64.
Letters and Papers, x. 358.
“Sanuto Diaries,” October 31, 1532, in Cal. of St. Pap. Venetian, iv. p. 365.
Original Letters, ed. by Sir H. Ellis, 1 ser. ii. 37, and Cal. of St. Pap. Venetian, iv. 351, 418.
BOLGARI, or Bolgary, a ruined town of Russia, in the government of Kazan, 4 m. from the left bank of the Volga, in 55°N. lat. It is generally considered to have been the capital of the Bulgarians when they were established in that part of Europe (5th to 15th century). Ruins of the old walls and towers still survive, as well as numerous kurgans or burial-mounds, with inscriptions, some in Arabic (1222-1341), others in Armenian (years 557, 984 and 986), and yet others in Turkic. Upon being opened these tombs were found to contain weapons, implements, utensils, and silver and copper coins, bearing inscriptions, some in ordinary Arabic, others in Kufic (a kind of epigraphic Arabic). These and other antiquities collected here (1722) are preserved in museums at Kazan, Moscow and St Petersburg. The ruins, which were practically discovered in the reign of Peter the Great, were visited and described by Pallas, Humboldt and others. The city of Bolgari was destroyed by the Mongols in 1238, and again by Tamerlane early in the following century, after which it served as the capital of the Khans (sovereign princes) of the Golden Horde of Mongols, and finally, in the second half of the 15th century it became a part of the principality of Kazan, and so eventually of Russia. The Arab geographer Ibn Haukal states that in his time, near the end of the 10th century, it was a place of 10,000 inhabitants.
See Ibn Fadhlan, Nachrichten über die Wolga Bulgaren (Ger. trans. by Frähn, St Petersburg, 1832).
BOLI, the chief town of a sanjak of the Kastamuni vilayet in Asia Minor, altitude 2500 ft., situated in a rich plain watered by the Boli Su, a tributary of the Filiyas Chai (Billaeus). Pop. (1894) 10,796 (Moslems, 9642; Greeks, 758; Armenians, 396). Cotton and leather are manufactured; the country around is fertile, and in the neighbourhood are large forests of oak, beech, elm, chestnut and pine, the timber of which is partly used locally and partly exported to Constantinople. Three miles east of Boli, at Eskihissar, are the ruins of Bithynium, the birthplace of Antinous, also called Antinoopolis, and in Byzantine times Claudiopolis. In and around Boli are numerous marbles with Greek inscriptions, chiefly sepulchral, and architectural fragments. At Ilija, south of the town, are warm springs much prized for their medicinal properties.
BOLINGBROKE, HENRY ST JOHN, Viscount (1678-1751), English statesman and writer, son of Sir Henry St John, Bart. (afterwards 1st Viscount St John, a member of a younger branch of the family of the earls of Bolingbroke and barons St John of Bletso), and of Lady Mary Rich, daughter of the 2nd earl of Warwick, was baptized on the 10th of October 1678, and was educated at Eton. He travelled abroad during 1698 and 1699 and acquired an exceptional knowledge of French. The dissipation and extravagance of his youth exceeded all limits and surprised his contemporaries. He spent weeks in riotous orgies and outdrank the most experienced drunkards. An informant of Goldsmith saw him once “run naked through the park in a state of intoxication.” Throughout his career he desired, says Swift, his intimate friend, to be thought the Alcibiades or Petronius of his age, and to mix licentious orgies with the highest political responsibilities. In 1700 he married Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Winchcombe, Bart., of Bucklebury, Berkshire, but matrimony while improving his fortune did not redeem his morals.
He was returned to parliament in 1701 for the family borough of Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire. He declared himself a Tory, attached himself to Harley (afterwards Lord Oxford), then speaker, whom he now addressed as “dear master,” and distinguished himself by his eloquence in debate, eclipsing his schoolfellow, Walpole, and gaining an extraordinary ascendancy over the House of Commons. In May he had charge of the bill for securing the Protestant succession; he took part in the impeachment of the Whig lords for their conduct concerning the Partition treaties, and opposed the oath abjuring the Pretender. In March 1702 he was chosen commissioner for taking the public accounts. After Anne’s accession he supported the bills in 1702 and 1704 against occasional conformity, and took a leading part in the disputes which arose between the two Houses. In 1704 St John took office with Harley as secretary at war, thus being brought into intimate relations with Marlborough, by whom he was treated with paternal partiality. In 1708 he quitted office with Harley on the failure of the latter’s intrigue, and retired to the country till 1710, when he became a privy councillor and secretary of state in Harley’s new ministry, representing Berkshire in parliament. He supported the bill for requiring a real property qualification for a seat in parliament. In 1711 he founded the Brothers’ Club, a society of Tory politicians and men of letters, and the same year witnessed the failure of the two expeditions to the West Indies and to Canada promoted by him. In 1712 he was the author of the bill taxing newspapers. But the great business of the new government was the making of the peace with France. The refusal of the Whigs to grant terms in 1706, and again in 1709 when Louis XIV. offered to yield every point for which the allies professed to be fighting, showed that the war was not being continued for English national interests, and the ministry were supported by the queen, the parliament and the people in their design to terminate hostilities. But various obstacles arose from the diversity of aims among the allies; and St John was induced, contrary to the most solemn obligations, to enter into separate and secret negotiations with France for the security of English interests. In May 1712 St John ordered the duke of Ormonde, who had succeeded Marlborough in the command, to refrain from any further engagement. These instructions were communicated to the French, though not to the allies, Louis putting Dunkirk as security into possession of England, and the shameful spectacle was witnessed of the desertion by the English troops of their allies almost on the battlefield. Subsequently St John received the congratulations of the French minister, Torcy, on the occasion of the French victory over Prince Eugene at Denain.
In August St John, who had on the 7th of July been created Viscount Bolingbroke and Baron St John of Lydiard Tregoze, went to France to conduct negotiations, and signed an armistice between England and France for four months on the 19th. Finally the treaty of Utrecht was signed on the 31st of March 1713 by all the allies except the emperor. The first production of Addison’s Cato was made by the Whigs the occasion of a great demonstration of indignation against the peace, and by Bolingbroke for presenting the actor Booth with a purse of fifty guineas for “defending the cause of liberty against a perpetual dictator” (Marlborough). In the terms granted to England there was perhaps little to criticize. But the manner of the peacemaking, which had been carried on by a series of underhand conspiracies with the enemy instead of by open conferences with the allies, and was characterized throughout by a violation of the most solemn international assurances, left a deep and lasting stain upon the national honour and credit; and not less dishonourable was the abandonment of the Catalans by the treaty. For all this Bolingbroke must be held primarily responsible. In June his commercial treaty with France, establishing free trade with that country, was rejected. Meanwhile the friendship between Bolingbroke and Harley, which formed the basis of the whole Tory administration, had been gradually dissolved. In March 1711, by Guiscard’s attempt on his life, Harley got the wound which had been intended for St John, with all the credit. In May Harley obtained the earldom of Oxford and was made lord treasurer, while in July St John was greatly disappointed at receiving only his viscountcy instead of the earldom lately extinct in his family, and at being passed over for the Garter. In September 1713 Swift came to London, and made a last but vain attempt to reconcile his two friends. But now a further cause of difference had arisen. The queen’s health was visibly breaking, and the Tory ministers could only look forward to their own downfall on the accession of the elector of Hanover. Both Oxford and Bolingbroke had maintained for some time secret communications with James, and promised their help in restoring him at the queen’s death. The aims of the former, prudent, procrastinating and vacillating by nature, never extended probably beyond the propitiation of his Tory followers; and it is difficult to imagine that Bolingbroke could have really advocated the Pretender’s recall, whose divine right he repudiated and whose religion and principles he despised. Nevertheless, whatever his chief motive may have been, whether to displace Oxford as leader of the party, to strengthen his position and that of the faction in order to dictate terms to the future king, or to reinstate James, Bolingbroke, yielding to his more impetuous and adventurous disposition, went much further than Oxford. It is possible to suppose a connexion between his zeal for making peace with France and a desire to forward the Pretender’s interests or win support from the Jacobites. During his diplomatic mission to France he had incurred blame for remaining at the opera while the Pretender was present, and according to the Mackintosh transcripts he had several secret interviews with him. Regular communications were kept up subsequently. In March 1714 Herville, the French envoy in London, sent to Torcy, the French foreign minister in Paris, the substance of two long conversations with Bolingbroke in which the latter advised patience till after the accession of George, when a great reaction was to be expected in favour of the Pretender. At the same time he spoke of the treachery of Marlborough and Berwick, and of one other, presumably Oxford, whom he refused to name, all of whom were in communication with Hanover. Both Oxford and Bolingbroke warned James that he could have little chance of success unless he changed his religion, but the latter’s refusal (March 13) does not appear to have stopped the communications. Bolingbroke gradually superseded Oxford in the leadership. Lady Masham, the queen’s favourite, quarrelled with Oxford and identified herself with Bolingbroke’s interests. The harsh treatment of the Hanoverian demands was inspired by him, and won favour with the queen, while Oxford’s influence declined; and by his support of the Schism Bill in May 1714, a violent Tory measure forbidding all education by dissenters by making an episcopal licence obligatory for schoolmasters, he probably intended to compel Oxford to give up the game. Finally, a charge of corruption brought by Oxford in July against Bolingbroke and Lady Masham, in connexion with the commercial treaty with Spain, failed, and the lord treasurer was dismissed or retired on the 27th of July.
Bolingbroke was now supreme, and everything appeared tending inevitably to a Jacobite restoration. The Jacobite Sir William Windham had been made chancellor of the exchequer, important military posts were placed in the hands of the faction, and a new ministry of Jacobites was projected. But now the queen’s sudden death on the 1st of August, and the appointment of Shrewsbury to the lord treasurership, instantly changed the whole scene and ruined Bolingbroke. “The earl of Oxford was removed on Tuesday,” he wrote to Swift on the 3rd of August, “the queen died on Sunday! What a world is this and how does fortune banter us!” According to Herville, the French envoy, Bolingbroke declared to him that in six weeks he could have secured everything. Nevertheless the exact nature of his projects remains obscure. It is probable that his statement in his letter to Windham that “none of us had any very settled resolution” is true, though his declaration in the Patriot King that “there were no designs on foot ... to place the crown on the head of the Pretender” is a palpable falsehood. His great object was doubtless to gain supreme power and to keep it by any means, and by any betrayal that the circumstances demanded; and it is not without significance perhaps that on the very day of Oxford’s dismissal he gave a dinner to the Whig leaders, and on the day preceding the queen’s death ordered overtures to be made to the elector.
On the accession of George I. the illuminations and bonfire at Lord Bolingbroke’s house in Golden Square were “particularly fine and remarkable,” but he was immediately dismissed from office. He retired to Bucklebury and is said to have now written the answer to the Secret History of the White Staff accusing him of Jacobitism. In March 1715 he in vain attempted to defend the late ministry in the new parliament; and on the announcement of Walpole’s intended attack upon the authors of the treaty of Utrecht he fled in disguise (March 28, 1715) to Paris, where he was well received, after having addressed a letter to Lord Lansdowne from Dover protesting his innocence and challenging “the most inveterate of his enemies to produce any instance of his criminal correspondence.” Bolingbroke in July entirely identified himself with the interests of the Pretender, whose secretary he became, and on the 10th of September he was attainted. But his counsel was neglected for that of ignorant refugees and Irish priests. The expedition of 1715 was resolved upon against his advice. He drew up James’s declaration, but the assurances he had inserted concerning the security of the Church of England were cancelled by the priests. He remained at Paris, and endeavoured to establish relations with the regent. On the return of James, as the result of petty intrigues and jealousies, Bolingbroke was dismissed from his office. He now renounced all further efforts on the Pretender’s behalf. Replying to Mary of Modena, who had sent a message deprecating his ill-will, he wished his arm might rot off if he ever used pen or sword in their service again!
He now turned to the English government in hopes of pardon. In March 1716 he declared his final abandonment of the Pretender and promised to use his influence to secure the withdrawal of his friends; but he refused to betray any secrets or any individuals. He wrote his Reflexions upon Exile, and in 1717 his letter to Sir W. Windham in explanation of his position, generally considered one of his finest compositions, but not published till 1753 after his death. The same year he formed a liaison with Marie Claire Deschamps de Marcilly, widow of the marquis de Villette, whom he married in 1720 after the death in 1718 of Lady Bolingbroke, whom he had treated with cruel neglect. He bought and resided at the estate of La Source near Orleans, studied philosophy, criticized the chronology of the Bible, and was visited amongst others by Voltaire, who expressed unbounded admiration for his learning and politeness. In 1723, through the medium of the king’s mistress, the duchess of Kendal, he at last received his pardon, returned to London in June or July, and placed his services at the disposal of Walpole, by whom, however, his offers to procure the accession of several Tories to the administration were received very coldly. During the following winter he made himself useful in France in gaining information for the government. In 1725 an act was passed enabling him to hold real estate but without power of alienating it. But this had been effected in consequence of a peremptory order of the king, against Walpole’s wishes, who succeeded in maintaining his exclusion from the House of Lords. He now bought an estate at Dawley, near Uxbridge, where he renewed his intimacy with Pope, Swift and Voltaire, took part in Pope’s literary squabbles, and wrote the philosophy for the Essay on Man. On the first occasion which offered itself, that of Pulteney’s rupture with Walpole in 1726, he endeavoured to organize an opposition in conjunction with the former and Windham; and in 1727 began his celebrated series of letters to the Craftsman, attacking the Walpoles, signed an “Occasional Writer.” He gained over the duchess of Kendal with a bribe of £11,000 from his wife’s estates, and with Walpole’s approval obtained an audience with George. His success was imminent, and it was thought his appointment as chief minister was assured. In Walpole’s own words, “as St John had the duchess entirely on his side I need not add what must or might in time have been the consequence,” and he prepared for his dismissal. But once more Bolingbroke’s “fortune turned rotten at the very moment it grew ripe,” and his projects and hopes were ruined by the king’s death in June. Further papers from his pen signed “John Trot” appeared in the Craftsman in 1728, and in 1730 followed Remarks on the History of England by Humphrey Oldcastle, attacking the Walpoles’ policy. The assault on the government prompted by Bolingbroke was continued in the House of Commons by Windham, and great efforts were made to establish the alliance between the Tories and the Opposition Whigs. The Excise Bill in 1733 and the Septennial Bill in the following year offered opportunities for further attacks on the government, which Bolingbroke supported by a new series of papers in the Craftsman styled “A Dissertation on Parties”; but the whole movement collapsed after the new elections, which returned Walpole to power in 1735 with a large majority.
Bolingbroke retired baffled and disappointed from the fray to France in June, residing principally at the château of Argeville near Fontainebleau. He now wrote his Letters on the Study of History (printed privately before his death and published in 1752), and the True Use of Retirement. In 1738 he visited England, became one of the leading friends and advisers of Frederick, prince of Wales, who now headed the opposition, and wrote for the occasion The Patriot King, which together with a previous essay, The Spirit of Patriotism, and The State of Parties at the Accession of George I., were entrusted to Pope and not published. Having failed, however, to obtain any share in politics, he returned to France in 1739, and subsequently sold Dawley. In 1742 and 1743 he again visited England and quarrelled with Warburton. In 1744 he settled finally at Battersea with his friend Hugh Hume, 3rd earl of Marchmont, and was present at Pope’s death in May. The discovery that the poet had printed secretly 1500 copies of The Patriot King caused him to publish a correct version in 1749, and stirred up a further altercation with Warburton, who defended his friend against Bolingbroke’s bitter aspersions, the latter, whose conduct was generally reprehended, publishing a Familiar Epistle to the most Impudent Man Living. In 1744 he had been very busy assisting in the negotiations for the establishment of the new “broad bottom” administration, and showed no sympathy for the Jacobite expedition in 1745. He recommended the tutor for Prince George, afterwards George III. About 1749 he wrote the Present State of the Nation, an unfinished pamphlet. Lord Chesterfield records the last words heard from him: “God who placed me here will do what He pleases with me hereafter and He knows best what to do.” He died on the 12th of December 1751, his wife having predeceased him in 1750. They were both buried in the parish church at Battersea, where a monument with medallions and inscriptions composed by Bolingbroke was erected to their memory.
The writings and career of Bolingbroke make a far weaker impression upon posterity than they made on contemporaries. His genius and character were superficial; his abilities were exercised upon ephemeral objects, and not inspired by lasting or universal ideas. Bute and George III. indeed derived their political ideas from The Patriot King, but the influence which he is said to have exercised upon Voltaire, Gibbon and Burke is very problematical. Burke wrote his Vindication of Natural Society in imitation of Bolingbroke’s style, but in refutation of his principles; and in the Reflections on the French Revolution he exclaims, “Who now reads Bolingbroke, who ever read him through?” Burke denies that Bolingbroke’s words left “any permanent impression on his mind.” Bolingbroke’s conversation, described by Lord Chesterfield as “such a flowing happiness of expression that even his most familiar conversations if taken down in writing would have borne the press without the least correction,” his delightful companionship, his wit, good looks, and social qualities which charmed during his lifetime and made firm friendships with men of the most opposite character, can now only be faintly imagined. His most brilliant gift was his eloquence, which according to Swift was acknowledged by men of all factions to be unrivalled. None of his great orations has survived, a loss regretted by Pitt more than that of the missing books of Livy and Tacitus, and no art perishes more completely with its possessor than that of oratory. His political works, in which the expression is often splendidly eloquent, spirited and dignified, are for the most part exceedingly rhetorical in style, while his philosophical essays were undertaken with the chief object of displaying his eloquence, and no characteristic renders writings less readable for posterity. They are both deficient in solidity and in permanent interest. The first deals with mere party questions without sincerity and without depth; and the second, composed as an amusement in retirement without any serious preparation, in their attacks on metaphysics and theology and in their feeble deism present no originality and carry no conviction. Both kinds reflect in their Voltairian superficiality Bolingbroke’s manner of life, which was throughout uninspired by any great ideas or principles and thoroughly false and superficial. Though a libertine and a free-thinker, he had championed the most bigoted and tyrannical high-church measures. His diplomacy had been subordinated to party necessities. He had supported by turns and simultaneously Jacobite and Hanoverian interests. He had only conceived the idea of The Patriot King in the person of the worthless Frederick in order to stir up sedition, while his eulogies on retirement and study were pronounced from an enforced exile. He only attacked party government because he was excluded from it, and only railed at corruption because it was the corruption of his antagonists and not his own. His public life presents none of those acts of devotion and self-sacrifice which often redeem a career characterized by errors, follies and even crimes.
One may deplore his unfortunate history and wasted genius, but it is impossible to regret his exclusion from the government of England. He was succeeded in the title as 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, according to the special remainder, by his nephew Frederick, 3rd Viscount St John (a title granted to Bolingbroke’s father in 1716), from whom the title has descended.
Bibliography.—Bolingbroke’s collected works, including his chief political writings already mentioned and his philosophical essays Concerning the Nature, Extent and Reality of Human Knowledge, On the Folly and Presumption of Philosophers, On the Rise and Progress of Monotheism, and On Authority in Matters of Religion, were first published in Mallet’s faulty edition in 1754,—according to Johnson’s well-known denunciation, “the blunderbuss charged against religion and morality,”—and subsequently in 1778, 1809 and 1841. A Collection of Political Tracts by Bolingbroke was published in 1748. His Letters were published by G. Parke in 1798, and by Grimoard, Lettres historiques, politiques, philosophiques, &c., in 1808; for others see Pope’s and Swift’s Correspondence; W. Coxe’s Walpole; Phillimore’s Life of Lyttelton; Hardwick State Papers, vol. ii.; Marchmont Papers, ed. by Sir G.H. Rose (1831); Letters to Lord Chancellor Hardwicke in Add. MSS. Brit. Museum (see Index, 1894-1899), mostly transcribed by W. Sichel; Hist. MSS. Comm., MSS. of Marquis of Bath, Duke of Portland at Welbeck; while a further collection of his letters relating to the treaty of Utrecht is in the British Museum. For his attempts at verse see Walpole’s Royal and Noble Authors (1806), iv. 209 et seq. See also bibliography of his works in Sichel, ii. 456, 249.
A life of Bolingbroke appeared in his lifetime about 1740, entitled Authentic Memoirs (in the Grenville Library, Brit. Mus.), which recounted his escapades; other contemporary accounts were published in 1752 and 1754, and a life by Goldsmith in 1770. Of the more modern biographies may be noted that in the Dict. of Nat. Biog. by Sir Leslie Stephen, 1897; by C. de Remusat in L’Angleterre au 18me siècle (1856), vol. i.; by T. Macknight (1863); by J. Churton Collins (1886); by A. Hassall (1889); and by Walter Sichel (1901-1902), elaborate and brilliant, but unduly eulogistic.
(P. C. Y.)
Swift’s Inquiry into the Behaviour of the Queen’s Last Ministry; Mrs Delaney’s Correspondence, 2 ser., iii. 168.
Berwick’s Mem. (Petitot), vol. lxvi. 219.
Hist. MSS. Comm., Portland MSS. v. 235.
Stuart MSS. (Roxburghe Club), ii. 383.
Hist. MSS. Comm., MSS. of H.M. the King, Stuart Papers, i. p. xlviii.
Sichel’s Bolingbroke, i. 340; Lockhart Papers, i. 460; Macpherson, ii. 529.
Wentworth Papers, 408.
Hist. MSS. Comm., Stuart Papers, i. 500; Berwick’s Mem. (Petitot), vol. lxvi. 262.
Coxe’s Walpole, i. 200; Stuart Papers, ii. 511, and also 446, 460.
Hist. MSS. Comm., Onslow MSS. 515.
Bolingbroke to Swift, June 24th, 1727. He adds, “to hanker after a court is below either you or me.”
Sichel’s Bolingbroke, ii. 267; Stanhope, ii. 163; Hist. MSS. Comm., Onslow MSS. 516, 8th Rep. Pt. III. App. p. 3. This remarkable incident is discredited by H. Walpole in Letters (ed. 1903), iii. 269; but he was not always well informed concerning his father’s career.
BOLIVAR, SIMON (1783-1830), the hero of South American independence, was born in the city of Caracas, Venezuela, on the 24th of July 1783. His father was Juan Vicente Bolivar y Ponte, and his mother Maria Concepcion Palacios y Sojo, both descended from noble families in Venezuela. Bolivar was sent to Europe to prosecute his studies, and resided at Madrid for several years. Having completed his education, he spent some time in travelling, chiefly in the south of Europe, and visited Paris, where he was an eye-witness of some of the last scenes of the Revolution. Returning to Madrid, he married, in 1801, the daughter of Don N. Toro, uncle of the marquis of Toro in Caracas, and embarked with her for Venezuela, intending, it is said, to devote himself to the improvement of his large estate. But the premature death of his young wife, who fell a victim to yellow fever, drove him again to Europe. Returning home in 1809 he passed through the United States, where, for the first time, he had an opportunity of observing the working of free institutions; and soon after his arrival in Venezuela he appears to have identified himself with the cause of independence which had already agitated the Spanish colonies for some years. Being one of the promoters of the insurrection at Caracas in April 1810, he received a colonel’s commission from the revolutionary junta, and was associated with Louis Lopez Mendez in a mission to the court of Great Britain. Venezuela declared its independence on the 5th of July 1811, and in the following year the war commenced in earnest by the advance of Monteverde with the Spanish troops. Bolivar was entrusted with the command of the important post of Puerto Cabello, but not being supported he had to evacuate the place; and owing to the inaction of Miranda the Spaniards recovered their hold over the country.
Like others of the revolutionists Bolivar took to flight, and succeeded in reaching Curaçao in safety. He did not, however, remain long in retirement, but in September 1812, hearing of important movements in New Granada, repaired to Cartagena, where he received a commission to operate against the Spanish troops on the Magdalena river. In this expedition he proved eminently successful, driving the Spaniards from post to post, until arriving at the confines of Venezuela he boldly determined to enter that province and try conclusions with General Monteverde himself. His troops did not number more than 500 men; but, in spite of many discouragements, he forced his way to Merida and Truxillo, towns of some importance in the west of Venezuela, and succeeded in raising the population to his support. Forming his increased forces into two divisions, he committed the charge of one to his colleague Rivas, and pushing on for Caracas the capital, issued his decree of “war to the death.” A decisive battle ensued at Lastoguanes, where the Spanish troops under Monteverde sustained a crushing defeat. Caracas was entered in triumph on the 4th of August 1813, and Monteverde took refuge in Puerto Cabello. General Mariño effected the liberation of the eastern district of Venezuela, and the patriots obtained entire possession of the country in January 1814. This success was, however, of very brief duration. The royalists, effectually roused by the reverses they had sustained, concentrated all their means, and a number of sanguinary encounters ensued. Bolivar was eventually defeated by Boves near Cura, in the plains of La Puerta, and compelled to embark for Cumana with the shattered remains of his forces. Caracas was retaken by the Spaniards in July; and before the end of the year 1814 the royalists were again the undisputed masters of Venezuela. From Cumana Bolivar repaired to Cartagena, and thence to Tunja, where the revolutionary congress of New Granada was sitting. Here, notwithstanding his misfortunes and the efforts of his personal enemies, he was received and treated with great consideration. The congress appointed him to conduct an expedition against Santa Fé de Bogota, where Don Cundinamarca had refused to acknowledge the new coalition of the provinces. In December 1814 he appeared before Bogota with a force of 2000 men, and obliged the recalcitrant leaders to capitulate,—a service for which he received the thanks of congress. In the meanwhile Santa Martha had fallen into the hands of the royalists, and Bolivar was ordered to the relief of the place. In this, however, he was not successful, General Morillo having landed an overwhelming Spanish force. Hopeless of the attempt he resigned his commission and embarked for Kingston, Jamaica, in May 1814. While residing there an attempt was made upon his life by a hired assassin, who, in mistake, murdered his secretary.
From Kingston Bolivar went to Aux Cayes in Haiti, where he was furnished with a small force by President Petion. An expedition was organized, and landed on the mainland in May 1816, but proved a failure. Nothing daunted, however, he obtained reinforcements at Aux Cayes, and in December landed first in Margarita, and then at Barcelona. Here a provisional government was formed, and troops were assembled to resist Morillo, who was then advancing at the head of a strong division. The hostile forces encountered each other on the 16th of February 1817, when a desperate conflict ensued, which lasted during that and the two following days, and ended in the defeat of the royalists. Morillo retired in disorder, and being met on his retreat by J.A. Paez with his llaneros, suffered an additional and more complete overthrow. Being now recognized as commander-in-chief, Bolivar proceeded in his career of victory, and before the close of the year had fixed his headquarters at Angostura on the Orinoco. At the opening of the congress which assembled in that city on the 15th February 1819 he submitted an elaborate exposition of his views on government, and concluded by surrendering his authority into the hands of congress. Being, however, required to resume his power, and retain it until the independence of the country had been completely established, he reorganized his troops, and set out from Angostura, in order to cross the Cordilleras, effect a junction with General Santander, who commanded the republican force in New Granada, and bring their united forces into action against the common enemy. This bold and original design was crowned with complete success. In July 1819 he entered Tunja, after a sharp action on the adjoining heights; and on the 7th of August he gained the victory of Boyaca, which gave him immediate possession of Bogota and all New Granada.
His return to Angostura was a sort of national festival. He was hailed as the deliverer and father of his country, and all manner of distinctions and congratulations were heaped upon him. Availing himself of the favourable moment, he obtained the enactment of the fundamental law of the 17th of December 1819, by which the republics of Venezuela and New Granada were henceforth to be united in a single state, under his presidency, by the title of the Republic of Colombia. The seat of government was also transferred provisionally to Rosario de Cucuta, on the frontier of the two provinces, and Bolivar again took the field. Being now at the head of the most numerous and best appointed army the republicans had yet assembled, he gained important advantages over the Spaniards under Morillo, and on the 25th of November 1820 concluded at Truxillo an armistice of six months, probably in the hope that the Spaniards would come to terms, and that the further effusion of blood might be spared. If such were his views, however, they were disappointed. Morillo was recalled, and General Torre assumed the command. The armistice was allowed to expire, and a renewal of the contest became inevitable. Bolivar therefore resolved, if possible, to strike a decisive blow; and this accordingly he did at Carabobo, where, encountering Torre, he so completely routed the Spaniards that the shattered remains of their army were forced to take refuge in Puerto Cabello, where two years after they surrendered to Paez. The battle of Carabobo may be considered as having put an end to the war in Venezuela. On the 29th of June 1821 Bolivar entered Caracas, and by the close of the year the Spaniards were driven from every part of the province except Puerto Cabello. The next step was to secure, by permanent political institutions, the independence which had been so dearly purchased; and, accordingly, on the 30th of August 1821 the constitution of Colombia was adopted with general approbation, Bolivar himself being president, and Santander vice-president.
There was, however, more work for him to do. The Spaniards, though expelled from Colombia, still held possession of the neighbouring provinces of Ecuador and Peru; and Bolivar determined to complete the liberation of the whole country. Placing himself at the head of the army, he marched on Quito in Ecuador. A severe battle was fought at Pichincha, where, by the prowess of his colleague Sucre, the Spaniards were routed, and Quito was entered by the republicans in June 1822. Bolivar then marched upon Lima, which the royalists evacuated at his approach; and entering the capital in triumph, he was invested with absolute power as dictator, and authorized to call into action all the resources of the country. Owing, however, to the intrigues of the republican factions in Peru he was forced to withdraw to Truxillo, leaving the capital to the mercy of the Spaniards under Canterac, by whom it was immediately occupied. But this misfortune proved only temporary. By June 1824 the liberating army was completely organized; and taking the field soon after, it routed the vanguard of the enemy. Improving his advantage, Bolivar pressed forward, and on the 6th of August defeated Canterac on the plains of Junin, after which he returned to Lima, leaving Sucre to follow the royalists in their retreat to Upper Peru—an exploit which the latter executed with equal ability and success, gaining a decisive victory at Ayacucho, and thus completing the dispersion of the Spanish force. The possessions of the Spaniards in Peru were now confined to the castles of Callao, which Rodil maintained for upwards of a year, in spite of all the means that could be employed for their reduction. In June 1825 Bolivar visited Upper Peru, which, having detached itself from the government of Buenos Aires, was formed into a separate state, called Bolivia, in honour of the liberator. The first congress of the new republic assembled in August 1825, when Bolivar was declared perpetual protector, and requested to prepare for it a constitution of government.
His care was now directed to the administration of the affairs of the freed provinces. His endeavours to satisfy his countrymen in this respect did not always meet with encouragement, and sometimes exposed him to slander. In December 1824 Bolivar convoked a constituent congress for the February following; but this body, taking into consideration the unsettled state of the country, thought it proper to invest him with dictatorial power for another year. His project of a constitution for Bolivia was presented to the congress of that state on the 25th of May 1826, accompanied with an address, in which he embodied his opinions respecting the form of government which he conceived most expedient for the newly established republics. This code, however, did not give satisfaction. Its most extraordinary feature consisted in the provision for lodging the executive authority in the hands of a president for life, without responsibility and with power to nominate his successor, a proposal which alarmed the friends of liberty, and excited lively apprehensions amongst the republicans of Buenos Aires and Chile; whilst in Peru, Bolivar was accused of a design to unite into one state Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, and to render himself perpetual dictator of the confederacy.
In the meanwhile the affairs of Colombia had taken a turn which demanded the presence of Bolivar in his own country. During his absence Santander had administered the government of the state ably and uprightly, and its independence had been recognized by other countries. But Paez, who commanded in Venezuela, having been accused of arbitrary conduct in the enrolment of the citizens of Caracas in the militia, refused obedience to the summons of the senate, and placed himself in a state of open rebellion against the government, being encouraged by a disaffected party in the northern departments who desired separation from the rest of the republic.
Accordingly, having entrusted the government to a council nominated by himself, with Santa Cruz at its head, Bolivar set out from Lima in September 1826, and hastening to Bogota, arrived there on the 14th of November. He immediately assumed the extraordinary powers which by the constitution the president was authorized to exercise in case of rebellion. After a short stay in the capital he pressed forward to stop the effusion of blood in Venezuela, where matters had gone much farther than he could have contemplated. On the 31st of December he reached Puerto Cabello, and the following day he issued a decree offering a general amnesty. He had then a friendly meeting with Paez and soon after entered Caracas, where he fixed his headquarters, in order to check the northern departments, which had been the principal theatre of the disturbances. In the meanwhile Bolivar and Santander were re-elected to the respective offices of president and vice-president, and by law they should have qualified as such in January 1827. In February, however, Bolivar formally resigned the presidency of the republic, at the same time expressing a determination to refute the imputations of ambition which had been so freely cast upon him, by retiring into private life, and spending the remainder of his days on his patrimonial estate. Santander combated this proposal, urging him to resume his station as constitutional president, and declaring his own conviction that the troubles and agitations of the country could only be appeased by the authority and personal influence of the liberator himself. This view being confirmed by a resolution of congress, although it was not a unanimous one, Bolivar decided to resume his functions, and he repaired to Bogota to take the oaths. Before his arrival, however, he issued simultaneously three separate decrees—one granting a general amnesty, another convoking a national convention at Ocaña, and a third for establishing constitutional order throughout Colombia. His arrival was accelerated by the occurrence of events in Peru and the southern departments which struck at the very foundation of his power. Not long after his departure from Lima, the Bolivian code had been adopted as the constitution of Peru, and Bolivar had been declared president for life on the 9th of December 1826, the anniversary of the battle of Ayacucho. At this time the Colombian auxiliary army was cantoned in Peru, and the third division, stationed at Lima, consisting of veteran troops under Lara and Sands, became distrustful of Bolivar’s designs on the freedom of the republic. Accordingly, in about six weeks after the adoption of Bolivar’s new constitution, a counter-revolution in the government of Peru was effected by this body of dissatisfied veterans, and the Peruvians, availing themselves of the opportunity, abjured the Bolivian code, deposed the council appointed by the liberator, and proceeded to organize a provisional government for themselves. After this bloodless revolution the third division embarked at Callao on the 17th of March 1827, and landed in the southern department of Colombia in the following month. Intelligence of these events reached Bolivar while in the north of Colombia, and he lost no time in preparing to march against the refractory troops, who formerly had placed such implicit confidence in him. But he was spared the necessity of coming to blows, for the leaders, finding the government in the hands of the national executive, had peaceably submitted to General Ovando. In the meanwhile Bolivar had accepted the presidency, and resumed the functions belonging to his official position. But although Colombia was, to all external appearance, restored to tranquillity, the nation was divided into two parties. Bolivar had, no doubt, regained the personal confidence of the officers and soldiers of the third division; but the republican party, with Santander at their head, continued to regard with undisguised apprehension his ascendancy over the army, suspecting him of a desire to imitate the career of Napoleon. In the meanwhile all parties looked anxiously to the convention of Ocaña, which was to assemble in March 1828, for a decided expression of the national will. The republicans hoped that the issue of its deliberations would be favourable to their views; whilst the military, on the other hand, did not conceal their conviction that a stronger and more permanent form of government was essential to the public welfare. The latter view seems to have prevailed. In virtue of a decree, dated Bogota, the 27th of August 1828, Bolivar assumed the supreme power in Colombia, and continued to exercise it until his death, which took place at San Pedro, near Santa Marta, on the 17th of December 1830.
Bolivar spent nine-tenths of a splendid patrimony in the service of his country; and although he had for a considerable period unlimited control over the revenues of three countries—Colombia, Peru and Bolivia—he died without a shilling of public money in his possession. He achieved the independence of three states, and called forth a new spirit in the southern portion of the New World. He purified the administration of justice; he encouraged the arts and sciences; he fostered national interests, and he induced other countries to recognize that independence which was in a great measure the fruit of his own exertions. His remains were removed in 1842 to Caracas, where a monument was erected to his memory; a statue was put up in Bogota in 1846; in 1858 the Peruvians followed the example by erecting an equestrian statue of the liberator in Lima; and in 1884 a statue was erected in Central Park, New York.
Twenty-two volumes of official documents bearing on Bolivar’s career were officially published at Caracas in 1826-1833. There are lives by Larrazabal (New York, 1866); Rojas (Madrid, 1883); and Ducoudray-Holstein (Paris, 1831). Two volumes of his correspondence were published in New York in 1866.
BOLÍVAR, till 1908 a department of Colombia, bounded N. and W. by the Caribbean Sea, E. by the departments of Magdalena and Santander, S. by Antioquia and S.W. by Cauca. It has an area of 27,028 sq. m., composed in great part of low, alluvial plains, densely wooded, but slightly cultivated and unsuited for north European labour. The population, estimated at 323,097 in 1899, is composed largely of mixed races; in some localities the inhabitants of mixed race are estimated to constitute four-fifths of the population. The capital, Cartagena on the Caribbean coast, was once the principal commercial entrepôt of Colombia. Other important towns are Barranquilla and Mompox (8000), on the Magdalena river, and Corozal (9000) and Lorica (10,596 in 1902), near the western coast.
BOLÍVAR, an inland state of Venezuela, lying S. of the Orinoco and Apure, with the Yuruari territory on the E., the Caroni river forming the boundary, and the Amazonas territory and Brazil on the S. Frequent political changes in Venezuela have led to various modifications in the size and outlines of this state, which comprises large areas of uninhabited territory. It is a country of extensive plains (llanos) covered in the rainy season with nutritious grass which disappears completely in the dry season, and of great forests and numerous rivers. Its population was given in 1894 as 135,232, but its area has been largely reduced since then. The capital is Ciudad Bolívar, formerly called Angostura, which is situated on the right bank of the Orinoco about 240 m. above its mouth; pop. 11,686. Vessels of light draught easily ascend the Orinoco to this point, and a considerable trade is carried on, the exports being cocoa, sugar, cotton, hides, jerked beef and various forest products.
BOLIVIA, an inland republic of South America, once a part of the Spanish vice-royalty of Peru and known as the province of Charcas, or Upper Peru. It is the third largest political division of the continent, and extends, approximately, from 9° 44′ to 22° 50′ S. lat., and from 58° to 70° W. long. It is bounded N. and E. by Brazil, S. by Paraguay and Argentina, and W. by Chile and Peru. Estimates of area vary widely and have been considerably confused by repeated losses of territory in boundary disputes with neighbouring states, and no figures can be given which may not be changed to some extent by further revisions. Official estimates are 640,226 and 703,633 sq. m., but Supan (Die Bevolkerung der Erde, 1904) places it at 515,156 sq. m.
Boundaries.—The boundary line between Bolivia and Brazil has its origin in the limits between the Spanish and Portuguese colonies determined by the treaties of Madrid and San Ildefonso (1750 and 1777), which were modified by the treaties of 1867 and 1903. Beginning at the outlet of Bahia Negra into the Paraguay river, lat. 28° 08′ 35″ S., the line ascends the latter to a point on the west bank 9 kilometres below Fort Coimbra, thence inland 4 kilometres to a point in lat. 19° 45′ 36″ S. and long. 58° 04′ 12.7″ W., whence it follows an irregular course N. and E. of N. to Lakes Mandioré, Gaiba or Gahiba, and Uberaba, then up the San Matias river and N. along the Sierra Ricardo Franco to the headwaters of the Rio Verde, a tributary of the Guaporé. This part of the boundary was turned inland from the Paraguay to include, within Brazilian jurisdiction, Fort Coimbra, Corumbá and other settlements on the west bank, and was modified in 1903 by the recession of about 1158 sq. m. to Bolivia to provide better commercial facilities on the Paraguay. The line follows the Verde, Guaporé, Mamoré and Madeira rivers down to the mouth of the Abuna, in about lat. 9° 44′ S., as determined by the treaty of 1903. This is a part of the original colonial frontier, which extended down the Madeira to a point midway between the Beni and the Amazon, and then ran due W. to the Javary. The treaty of 1867 changed this starting-point to the mouth of the Beni, in lat. 10° 20′ S., and designated a straight line to the source of the Javary as the frontier, which gave to Brazil a large area of territory; but when the valuable rubber forests of the upper Purús became known the Brazilians invaded them and demanded another modification of the boundary line. This was finally settled in 1903 by the treaty of Petropolis, which provided that the line should ascend the Abuna river to lat. 10° 20′ S., thence along that parallel W. to the Rapirran river which is followed to its principal source, thence due W. to the Ituxy river which is followed W. to its source, thence to the source of Bahia Creek which is followed to the Acré or Aquiry river, thence up the latter to its source, whence if east of the 69th meridian it runs direct to the 11th parallel which will form the boundary line to the Peruvian frontier. This frontier gave about 60,000 sq. m. of territory to Brazil, for which the latter gave an indemnity of £2,000,000 and about 1158 sq. m. of territory on the Matto Grosso frontier. The boundary with Paraguay is unsettled, but an unratified treaty of the 23rd of November 1894 provides that the line shall start from a point on the Paraguay river 3 m. north of Fort Olimpo and run south-west in a straight line to an intersection with the Pilcomayo in long. 61° 28′ W., where it unites with the Argentine boundary. The boundary with Chile was greatly modified by the results of the war of 1879-83, as determined by the treaties of 1884, 1886 and 1895, Bolivia losing her department of the littoral on the Pacific and all access to the coast except by the grace of the conqueror. Provisions were made in 1895 for the cession of the port of Mejillones del Norte and a right of way across the province of Tarapacá, but Peru protested, and negotiations followed for the cession of Cobija, in the province of Antofagasta. These negotiations proved fruitless, and in 1904 Bolivia accepted a pecuniary indemnity in lieu of territory. The new boundary line starts from the summit of the Sapaleri (or Zapalegui), where the Argentine, Bolivian and Chilean boundaries converge, and runs west to Licancaur, thence north to the most southern source of Lake Ascotán which it follows to and across this lake in the direction of the Oyahua volcano, and thence in a straight line to the Tua volcano, on the frontier of the province of Tarapacá. From this point the line follows the summits of the Cordillera Silillica north to the Cerro Paquiza, on the Tacna frontier, and to the Nevado Pomarape, near the frontier of Peru. Thence it continues north to an intersection with the Desaguadero, in about 16° 45′ S. lat., follows that river to the Winamarca lagoon and Lake Titicaca, and crosses the latter diagonally to Huaicho on the north shore. From this point the line crosses the Cordillera Real through the valley of the San Juan del Oro to Suches Lake, follows the Cololo and Apolobamba ranges to the headwaters of the Sina river, and thence down that stream to the Inambari. Thence the line either follows the latter to its confluence with the Madre de Dios, or the water-parting between that river and the Tambopata or Pando, to the valley of the Madre de Dios, from which point it runs due north to 12° 40′ S. lat., and north-west to the new Brazilian frontier. The N.W. angle on the map represents the Bolivian claim until the settlement of 1909, which gave the territory to Peru.
Physiography.—Roughly calculated, two-fifths of the total area of Bolivia is comprised within the Andean cordilleras which cross its south-west corner and project east toward the Brazilian highlands in the form of a great obtuse angle. The Cordilleras, divided into two great parallel chains, with flanking ranges and spurs to the east, reach their greatest breadth at this point and form the massif of the Andean system. It is made up of a number of parallel ranges enclosing great elevated plateaus broken by transverse ranges and deep ravines. North-east of Lake Titicaca there is a confused mass or knot (the Nudo de Apolobamba) of lofty intersecting ridges which include some of the highest peaks in South America. Below this mountainous area the ranges open out and enclose extensive plateaus. The western range, the Cordillera Occidental, a part of the boundary between Bolivia and the northern provinces of Chile, closely follows the coast outline and forms the western rampart of the great Bolivian tableland or alta-planicie, which extends from the Vilcanota knot in Peru, south to the Serrania de Lipez on the Argentine frontier, is 500 m. long, and about 80 m. broad, and contains about 40,000 sq. m. The northern part of this plateau is commonly called the puna; the southern part, the “desert of Lipez,” in character and appearance is part of the great Puna de Atacama. This plateau has an average elevation of about 12,650 ft. near Lake Titicaca, but descends about 1000 ft. toward its southern extremity. It is a great lacustrine basin where once existed an inland sea having an outlet to the east through the La Paz gorge. The plateau is bleak and inhospitable in the north, barren and arid toward the south, containing great saline depressions covered with water in the rainy season, and broken by ridges and peaks, the highest being the Cerro de Tahua, 17,454 ft. Overlooking the plateau from the west are the snow-clad peaks of Pomarape (20,505 ft.), Parinacota (20,918 ft.), Sajama (21,047), Huallatiri (21,654), Lirima (19,128), and the three volcanic peaks, Oyahua (19,226), San Pedro y Pablo (19,423) and Licancaur (19,685). The eastern rampart of this great plateau is formed by the Cordillera Oriental, which extends north-west into Peru under the name of Carabaya, and south to the frontier in broken ranges, one of which trends south-east in the vicinity of Sucré. The main part of this great range, known as the Cordillera Real, and one of the most imposing mountain masses of the world, extends from the Peruvian border south-east to the 18th parallel and exhibits a series of snow-crowned peaks, notably the triple-crested Illampu or Sorata (21,490 ft.), Illimani (Conway, 21,204), Cacaaca (20,571) and Chachacomani (21,434). Of the ranges extending south from the Cordillera Real and branching out between the 18th and 19th parallels, the more prominent are the Frailes which forms the eastern rampart of the great central plateau and which is celebrated for its mineral deposits, the Chichas which runs south from the vicinity of Potosi to the Argentine frontier, and the Livichuco which turns south-east and forms the watershed between the Cachimayo and Pilcomayo. The more prominent peaks in and between these ranges are the Asanaque (16,857), Michaga (17,389), Cuzco (17,930), Potosi (15,381), Chorolque (18,480) and Tuluma (15,584). At the southern extremity of the great plateau is the transverse Serrania de Lipez, the culminating crest of which stands 16,404 ft. above sea-level. The eastern rampart of the Bolivian highlands comprises two distinct chains—the Sierra de Cochabamba on the north-east and the Sierra de Misiones on the east. Between these and the Cordillera Oriental is an apparently confused mass of broken, intersecting ranges, which on closer examination are found to conform more or less closely to the two outside ranges. These have been deeply cut by rivers, especially on the north-east, where the rainfall is heavier. The region enclosed by these ranges is extremely rugged in character, but it is esteemed highly for its fertile valleys and its fine climate, and is called the “Bolivian Switzerland.” Lying wholly within the tropics, these mountain masses form one of the most interesting as well as one of the most imposing and difficult regions of the world. At their feet and in their lower valleys the heat is intense and the vegetation is tropical. Above these are cool, temperate slopes and valleys, and high above these, bleak, wind-swept passes and snow-clad peaks. West of the Cordillera Oriental, where special conditions prevail, a great desert plateau stretches entirely across one corner of the republic. Apart from the Andean system there is a group of low, broken, gneiss ranges stretching along the east side of Bolivia among the upper affluents of the Mamoré and Guaporé, which appear to belong to the older Brazilian orographic system, from which they have been separated by the erosive action of water. They are known as the Sierras de Chiquitos, and are geologically interesting because of their proximity to the eastern projection of the Andes. Their culminating point is Cerro Cochii, 3894 ft. above sea-level, but for the most part they are but little more than ranges of low wooded hills, having in general a north-west and south-east direction between the 15th and 19th parallels.
The popular conception of Bolivia is that of an extremely rugged mountainous country, although fully three-fifths of it, including the Chiquitos region, is composed of low alluvial plains, great swamps and flooded bottomlands, and gently undulating forest regions. In the extreme south are the Bolivian Chaco and the llanos (open grassy plains) of Manzo, while above these in eastern Chuquisaca and southern Santa Cruz are extensive swamps and low-lying plains, subject to periodical inundations and of little value for agricultural and pastoral purposes. There are considerable areas in this part of Bolivia, however, which lie above the floods and afford rich grazing lands. The great drawback to this region is defective drainage; the streams have too sluggish a current to carry off the water in the rainy season. Between the Chiquitos sierras and the Andes are the Llanos de Chiquitos, which have a higher general elevation and a more diversified surface. North of this elevation, which formed the southern shore of the ancient Mojos Lake, are the llanos of Guarayos and Mojos, occupying an extensive region traversed by the Guaporé, San Miguel, Guapay, Mamoré, Yacuma, Beni and Madre de Dios rivers and their numerous tributaries. It was once covered by the great Mojos Lake, and still contains large undrained areas, like that of Lake Rojoagua (or Roguaguado). It contains rich agricultural districts and extensive open plains where cattle-raising has been successfully followed since the days of the Jesuit missions in that region. The lower slopes of the Andes, especially toward the north-west, where the country is traversed by the Beni and Madre de Dios, are covered with heavy forests. This is one of the richest districts of Bolivia and is capable of sustaining a large population.
The river-systems of Bolivia fall naturally into three distinct regions—the Amazon, La Plata and Central Plateau. The first includes the rivers flowing directly and indirectly into the Madeira, one of the great tributaries of the Amazon, together with some small tributaries of the Acré and Purús in the north, all of which form a drainage basin covering more than one-half of the republic. The two principal rivers of this system are the Mamoré and Beni, which unite in lat. 10° 20′ S. to form the Madeira. The Mamoré, the upper part of which is called the Chimoré, rises on the north-east slopes of the Sierra de Cochabamba a little south of the 17th parallel, and follows a northerly serpentine course to its confluence with the Beni, the greater part of which course is between the 65th and 66th meridians. The river has a length of about 600 m., fully three-fourths of which, from Chimoré (925 ft. above sea level) to the rapids near its mouth, passes across a level plain and is navigable. The principal Bolivian tributary of the Mamoré, the Guapay or Grande, which is larger and longer than the former above their confluence and should be considered the main stream, rises in the Cordillera Oriental east of Lake Pampa Aullaguas, and flows east to the north extremity of the Sierra de Misiones, where it emerges upon the Bolivian lowlands. Turning to the north in a magnificent curve, it passes around the south-east extremity of the Sierra de Cochabamba, skirts the Llanos de Chiquitos, and, turning to the north-west, unites with the Mamoré at Junta de los Rios in about 15° 20′ S. lat. and 64° 40′ W. long. It has a tortuous course of over 700 m., which is described as not navigable. The principal tributaries of the Guapay are the Mizque, Piray or Sará and Yapacani, the last rising on the east slopes of the Cordillera Real, flowing east by Cochabamba to the sierras of that name where it breaks through with a great bend to the north. The other large Bolivian tributaries of the Mamoré, all rising on the north-east flanks of the Andes, are the Chaparé, Sécure, Manique or Aperé and Yacuma, the last draining a region of lakes and swamps north of the Sierra Chamaya. The Beni and its great affluent, the Madre de Dios, though of smaller volume and extent than the Mamoré, are of much greater economic importance, owing to their navigability, the fertility of the region they drain, and the great forests along their banks. North of the Beni, the Abuna flows into the Madeira. Several of its south tributaries belong to Bolivia. The Guaporé, or Itenez, an affluent of the Mamoré, is the third large river of this Bolivian drainage basin, but it rises in Brazil, on the south slopes of the Sierra dos Parecis, where it flows in a great bend to the south and then west of north to the Bolivian frontier in 14° S. lat. From this point to its junction with the Mamoré, a little north of the 12th parallel, it flows in a northwesterly direction and forms the boundary line between the two republics. Its Brazilian tributaries are comparatively unimportant, but from Bolivia it receives the Baures and the San Miguel, both rising in the Sierras de Chiquitos and flowing north-west across the llanos to the Guaporé. The Baures has one large tributary, the Blanco, and the Itonama (San Miguel) has its origin in Lake Conception, lying among the west ranges of the Chiquitos mountains 952 ft. above sea-level.
The south-east drainage basin, which is smaller and economically less important than that of the Madeira, discharges into the Paraguay and extends from the Sierras de Chiquitos south to the Argentine frontier, and from the Cordillera Oriental east to the Paraguay. It possesses only one large river in Bolivia, the Pilcomayo, which rises on the east slopes of the Cordillera Oriental opposite the south end of Lake Pampa Aullaguas and flows east and south-east through the sierra region to the Bolivian Chaco. It flows through a nearly level country with so sluggish a current that its channels are greatly obstructed. Nothing definite is known of its tributaries in the Chaco, but in the sierra region it possesses a number of small tributaries, the largest of which are the Cachimayo, Mataca and Pílaya or Camblaya, the latter formed by the Cotagaita and San Juan. The Bermejo, which is an Argentine river, receives one large tributary from the Bolivian uplands, the Tarija or Rio Grande, which drains a small district south-east of the Santa Victoria sierra. The Bolivian tributaries of the upper Paraguay are small and unimportant. The Otuquis, the most southern of the group, is formed by the San Rafael and Tucabaca, which drain both slopes of the Cerro Cochii range; but is lost in some great marshes 50 m. from the Paraguay. Another considerable stream of this region, which is lost in the great marshy districts of the Bolivian plain, is the Parapiti, which rises on the eastern slopes of the Sierra de Misiones and flows north-east through a low plain for about 150 m. until lost.
The third drainage basin is that of the great central plateau, or alta-planicie. This is one of the most elevated lacustrine basins in the world, and though it once drained eastward, now has no surface outlet. Lake Titicaca receives the waters of several short streams from the neighbouring heights and discharges through the Desaguadero, a sluggish river flowing south for 184 m. with a gradually diminishing depth to Lake Pampa Aullaguas or Poopo. The Desaguadero is navigable for small craft, and has two or three small tributaries from the west. Two small streams empty into Lake Pampa Aullaguas, which has a small outlet in the Lacahahuira flowing west for 60 m. to the Cienegas de (salt-swamps of) Coipasa. The drainage of this extensive district seems to be wholly absorbed by the dry soil of the desert and by evaporation. In the extreme south the Rio Grande de Lipez is absorbed in the same way.
Few of the Bolivian lakes are at all well known. The great lacustrine basin between the Beni and the Mamoré contains several lakes and lagoons, two of them of large size. These are Lake Rogagua whose waters find their way into the Beni through Rio Negro, and the Roguaguado lagoon and marshes which cover a large area of territory near the Mamoré. The latter has an elevation little, if any, above the level of the Mamoré, which apparently drains this region, and its area has been estimated at about 580 sq. m. Lake Conceptión, in the Chiquitos mountains, belongs to this same hydrographic area. In the south-east there are several large shallow lakes whose character and size change with the season. They fill slight depressions and are caused by defective drainage. Near the Paraguay there are several of these lakes, partly caused by obstructed outlets, such as Bahia Negra, Cáceres, Mandioré, Gaiba and Uberaba, some of them of sufficient depth to be navigable by small craft. Above the latter are the great Xarayes swamps, sometimes described as a lake. This region, like that of the north, is subject to periodical inundations in the summer months (November-March or even May), when extensive areas of level country are flooded and traffic is possible only by the use of boats. The two principal lakes of the plateau region are Titicaca and Pampa Aullaguas or Poopo. The former lies near the north end of the great Bolivian alta-planicie, 12,644 ft. above sea-level, being one of the most elevated lakes of the world. It is indented with numerous bays and coves; its greatest length is 138 m., and its greatest breadth 69 m. According to a survey made by Dr M. Neveau-Lemaire (La Geographie, ix. p. 409, Paris, 1904), its water surface, excluding islands and peninsulas, is 1969 sq. m., and its greatest depth is 892 ft. The level of the lake rises about 5 in. in summer; the loss in winter is even greater. The lake belongs to both Bolivia and Peru, and is navigated by steamers running between Bolivian ports and the Peruvian railway port of Puno. The outlet of the lake is through the Desaguadero river. It has several islands, the largest of which bears the same name and contains highly interesting archaeological monuments of a prehistoric civilization usually attributed to the Incas. Lake Pampa Aullaguas or Poopo is about 180 m. south-east of Titicaca, and is fed principally by its outflow. It lies 505 ft. below the level of Titicaca, which gives an average fall for the Desaguadero of very nearly 2¾ ft. per mile. The Pampa Aullaguas has an estimated area of 386 sq. m., and has one large inhabited island. The lake is shallow and the district about it is sparsely populated. Its outlet is through the Lacahahuira river into the Coipasa swamp, and it is estimated that the outflow is much less than the inflow, showing a considerable loss by evaporation and earth absorption.
Having no sea-coast, Bolivia has no seaport except what may be granted in usufruct by Chile.
Geology.—The eastern ranges of ihe Bolivian Andes are formed of Palaeozoic rocks with granitic and other intrusions; the Western Cordillera consists chiefly of Jurassic and Cretaceous beds, together with the lavas and ashes of the great volcanoes; while the intervening plateau is covered by freshwater and terrestrial deposits through which rise ridges of Palaeozoic rock and of a series of red sandstones and gypsiferous marls of somewhat uncertain age (probably, in part at least, Cretaceous). The Palaeozoic beds have yielded fossils of Cambrian, Ordovician, Devonian and Carboniferous age. In southern Bolivia Cambrian and Ordovician beds form the greater part of the eastern Andes, but farther north the Devonian and Carboniferous are extensively developed, especially in the north-eastern ranges. The hills, known as the Chiquitos, which rise from the plains of eastern Bolivia, are composed of ancient sedimentary rocks of unknown age. The Palaeozoic beds are directly overlaid by a series of red sandstones and gypsiferous marls, similar to the formacion petrolifera of Argentina and Brazil. At the base there is frequently a conglomerate or tuff of porphyritic rocks. Marine fossils found by Gustav Steinmann in the middle of the series are said to indicate an age not earlier than the Jurassic, and Steinmann refers them to the Lower Cretaceous. It is, however, not improbable that the series may represent more than one geological system. No later marine deposits have been found either in the eastern Andes or in the plains of Bolivia, but freshwater beds of Tertiary and later date occupy a wide area. The recent deposits, which cover so large a part of the depression between the Eastern and the Western Cordillera, appear to be partly of torrential origin, like the talus-fans at the foot of mountain ranges in other dry regions; but Lakes Titicaca and Pampa Aullaguas (Poopo) were undoubtedly at one time rather more extensive than they are to-day. The volcanoes of Bolivia lie almost entirely in the Western Cordillera—the great summits of the eastern range, such as Illimani and Sorata, being formed of Palaeozoic rocks with granitic and other intrusions. The gold, silver and tin of Bolivia occur chiefly in the Palaeozoic rocks of the eastern ranges. The copper belongs mostly to the red sandstone series.
Climate.—Bolivia lies wholly within the torrid zone, and variations in temperature are therefore due to elevation, mountain barriers and prevailing winds. The country possesses every gradation of temperature, from that of the tropical lowlands to the Arctic cold of the snow-capped peaks directly above. This vertical arrangement of climatic zones is modified to some extent (less than in Argentina) by varying rainfall conditions, which are governed by the high mountain ranges crossing one corner of the republic, and also by the prevailing winds. The trade winds give to S. Bolivia a wet and dry season similar to that of N. Argentina. Farther north, and east of the Cordillera Oriental, rains fall throughout the year, though the summer months (November-March) are usually described as the rainy season. On the west side of the Cordillera, which extracts the moisture from the prevailing easterly winds, the elevated plateaus have a limited rainfall in the north, which diminishes toward the south until the surface becomes absolutely barren. Brief and furious rain-storms sometimes sweep the northern plateau, but these are not frequent and occur during a short season only. Electrical wind storms are frequent in these high altitudes.
Bolivia has a wide range of temperature between places of the same latitude. The natives designate the Bolivian climatic zones as yungas, valle or medio yungas, cabezera de valle, puna and puna brava. The yungas comprises all the lowlands and the mountain valleys up to an elevation of 5000 ft. The temperature is tropical, winter is unknown and the atmosphere is exceedingly humid. The mean temperature, according to official estimates, is 70° F., but this probably represents the average between the higher elevations and the low country. The valle zone includes the deep valleys from 5000 to 9500 ft., has a warm climate with moderate variations in temperature and no cold weather, is sub-tropical in character and productions, and is sometimes described as a region of perpetual summer. The cabezera de valle, as the name indicates, includes the heads of the deep valleys above the valle zone, with elevations ranging from 9500 to 11,000 ft.; its climate is temperate, is divided into regular seasons, and is favourable to the production of cereals and vegetables. The puna, which lies between 11,000 and 12,500 ft., includes the great central plateau of Bolivia. It has but two seasons, a cold summer or autumn and winter. The air is cold and dry, and the warmer season is too short for the production of anything but potatoes and barley. The mean temperature is officially estimated as 54° F. The puna brava extends from 12,500 ft. up to the snow limit (about 17,500 ft.), and covers a bleak, inhospitable territory, inhabited only by shepherds and miners. Above this is the region of eternal snow, an Arctic zone within the tropics. In general, the sub-tropical (valle) and temperate (cabezera de valle) regions of Bolivia are healthy and agreeable, have a plentiful rainfall, moderate temperature in the shade, and varied and abundant products. There is a high rate of mortality among the natives, due to unsanitary habits and diet, and not to the climate. In the tropical yungas the ground is covered with decaying vegetation, and malaria and fevers are common. There are localities in the open country and on exposed elevations where healthy conditions prevail, but the greater part of this region is considered unhealthy. The prevailing winds are easterly, bringing moisture across Brazil from the Atlantic, but eastern Bolivia is also exposed to hot, oppressive winds from the north, and to violent cold winds (surazos) from the Argentine plains, which have been known to cause a fall of temperature of 36° within a few hours. According to the Sinópsis Estadistica y Geográfica de la República de Bolivia (La Paz, 1903), the average mean temperature and the annual rainfall in eastern Bolivia are as follows: 10° S. lat., 90.8° F. and 31.5 in. rainfall; 15° S. lat., 86° F. and 30.7 in. rainfall; 20° S. lat., 81° F. and 30 in. rainfall; and 25° S. lat., 76.8° F. and 29.3 in. rainfall.
Fauna.—The indigenous fauna of Bolivia corresponds closely to that of the neighbouring districts of Argentina, Brazil and Peru. Numerous species of monkeys inhabit the forests of the tropical region, together with the puma, jaguar, wildcat, coati, tapir or anta, sloth, ant-bear, paca (Coelogenys paca) and capybara. A rare species of bear, the Ursus ornatus (spectacled bear) is found among the wooded Andean foothills. The chinchilla (C. laniger), also found in northern Argentina and Chile, inhabits the colder plateau regions and is prized for its fur. The plateau species of the viscacha (Lagidium cuvieri) and the widely distributed South American otter (Lutra paranensis) are also hunted for their skins. The peccary, which prefers a partially open country, ranges from the Chaco to the densely wooded districts of the north. There are two or three species of deer, the most common being the large marsh deer of the Chaco; but the deer are not numerous. The armadillo, opossum, ferret and skunk are widely distributed. The amphibia are well represented throughout the lower tropical districts. Alligators are found in the tributaries of the Paraguay and their lagoons, lizards and turtles are numerous, and the batrachians are represented by several species. Snakes are also numerous, including rattlesnakes and the great boa-constrictors of the Amazon region.
The most interesting of all the Bolivian animals, however, are the guanaco (Auchenia huanaco) and its congeners, the llama (A. llama), alpaca (A. pacos) and vicuña (A. vicugna), belonging to the Camelidae, with the structure and habits of the African camel, but smaller, having no hump, and inhabiting a mountainous and not a level sandy region. They are able to go without food and drink for long periods, and inhabit the arid and semi-arid plateaus of the Andes and the steppes of Patagonia. The guanaco is supposed to be the original type, is the largest of the four, and has the greatest range from Peru to Tierra del Fuego. The llama and alpaca were domesticated long before the discovery of America, but the guanaco and vicuña are found in a wild state only. The llama is used as a pack animal in Bolivia and Peru, and its coarse wool is used in the making of garments for the natives. The alpaca is highly prized for its fine wool, which is a staple export from Bolivia, but the animal is reared with difficulty and the product cannot be largely increased. The vicuña also is celebrated for its wool, which the natives weave into beautiful and costly ponchos (blanket cloaks) and other wearing apparel. The guanaco is hunted for its skin, which, when dressed, makes an attractive rug or robe. The slaughter of the guanaco and vicuña is rapidly diminishing their number. The rearing of llamas and alpacas is a recognized industry in the Bolivian highlands and is wholly in the hands of the Indians, who alone seem to understand the habits and peculiarities of these interesting animals.
Of birds and insects the genera and species are very numerous and interesting. The high sierras are frequented by condors and eagles of the largest size, and the whole country by the common vulture, while the American ostrich (Rhea americanus) and a species of large stork (the bata or jaburú, Mycteria americana; maximum height, 8 ft.; spread of wings, 8 ft. 6 in.) inhabit the tropical plains and valleys. Waterfowl are numerous and the forests of the warm valleys are filled with song-birds and birds of beautiful plumage. Many species of humming-birds are found even far up in the mountains, and great numbers of parrots, araras and toucans, beautiful of feather but harsh of voice, enliven the forests of the lowlands.
Like other South American states, Bolivia benefited greatly from the introduction of European animals. Horses, cattle, sheep, goats, swine and poultry were introduced, and are now sources of food and wealth to a large part of the population. Mules are used to a large extent as pack animals, but they are imported from Argentina. Silkworms have been bred with success in some departments, and the cochineal insect is found wherever the conditions are favourable for the cactus.
Flora.—Owing to the diversities in altitude the flora of Bolivia represents every climatic zone, from the scanty Arctic vegetation of the lofty Cordilleras to the luxuriant tropical forests of the Amazon basin. Between these extremes the diversity in vegetable life is as great as that of climate and soil. The flora of Bolivia has been studied less than the flora of the neighbouring republics, however, because of the inaccessibility of these inland regions. Among the more important productions, the potato, oca (Oxalis tuberosa), quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) and some coarse grasses characterize the puna region, while barley, an exotic, is widely grown for fodder. Indian corn was cultivated in the temperate and warm regions long before the advent of Europeans, who introduced wheat, rye, oats, beans, pease and the fruits and vegetables of the Old World, for each of which a favourable soil and climate was easily found. In the sub-tropical and tropical zones the indigenous plants are the sweet potato, cassava (Manihot utilissima and M. aipi), peanuts, pineapple, guava, chirimoya (Anona cherimolia), pawpaw (Carica papaya), ipecacuanha (Cephaelis), sarsaparilla, vanilla, false jalap (Mirabilis jalapa), copaiba, tolu (Myroxylon toluiferum), rubber-producing trees, dyewoods, cotton and a great number of beautiful hardwoods, such as jacarandá, mahogany, rosewood, quebracho, colo, cedar, walnut, &c. Among the fruits many of the most common are exotics, as the orange, lemon, lime, fig, date, grape, &c., while others, as the banana, cajū or cashew (Anacardium occidentale) and aguacate avocado or alligator pear, have a disputed origin. Coca, one of the most important plants of the country, is cultivated on the eastern slopes of the Andes at an altitude of 5000 to 6000 ft., where the temperature is uniform and frosts are unknown. Quina or calisaya is a natural product of the eastern Andes, and is found at an altitude of 3000 to 9000 ft. above sea-level. The calisaya trees of Bolivia rank among the best, and their bark forms an important item in her foreign trade. The destructive methods of collecting the bark are steadily diminishing the natural sources of supply, and experiments in cinchona cultivation were undertaken during the last quarter of the 19th century, with fair prospects of success. The most important of the indigenous forest products, however, is rubber, derived principally from the Hevea guayanensis (var. brasiliensis), growing along the river courses in the yungas regions of the north, though Maniçoba rubber is also obtained from Manihot Glaziovii on the drier uplands. Among the exotics, sugar-cane, rice and tobacco are cultivated in the warm districts.
Population.—The population of Bolivia is composed of Indians, Caucasians of European origin, and a mixture of the two races, generally described as mestizos. There is also a very small percentage of Africans, descendants of the negro slaves introduced in colonial times. A roughly-taken census of 1900 gives the total population as 1,816,271, including the Litoral department, now belonging to Chile (49,820), and estimates the number of wild Indians of the forest regions at 91,000. Of this total, 50.7% were classed as Indians, 12.8% as whites, 26.8% as mestizos, 0.3% as negroes, and 9.4% as unknown. In 1904 an official estimate made the population 2,181,415, also including the Litoral (59,784), but of course all census returns and estimates in such a country are subject to many allowances. The Indian population (920,860) is largely composed of the so-called civilized tribes of the Andes, which once formed part of the nationality ruled by the Incas, and of those of the Mojos and Chiquitos regions, which were organized into industrial communities by the Jesuits in the l7th century. The former, which are chiefly Aymarás south of the latitude of Lake Titicaca, attained a considerable degree of civilization before the discovery of America and have been in closer contact with Europeans than the other tribes of Bolivia. It is doubtful, however, whether their condition has been improved under these influences. The Mojos and Chiquitos tribes, also, have been less prosperous since the expulsion of the Jesuits, but they have remained together in organized communities, and have followed the industries and preserved the religion taught them as well as circumstances permitted. Both these groups of Indians are peaceable and industrious, and form an important labouring element. They are addicted to the excessive use of chica (a native beer made from Indian corn), and have little or no ambition to improve their condition, but this may be attributed in part to their profound ignorance and to the state of peonage in which they are held. Inhabiting the southern part of the Bolivian plain are the Chiriguanos, a detached tribe of the Guarani race which drifted westward to the vicinity of the Andes long ago. They are of a superior physical and mental type, and have made noteworthy progress toward civilization. They are agriculturists and stock-raisers and have the reputation of being peaceable and industrious. The remaining native tribes under the supervision of the state have made little progress, and their number is said to be decreasing (notwithstanding the favourable climatic conditions under which most of them live) because of unsanitary and intemperate habits, and for other causes not well understood, one being the custom noticed by early travellers among some of the tribes of the La Plata region of avoiding the rearing of children. (See Southey’s History of Brazil, iii. pp. 402, 673.) Of the wild Indians very little is known in regard to either numbers or customs.
The white population (231,088) is descended in great part from the early Spanish adventurers who entered the country in search of mineral wealth. To these have been added a small number of Spanish Americans from neighbouring republics and some Portuguese Americans from Brazil. There has been no direct immigration from Europe, though Europeans of various nationalities have found their way into the country and settled there as miners or traders. The percentage of whites therefore does not increase as in Argentina and Brazil, and cannot until means are found to promote European immigration.
The mestizos (486,018) are less numerous than the Indians, but outnumber the whites by more than two to one. It has been said of the mestizos elsewhere that they inherit the vices of both races and the virtues of neither. Yet, with a decreasing Indian population, and with a white population wanting in energy, barely able to hold its own and comprising only one-eighth of the total, the future of Bolivia mainly depends on them. As a rule they are ignorant, unprogressive and apathetic, intensely superstitious, cruel and intemperate, though individual strong characters have been produced. It may be that education and experience will develop the mestizos into a vigorous progressive nationality, but the first century of self-government can hardly be said to have given much promise of such a result.
Divisions and Towns.—The republic is divided into eight departments and one territory, and these are subdivided into 54 provinces, 415 cantons, 232 vice-cantons, 18 missions and one colony. The names, areas and populations of the departments, with their capitals, according to the census of 1900, to which corrections must be made on account of the loss of territory to Brazil in 1903, are as follows:—
Department. Area sq. m.
from Official
Sources. Population
1900.* Capitals. Population
1900.
La Paz 53,777 445,616 La Paz 54,713
El Beni 102,111 32,180 Trinidad 2,556
Oruro 19,127 86,081 Oruro 13,575
Cochabamba 23,328 328,163 Cochabamba 21,886
Santa Cruz 141,368 209,592 Santa Cruz de la Sierra 15,874
Potosi 48,801 325,615 Potosi 20,910
Chuquisaca 26,418 204,434 Sucré 20,967
Tarija 33,036 102,887 Tarija 6,980
Nat. Territory 192,260 31,883
640,226 1,766,451
* The figures for population include a 5% addition for omissions,
sundry corrections and the estimated number of wild Indians.
The total area according to Gotha computations, with corrections for loss of territory to Brazil in 1903, is 515,156 sq. m.
There are no populous towns other than the provincial capitals above enumerated. Four of these capitals—Sucré or Chuquisaca, La Paz, Cochabamba and Oruro—have served as the national capital, and Sucré was chosen, but after the revolution of 1898 the capital was at La Paz, which is the commercial metropolis and is more accessible than Sucré. Among the smaller towns prominent because of an industry or commercial position, may be mentioned the Huanchaca mining centre of Pulacayo (pop. 6512), where 3200 men are employed in the mines and surface works of this great silver mining company; Uyuni (pop. 1587), the junction of the Pulacayo branch with the Antofagasta and Oruro railway, and also the converging point for several important highways and projected railways; and Tupiza (pop. 1644), a commercial and mining centre near the Argentine frontier, and the terminus of the Argentine railway extension into Bolivia. All these towns are in the department of Potosi. Viacha (pop. 1670), a small station on the railway from Guaqui to Alto de La Paz, 14 m. from the latter, is the starting point of an important projected railway to Oruro. In the department of Cochabamba, Tarata (4681) and Totora (3501) are two important trading centres, and in the department of Santa Cruz, Ascensión (pop. 4784) is a large mission station in the Chiquitos hills.
Communications.—Under a treaty with Brazil in 1903 and with Chile in 1904 (ratified 1905) provisions were made for railway construction in Bolivia to bring this isolated region into more effective communication with the outside world. Brazil agreed to construct a railway around the falls of the Madeira (about 180 m. long) to give north-eastern Bolivia access to the Amazon, and paid down £2,000,000 in cash which Bolivia was to expend on railway construction within her own territory. Chile also agreed to construct a railway from Arica to La Paz, 295 m. (the Bolivian section becoming the property of Bolivia fifteen years after completion), and to pay the interest (not over 5%) which Bolivia might guarantee on the capital invested in certain interior railways if constructed within thirty years, providing these interest payments should not exceed £100,000 a year, nor exceed £1,600,000 in the aggregate. Argentina had already undertaken to extend her northern railway from Jujuy to the Bolivian frontier town of Tupiza, and the Peruvian Corporation had constructed for the Bolivian government a short line (54 m. long) from Guaqui, on Lake Titicaca, to Alto de La Paz, which is connected with the city of La Paz, 1493 ft. below, by an electric line 5 m. long. This line gives La Paz access to the Peruvian port of Mollendo, 496 m. distant, and promises in time to give it railway communication with Cuzco. Rivalry for the control of her trade, therefore, promises to give Bolivia the railways needed for the development of her resources. Up to 1903 the only railways in Bolivia were the Antofagasta and Oruro line, with a total length of 574 m., of which 350 m. are within Bolivian territory, a private branch of that line (26 m. long) running to the Pulacayo mines, and the line (54 m. long) from Guaqui to Alto de La Paz—a total of only 430 m. As a result of her war with Chile in 1878-81, the railways (282 m. long) of her Litoral department passed under Chilean control. Lines were in 1907 projected from La Paz to the navigable waters of the Beni, from La Paz to Cochabamba, from Viacha to Oruro, from Uyuni to Potosi and Sucré, from Uyuni to Tupiza, and from Arica to La Paz via Corocoro. The central northern line of the Argentine government was completed to the Bolivian frontier in 1908, and this line was designed to extend to Tupiza. The undertaking of the Arica-La Paz line by the Chilean government, also, was an important step towards the improvement of the economic situation in Bolivia. Both these lines offer the country new outlets for its products.
Public highways have been constructed between the large cities and to some points on the frontiers, and subsidized stage coaches are run on some of them. The roads are rough and at times almost impassable, however, and the river crossings difficult and dangerous. The large cities are connected with one another by telegraph lines and are in communication with the outside world through Argentina, Chile and Peru. Telegraph service dates from 1880, and in 1904 there were 3115 m. in operation, of which 1936 belonged to the state and 1179 to private corporations. The latter includes the lines belonging to the Antofagasta and Oruro railway, which are partly within Chilean territory. Bolivia is a member of the International Postal Union, and has parcel and money order conventions with some foreign countries. Special agreements have been made, also, with Argentina, Chile and Peru for the transmission of the Bolivian foreign mails.
The loss of her maritime department has left Bolivia with no other ports than those of Lake Titicaca (especially Guaqui, or Huaqui, which trades with the Peruvian port of Puno), and those of the Madeira and Paraguay rivers and their affluents. As none of these can be reached without transhipment in foreign territory, the cost of transport is increased, and her neighbours are enabled to exclude Bolivia from direct commercial intercourse with other nations. An exception formerly existed at Puerto Acré, on the Acré river, to which ocean-going steamers could ascend from Pará, but Brazil first closed the Purús and Acré rivers to foreign vessels seeking this port, and then under a treaty of 1903 acquired possession of the port and adjacent territory. Since then Bolivia’s outlet to the Amazon is restricted to the Madeira river, the navigation of which is interrupted by a series of falls before Bolivian territory is reached. The Bolivian port of entry for this trade, Villa Bella, is situated above the falls of the Madeira at the confluence of the Beni and Mamoré, and is reached from the lower river by a long and costly portage. It is also shut off from the navigable rivers above by the falls of the Beni and Mamoré. The railway to be built by Brazil will remedy this unfavourable situation, will afford a better outlet for north-eastern Bolivia, and should promote a more rapid development of that region, which is covered with an admirable system of navigable rivers above the falls of the Beni and Mamoré. Connected with the upper Paraguay are Puerto Pacheco on Bahia Negra, Puerto Suarez (about 1600 m. from Buenos Aires by river), on Lake Cáceres, through which passes the bulk of Bolivian trade in that direction, and Puerto Quijarro, on Lake Gaiba, a projected port said to be more accessible than any other in this region. Whenever the trade of southern Bolivia becomes important enough to warrant the expense of opening a navigable channel in the Pilcomayo, direct river communication with Buenos Aires and Montevideo will be possible.
Industries.—Stock-raising was one of the earliest industries of the country after that of mining. Horses, formerly successfully raised in certain parts of the north, have not flourished there since the introduction of a peste from Brazil, but some are now raised in La Paz and other departments of the temperate region. The Jesuit founders of the Mojos missions took cattle with them when they entered that region to labour among the Indians, with the result that the Mojos and Chiquitos llanos were soon well stocked, and have since afforded an unfailing supply of beef for the neighbouring inland markets. Their inaccessibility and the costs of transportation have prevented a development of the industry and a consequent improvement in stock, but the persistency of the industry under conditions so unfavourable is evidence that the soil and climate are suited to its requirements. Farther south the llanos of Chuquisaca and Tarija also sustain large herds of cattle on the more elevated districts, and on the well-watered plains of the Chaco. There are small districts in La Paz, Potosi and Cochabamba, also, where cattle are raised. Apart from the cattle driven into the mining districts for consumption, a number of saladeros are employed in preparing (usually salting and sun-drying) beef for the home markets. The hides are exported. Goats are raised in the warm and temperate regions, and sheep for their wool in the latter. On the higher and colder plateaus much attention is given to the breeding of llamas and alpacas. Another industry of a different character is that of breeding the fur-bearing chinchilla (C. laniger), which is a native of the higher plateaus. The Bolivian government has prohibited the exportation of the live animals and is encouraging their production.
The agricultural resources of the republic are varied and of great value, but their development has been slow and hesitating. The cultivation of cereals, fruits and vegetables in the temperate and warm valleys of the Andes followed closely the mining settlements. Sugar-cane also was introduced at an early date, but as the demand for sugar was limited the product was devoted chiefly to the manufacture of rum, which is the principal object of cane cultivation in Bolivia to-day. The climatic conditions are highly favourable for this product in eastern Bolivia, but it is heavily taxed and is restricted to a small home market. Rice is another exotic grown in the tropical districts of eastern Bolivia, but the quantity produced is far from sufficient to meet local requirements. Tobacco of a fair quality is produced in the warm regions of the east, including the yungas valleys of La Paz and Cochabamba; cacáo of a superior grade is grown in the department of Beni, where large orchards were planted at the missions, and also in the warm Andean valleys of La Paz and Cochabamba; and coffee of the best flavour is grown in some of the warmer districts of the eastern Andes. The two indigenous products which receive most attention, perhaps, are those of quinoa and coca. Quinoa is grown in large quantities, and is a staple article of food among the natives. Coca is highly esteemed by the natives, who masticate the leaf, and is also an article of export for medicinal purposes. It is extensively cultivated in the departments of Cochabamba and La Paz, especially in the province of Yungas.
In the exploitation of her forest products, however, are to be found the industries that yield the greatest immediate profit to Bolivia. The most prominent and profitable of these is that of rubber-collecting, which was begun in Bolivia between 1880 and 1890, and which reached a registered annual output of nearly 3500 metric tons just before Bolivia’s best rubber forests were transferred to Brazil in 1903. There still remain extensive areas of forest on the Beni and Madre de Dios in which the rubber-producing Hevea is to be found. Although representing less value in the aggregate, the collecting of cinchona bark is one of the oldest forest industries of Bolivia, which is said still to have large areas of virgin forest to draw upon. The Bolivian product is of the best because of the high percentage of quinine sulphate which it yields. The industry is destructive in method, and the area of cinchona forests is steadily diminishing. Many other Bolivian plants are commercially valuable, and organized industry and trade in them will certainly be profitable.
The industrial activities of the Bolivian people are still of a very primitive character. An act was passed in 1894 authorizing the government to offer premiums and grant advantageous concessions for the development of manufacturing industries, especially in sugar production, but conditions have not been favourable and the results have been disappointing. Spinning and weaving are carried on among the people as a household occupation, and fabrics are made of an exceptionally substantial character. It is not uncommon to see the natives busily twirling their rude spindles as they follow their troops of pack animals over rough mountain roads, and the yarn produced is woven into cloth in their own houses on rough Spanish looms of colonial patterns. Not only is coarse cloth for their own garments made in this manner from the fleece of the llama, but cotton and woollen goods of a serviceable character are manufactured, and still finer fabrics are woven from the wool of the alpaca and vicuña, sometimes mixed with silk or lamb’s wool. The Indian women are expert weavers, and their handiwork often commands high prices. In the Mojos and Chiquitos districts the natives were taught by the Jesuit missionaries to weave an excellent cotton cloth, and the industry still exists. Cashmere, baize, waterproof ponchos of fine wool and silk, and many other fabrics are made by the Indians of the Andean departments. They are skilled in the use of dyes, and the Indian women pride themselves on a large number of finely-woven, brilliantly-coloured petticoats. Tanning and saddlery are carried on by the natives with primitive methods, but with excellent results. They are skilful in the preparation of lap robes and rugs from the skins of the alpaca and vicuña. The home markets are supplied, by native industry, with cigars and cigarettes, soap, candles, hats, gloves, starch, cheese and pottery. Sugar is still made in the old way, and there is a small production of wine and silk in certain districts. No country is better supplied with water power, and electric lighting and electric power plants have been established at La Paz.
Commerce.—The foreign trade of Bolivia is comparatively unimportant, but the statistical returns are incomplete and unsatisfactory; the imports of 1904 aggregated only £1,734,551 in value, and the exports only £1,851,758. The imports consisted of cottons, woollens, live-stock, provisions, hardware and machinery, wines, spirits and clothing. The principal exports were (in 1903) silver and its ores (£636,743), tin and its ores (£1,039,298), copper ores (£157,609), bismuth (£16,354), other minerals (£20,948), rubber (£260,559), coca (£28,907), and cinchona (£9197)—total exports, £2,453,638. These figures, however, do not correctly represent the aggregates of Bolivian trade, as her imports and exports passing through Antofagasta, Arica and Mollendo are to a large extent credited to Chile and Peru. The import trade of Bolivia is restricted by the poverty of the people. The geographical position limits the exports to mineral, forest and some pastoral products, owing to cost of transportation and the tariffs of neighbouring countries.
Government.—The government of Bolivia is a “unitarian” or centralized republic, representative in form, but autocratic in some important particulars. The constitution in force (1908) was adopted on the 28th of October 1880, and is a model in form and profession. The executive branch of the government is presided over by a president and two vice-presidents, who are elected by direct popular vote for a period of four years, and are not eligible for re-election for the next succeeding term. The president is assisted by a cabinet of five ministers of state, viz.: foreign relations and worship; finance and industry; interior and fomento; justice and public instruction; war and colonization. Every executive act must be countersigned by a minister of state, who is held responsible for its character and enforcement, and may be prosecuted before the supreme court for its illegality and effects. The legislative branch is represented by a national congress of two houses—a Senate and Chamber of Deputies. The Senate is composed of 16 members, two from each department, who are elected by direct popular vote for a period of six years, one-third retiring every two years. The Chamber of Deputies is composed of 72 members, who are elected for a period of four years, one-half retiring every two years. In impeachment trials the Chamber prosecutes and the Senate sits as a court, as in the United States. One of the duties of the Chamber is to elect the justices of the supreme court. Congress meets annually and its sessions are for sixty days, which may be extended to ninety days. The chambers have separate and concurrent powers defined by the constitution. The right of suffrage is exercised by all male citizens, twenty-one years of age, or over, if single, and eighteen years, or over, if married, who can read and write, and own real estate or have an income of 200 bolivianos a year, said income not to be compensation for services as a servant. The electoral body is therefore small, and is under the control of a political oligarchy which practically rules the country, no matter which party is in power.
The Bolivian judiciary consists of a national supreme court, eight superior district courts, lower district courts, and juzgados de instrucción for the investigation and preparation of cases. The corregidores and alcaldes also exercise the functions of a justice of the peace in the cantons and rural districts. The supreme court is composed of seven justices elected by the Chamber of Deputies from lists of three names for each seat sent in by the Senate. A justice can be removed only by impeachment proceedings before the Senate.
The supreme administration in each department is vested in a prefect appointed by and responsible solely to the president. As the prefect has the appointment of subordinate department officials, including the alcaldes, the authority of the national executive reaches every hamlet in the republic, and may easily become autocratic. There are no legislative assemblies in the departments, and their government rests with the national executive and congress. Subordinate to the prefects are the sub-prefects in the provinces, the corregidores in the cantons and the alcaldes in the rural districts—all appointed officials. The national territory adjacent to Brazil and Peru is governed by two delegados nacionales, appointees of the president. The department capitals are provided with municipal councils which have jurisdiction over certain local affairs, and over the construction and maintenance of some of the highways.
Army.—The military forces of the republic in 1905 included 2890 regulars and an enrolled force of 80,000 men, divided into a first reserve of 30,000, a second reserve of 40,000, and 10,000 territorial guards. The enrolled force is, however, both unorganized and unarmed. The strength of the army is fixed in each year’s budget. That for 1903 consisted of 2933 officers and men, of which 275 were commissioned and 558 non-commissioned officers, 181 musicians, and only 1906 rank and file. A conscription law of 1894 provides for a compulsory military service between the ages of twenty-one and fifty years, with two years’ actual service in the regulars for those between twenty-one and twenty-five, but the law is practically a dead letter. There is a military school with 60 cadets, and an arsenal at La Paz.
Education.—Although Bolivia has a free and compulsory school system, education and the provision for education have made little progress. Only a small percentage of the people can read and write. Although Spanish is the language of the dominant minority, Quichua, Aymará and Guarani are the languages of the natives, who form a majority of the population. A considerable percentage of the Indians do not understand Spanish at all, and they even resist every effort to force it upon them. Even the cholos (mestizos) are more familiar with the native idioms than with Spanish, as is the case in some parts of Argentina and Paraguay. According to official estimates for 1901, the total number of primary schools in the republic was 733, with 938 teachers and 41,587 pupils—the total cost of their maintenance being estimated at 585,365 bolivianos, or only 14.07 bolivianos per pupil (about £1 : 4 : 6). The school enrolment was only one in 43.7 of population, compared with one in 10 for Argentina. The schools are largely under the control of the municipalities, though nearly half of them are maintained by the national government, by the Church and by private means. There were in the same year 13 institutions of secondary and 14 of superior instruction. The latter include so-called universities at Sucré (Chuquisaca), La Paz, Cochabamba, Tarija, Potosi, Santa Cruz and Oruro—all of which give instruction in law, the first three in medicine and the first four in theology. The university at Sucré, which dates from colonial times, and that at La Paz, are the only ones on the list sufficiently well equipped to merit the title. Secondary instruction is under the control of the universities, and public instruction in general is under the direction of a cabinet minister. All educational matters, however, are practically under the supervision of the Church. The total appropriation for educational purposes in 1901 was 756,943 bolivianos, or £66,232 : 6s. There are a military academy at La Paz, an agricultural school at Umala in the department of La Paz, a mining and civil engineering school at Oruro, commercial schools at Sucré and Trinidad, and several mission schools under the direction of religious orders.
Religion.—The constitution of Bolivia, art. 2, defines the attitude of the republic toward the Church in the following words:—“The state recognizes and supports the Roman Apostolic Catholic religion, the public exercise of any other worship being prohibited, except in the colonies where it is tolerated.” This toleration is tacitly extended to resident foreigners belonging to other religious sects. The census of 1900 enumerated the Roman Catholic population at 1,609,365, and that of other creeds at 24,245, which gives the former 985 and the latter 15 in every thousand. The domesticated Indians profess the Roman Catholic faith, but it is tinged with the superstitions of their ancestors. They hold the clergy in great fear and reverence, however, and are deeply influenced by the forms and ceremonies of the church, which have changed little since the first Spanish settlements. Bolivia is divided into an archbishopric and three bishoprics. The first includes the departments of Chuquisaca, Oruro, Potosi, Tarija and the Chilean province of Antofagasta, with its seat at Sucré, and is known as the archbishopric of La Plata. The sees of the three bishoprics are La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. Mission work among the Indians is entrusted to the Propaganda Fide, which has five colleges and a large number of missions, and receives a small subvention from the state. It is estimated that these missions have charge of fully 20,000 Indians. The annual appropriation for the Church is about £17,150. The religious orders, which have never been suppressed in Bolivia, maintain several convents.
Finance.—No itemized returns of receipts and expenditures are ever published, and the estimates presented to congress by the cabinet ministers furnish the only source from which information can be drawn. The expenditures are not large, and taxation is not considered heavy. The estimated revenues and expenditures for 1904 and 1905 at 21 pence per boliviano, were as follows: 1904, revenue £632,773 : 15s., expenditure £748,571 : 10s.; 1905, revenue £693,763 : 17 : 6, expenditure £828,937 : 19 : 9. The revenues are derived principally from duties and fees on imports, excise taxes on spirits, wines, tobacco and sugar, general, mining taxes and export duties on minerals (except silver), export duties on rubber and coca, taxes on the profits of stock companies, fees for licences and patents, stamp taxes, and postal and telegraph revenues. Nominally, the import duties are moderate, so much so that Bolivia is sometimes called a “free-trade country,” but this is a misnomer, for in addition to the schedule rates of 10 to 40% ad valorem on imports, there are a consular fee of 1½% for the registration of invoices exceeding 200 bolivianos, a consumption tax of 10 centavos per quintal (46 kilogrammes), fees for viséing certificates to accompany merchandise in transit, special “octroi” taxes on certain kinds of merchandise controlled by monopolies (spirits, tobacco, &c.), and the import and consumption taxes levied by the departments and municipalities. The expenditures are chiefly for official salaries, subsidies, public works, church and mission support, justice, public instruction, military expenses, and interest on the public debt. The appropriations for 1905 were as follows: war, 2,081,119 bolivianos; finance and industry, 1,462,259; government and fomento, 2,021,428; justice and public instruction, 1,878,941.
The acknowledged public debt of the country is comparatively small. At the close of the war with Chile there was an indemnity debt due to citizens of that republic of 6,550,830 bolivianos, which had been nearly liquidated in 1904 when Chile took over the unpaid balance. This was Bolivia’s only foreign debt. In 1905 her internal debt, including 1,998,500 bolivianos of treasury bills, amounted to 6,243,270 bolivianos (£546,286). The government in 1903 authorized the issue of treasury notes for the department of Beni and the National Territory to the amount of one million bolivianos (£87,500), for the redemption of which 10% of the customs receipts of the two districts is set apart. The paper currency of the republic consists of bank-notes issued by four private banks, and is therefore no part of the public debt. The amount in circulation on the 30th of June 1903 was officially estimated at 9,144,254 bolivianos (£800,122), issued on a par with silver. The coinage of the country is of silver, nickel and copper. The silver coins are of the denominations of 1 boliviano, or 100 centavos, 50, 20, 10 and 5 centavos, and the issue of these coins from the Potosi mint is said to be about 1,500,000 bolivianos a year. The silver mining companies are required by law to send to the mint 20% of their product. The silver boliviano, however, is rarely seen in circulation because of the cheaper paper currency. To check the exportation of silver coin, the fractional denominations have been slightly debased. The nickel coins are of 5 and 10 centavos, and the copper 1 and 2 centavos.
The departmental revenues, which are derived from excise and land taxes, mining grants, tithes, inheritance taxes, tolls, stamp taxes, subsidies from the national treasury and other small taxes, were estimated at 2,296,172 bolivianos in 1903, and the expenditures at 2,295,791 bolivianos. The expenditures were chiefly for justice, police, public works, public instruction and the Church. The municipal revenues aggregated 2,317,670 bolivianos in 1902, and the expenditures 61,510 bolivianos in excess of that sum. These revenues are derived from a lighting tax, leases and ground rents, cemetery fees, consumption and market taxes, licences, tolls, taxes on hides and skins, personal and various minor taxes. There is a multiplication of taxes in trade which recalls the old colonial alcabala tax, and it serves to restrict commerce and augment the cost of goods in much the same way, if not to the same degree.
Authorities.—M.V. Ballivián, Apuntes sobre la industria de goma elastica, &c. (La Paz, 1896); Noticia Politica, Geográfica, Industrial, y Estadistica de Bolivia (La Paz, 1900); Breves Indicaciones para el Inmigrante y el Viajero à Bolivia (La Paz, 1898); Monografias de la Industria Minera en Bolivia, three parts (La Paz, 1899-1900); Relaciones Geográficas de Bolivia existentes en el Archivo de la Oficina Nacional de Inmigración, &c. (La Paz, 1898); M.V. Ballivián and Eduardo Idiaquez, Diccionario Geográfico de la República de Bolivia (La Paz, 1900); André Bresson, Sept années d’explorations, de voyages et de séjours dans l’Amérique australe (Paris, 1886); Enrique Bolland, Exploraciones practicadas en el Alto Paraguay y en la Laguna Gaiba (Buenos Aires, 1901); G.E. Church The Route to Bolivia via the River Amazon (London, 1877); G.E. Church, “Bolivia by the Rio de la Plata Route,” Geogr. Jour. xix. pp. 64-73 (London, 1902); C.B. Cisneros and R.E. Garcia, Geografia Comercial de la America del Sur (Lima, 1898); Sir W.M. Conway, Climbing and Exploration in the Bolivian Andes (London, 1903); M. Dalence, Bosquejo estadistico de Bolivia (Chuquisaca, 1878); J.L. Moreno, Nociones de geografia de Bolivia (Sucré, 1889); Edward D. Mathews, Up the Amazon and Madeira Rivers, through Bolivia and Peru (London, 1879); Carlos Matzenauer, Bolivia in historischer, geographischer und cultureller Hinsicht (Vienna, 1897); M.F. Soldan, Narracion de Guerra de Chile contra Peru y Bolivia (La Paz, 1884); C.M. Pepper, Panama to Patagonia (Chicago, 1906); A. Petrocokino, Along the Andes, in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador (London, 1903); Comte C. d’Ursel, Sud Amérique: Séjours et voyages au Brésil, en Bolivie, &c. (Paris, 1879); Charles Wiener, Pérou et Bolivie (Paris, 1880); Bolivia, Geographical Sketch, Natural Resources, &c., Intern. Bur. of the American Republics (Washington, 1904); Boletin de la Oficina Nacional de Inmigración, Estadistica y Propaganda Geográfica (La Paz); Sinopsis estadistica y geográfica de la Republica de Bolivia (3 vols., La Paz, 1902-1904); G. de Crequi-Montfort, “Exploration en Bolivie,” in La Géographie, ix. pp. 79-86 (Paris, 1904); M. Neveau-Lemaire, “Le Titicaca et le Poopo,” &c., in La Géographie, ix. pp. 409-430 (Paris, 1904); British Foreign Office Diplomatic and Consular Reports (London); United States Consular Reports; Stanford’s Compendium of Geography and Travel, vol. i., South and Central America (London, 1904). For Geology see A. d’Orbigny, Voyage dans l’Amérique méridionale, vol. iii. pt. iii. (Paris, 1842); D. Forbes, “On the Geology of Bolivia and Peru,” Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xvii. (London, 1861), pp. 7-62, pls. i.-iii.; A. Ulrich, “Palaeozoische Versteinerungen aus Bolivien,” Neues Jahrb. f. Min. Band viii. (1893), pp. 5-116, pls. i.-v.; G. Steinmann, &c., “Geologie des südostlichen Boliviens,” Centralb. f. Min., Jahrg. (1904), pp. 1-4.
(A. J. L.)
History
The country now forming the republic of Bolivia, named after the great liberator Simon Bolivar (q.v.), was in early days simply a portion of the empire of the Incas of Peru (q.v.). After the conquest of Peru by the Spaniards in the 16th century the natives were subjected to much tyranny and oppression, though it must in fairness be said that much of it was carried out in defiance of the efforts and the wishes of the Spanish home government, whose legislative efforts to protect the Indians from serfdom and ill-usage met with scant respect at the hands of the distant settlers and mine-owners, who bid defiance to the humane and protective regulations of the council of the Indies, and treated the unhappy natives little better than beasts of burden. The statement, moreover, that some eight millions of Indians perished through forced labour in the mines is a gross exaggeration. The annual diminution in the number of the Indian population was undoubtedly very great, but it was due far more to the result of European epidemics and to indulgence in alcohol than to hard work. The abortive insurrection of 1780-82, led by the Inca Tupac Amarú, was never a general rising, and was directed rather against Creole tyranny than against Spanish rule. The heavy losses sustained by the Indians during that outbreak, and their dislike and distrust of the colonial Spaniard, account for the comparative indifference with which they viewed the rise and progress of the 1814 colonial revolt against Spain, which gave the South American states their independence.
We are only concerned here with the War of Independence so far as it affected Upper Peru, the Bolivia of later days. When the patriots of Buenos Aires had succeeded in liberating from the dominion of Spain the interior provinces of the Rio de la Plata, they turned their arms against their enemies who held Upper Peru. An almost uninterrupted warfare followed, from July 1809 till August 1825, with alternate successes on the side of the Spanish or royalist and the South American or patriot forces,—the scene of action lying chiefly between the Argentine provinces of Salta and Jujuy and the shores of Lake Titicaca. The first movement of the war was the successful invasion of Upper Peru by the army of Buenos Aires, under General Balcarce, which, after twice defeating the Spanish troops, was able to celebrate the first anniversary of independence near Lake Titicaca, in May 1811. Soon, however, the patriot army, owing to the dissolute conduct and negligence of its leaders, became disorganized, and was attacked and defeated, in June 1811, by the Spanish army under Gey fol Goyeneche, and driven back into Jujuy. Four years of warfare, in which victory was alternately with the Spaniards and the patriots, was terminated in 1815 by the total rout of the latter in a battle which took place between Potosi and Oruro. To this succeeded a revolt of the Indians of the southern provinces of Peru, and the object being the independence of the whole country, it was joined by numerous Creoles. This insurrection was, however, speedily put down by the royalists. In 1816 the Spanish general Laserna, having been appointed commander-in-chief of Upper Peru, made an attempt to invade the Argentine provinces, intending to march on Buenos Aires, but he was completely foiled in this by the activity of the irregular gaucho troops of Salta and Jujuy, and was forced to retire. During this time and in the six succeeding years a guerrilla warfare was maintained by the patriots of Upper Peru, who had taken refuge in the mountains, chiefly of the province of Yungas, and who frequently harassed the royalist troops. In June 1823 the expedition of General Santa Cruz, prepared with great zeal and activity at Lima, marched in two divisions upon Upper Peru, and in the following months of July and August the whole country between La Paz and Oruro was occupied by his forces; but later, the indecision and want of judgment displayed by Santa Cruz allowed a retreat to be made before a smaller royalist army, and a severe storm converted their retreat into a precipitate flight, only a remnant of the expedition again reaching Lima. In 1824, after the great battle of Ayacucho in Lower Peru, General Sucre, whose valour had contributed so much to the patriot success of that day, marched with a part of the victorious army into Upper Peru. On the news of the victory a universal rising of the patriots took place, and before Sucre had reached Oruro and Puno, in February 1825, La Paz was already in their possession, and the royalist garrisons of several towns had gone over to their side. The Spanish general Olañeta, with a diminished army of 2000 men, was confined to the province of Potosi, where he held out till March 1825, when he was mortally wounded in an action with some of his own revolted troops.
General Sucre was now invested with the supreme command in Upper Peru, until the requisite measures could be taken to establish in that country a regular and constitutional government. Deputies from the various provinces to the number of fifty-four were assembled at Chuquisaca, the capital, to decide upon the question proposed to them on the part of the government of the Argentine provinces, whether they would or would not remain separate from that country. In August 1825 they decided this question, declaring it to be the national will that Upper Peru should in future constitute a distinct and independent nation. This assembly continued their session, although the primary object of their meeting had thus been accomplished, and afterwards gave the name of Bolivia to the country,—issuing at the same time a formal declaration of independence.
The first general assembly of deputies of Bolivia dissolved itself on the 6th of October 1825, and a new congress was summoned and formally installed at Chuquisaca on the 25th of May 1826, to take into consideration the constitution prepared by Bolivar for the new republic. A favourable report was made to that body by a committee appointed to examine it, on which it was approved by the congress, and declared to be the constitution of the republic; and as such, it was sworn to by the people. General Sucre was chosen president for life, according to the constitution, but only accepted the appointment for the space of two years, and on the express condition that 2000 Colombian troops should be permitted to remain with him.
The independence of the country, so dearly bought, did not, however, secure for it a peaceful future. Repeated risings occurred, till in the end of 1827 General Sucre and his Colombian troops were driven from La Paz. A new congress was formed at Chuquisaca in April 1828, which modified the constitution given by Bolivar, and chose Marshal Santa Cruz for president; but only a year later a revolution, led by General Blanco, threw the country into disorder and for a time overturned the government. Quiet being again restored in 1831, Santa Cruz promulgated the code of laws which bore his name, and brought the financial affairs of the country into some order; he also concluded a treaty of commerce with Peru, and for several years Bolivia remained in peace. In 1835, when a struggle for the chief power had made two factions in the neighbouring republic of Peru, Santa Cruz was induced to take a part in the contest; he marched into that country, and after defeating General Gamarra, the leader of one of the opposing parties, completed the pacification of Peru in the spring of 1836, named himself its protector, and had in view a confederation of the two countries. At this juncture the government of Chile interfered actively, and espousing the cause of Gamarra, sent troops into Peru. Three years of fighting ensued till in a battle at Jungay in June 1839 Santa Cruz was defeated and exiled, Gamarra became president of Peru, and General Velasco provisional chief in Bolivia. The Santa Cruz party, however, remained strong in Bolivia, and soon revolted successfully against the new head of the government, ultimately installing General Ballivian in the chief power. Taking advantage of the disturbed condition of Bolivia, Gamarra made an attempt to annex the rich province of La Paz, invading it in August 1841 and besieging the capital; but in a battle with Ballivian his army was totally routed, and Gamarra himself was killed. The Bolivian general was now in turn to invade Peru, when Chile again interfered to prevent him. Ballivian remained in the presidency till 1848, when he retired to Valparaiso, and in the end of that year General Belzu, after leading a successful military revolution, took the chief power, and during his presidency endeavoured to promote agriculture, industry and trade. General Jorge Cordova succeeded him, but had not been long in office when a new revolt in September 1857, originating with the garrison of Oruro, spread over the land, and compelled him to quit the country. His place was taken by Dr José Maria Linares, the originator of the revolution, who, taking into his own hands all the powers of government, and acting with the greatest severity, caused himself to be proclaimed dictator in March 1858. Fresh disturbances led to the deposition of Linares in 1861, when Dr Maria de Acha was chosen president. In 1862 a treaty of peace and commerce with the United States was ratified, and in the following year a similar treaty was concluded with Belgium; but new causes of disagreement with Chile had arisen in the discovery of rich beds of guano on the eastern coast-land of the desert of Atacama, which threatened warfare, and were only set at rest by the treaty of August 1866, in which the 24th parallel of latitude was adopted as the boundary between the two republics. A new military revolution, led by Maria Melgarejo, broke out in 1865, and in February of that year the troops of President Acha were defeated in a battle near Potosi, when Melgarejo took the dominion of the country. After defeating two revolutions, in 1865 and 1866, the new president declared a political amnesty, and in 1869, after imposing a revised constitution on the country, he became its dictator.
In January 1871 President Melgarejo was in his turn deposed and driven from the country by a revolution headed by Colonel Augustin Morales. The latter, becoming president, was himself murdered in November 1872 and was succeeded by Colonel Adolfo Ballivian, who died in 1874. Under this president Bolivia entered upon a secret agreement with Peru which was destined to have grave consequences for both countries. To understand the reasons that urged Bolivia to take this step it is necessary to go back to the above-mentioned treaty of 1866 between Chile and Bolivia. By this instrument Bolivia, besides conceding the 24th parallel as the boundary of Chilean territory, agreed that Chile should have a half share of the customs and full facilities for trading on the coast that lay between the 23rd and 24th parallels, Chile at that time being largely interested in the trade of that region. It was also agreed that Chile should be allowed to mine and export the products of this district without tax or hindrance on the part of Bolivia. In 1870, in further consideration of the sum of $10,000, Bolivia granted to an Anglo-Chilean company the right of working certain nitrate deposits north of the 24th parallel. The great wealth which was passing into Chilean hands owing to these compacts created no little discontent in Bolivia, nor was Peru any better pleased with the hold that Chilean capital was establishing in the rich district of Tarapacá. On 6th February 1873 Bolivia entered upon a secret agreement with Peru, the ostensible object of which was the preservation of their territorial integrity and their mutual defence against exterior aggression. There can be no doubt that the aggression contemplated as possible by both countries was a further encroachment on the part of Chile.
Upon the death of Adolfo Ballivian, immediately after the conclusion of this treaty with Peru, Dr Tomas Frias succeeded to the presidency. He signed yet another treaty with Chile, by which the latter agreed to withdraw her claim to half the duties levied in Bolivian ports on condition that all Chilean industries established in Bolivian territory should be free from duty for twenty-five years. This treaty was never ratified, and four years later General Hilarion Daza, who had succeeded Dr Frias as president in 1876, demanded as the price of Bolivia’s consent that a tax of 10 cents per quintal should be paid on all nitrates exported from the country, further declaring that, unless this levy was paid, nitrates in the hands of the exporters would be seized by the Bolivian government. As an answer to these demands, and in order to protect the property of Chilean subjects, the Chilean fleet was sent to blockade the ports of Antofagasta, Cobija and Tocapilla. On the 14th February 1879 the Chilean colonel Sotomayor occupied Antofagasta, and on 1st March, a fortnight later, the Bolivian government declared war.
An offer on the part of Peru to act as mediator met with no favour from Chile. The existence of the secret treaty, well known to the Chilean government, rendered the intervention of Peru more than questionable, and the law passed by the latter in 1875, which practically created a monopoly of the Tarapacá nitrate beds to the serious prejudice of Chilean enterprise, offered no guarantee of her good faith. Chile replied by curtly demanding the annulment of the secret treaty and an assurance of Peruvian neutrality. Both demands being refused, she declared war upon Peru.
The superiority of the Chileans at sea, though checked for some time by the heroic gallantry of the Peruvians, soon enabled them to land a sufficient number of troops to meet the allied forces which had concentrated at Arica and other points in the south. The Bolivian ports were already in Chilean hands, and a sea attack upon Pisagua surprised and routed the troops under the Peruvian general Buendia and opened the way into the southern territory of Peru. General Daza, who should have cooperated with Buendia, turned back, on receiving news of the Peruvian defeat, and led the Bolivian troops to Tacna in a hasty and somewhat disorderly retreat. The fall of San Francisco followed, and Iquique, which was evacuated by the allies without a struggle, was occupied. Severe fighting took place before Tarapacá surrendered, but the end of 1879 saw the Chileans in complete possession of the province.
Meanwhile a double revolution took place in Peru and Bolivia. In the former country General Prado was deposed and Colonel Pierola proclaimed dictator. The Bolivians followed the example of their allies. The troops at Tacna, indignant at the inglorious part they had been condemned to play by the incompetence or cowardice of their president, deprived him of their command and elected Colonel Camacho to lead them. At the same time a revolution in La Paz proclaimed General Narciso Campero president, and he was elected to that post in the following June by the ordinary procedure of the constitution. During 1880 the war was chiefly maintained at sea between Chile and Peru, Bolivia taking little or no part in the struggle. In January of 1881 were fought the battles of Chorillos and Miraflores, attended by heavy slaughter and savage excesses on the part of the Chilean troops. They were followed almost immediately by the surrender of Lima and Callao, which left the Chileans practically masters of Peru. In the interior, however, where the Peruvian admiral Montero had formed a provisional government, the war still lingered, and in September 1882 a conference took place between the latter and President Campero, at which it was decided that they should hold out for better terms. But the Peruvians wearied of the useless struggle. On the 20th of October 1883 they concluded a treaty of peace with Chile; the troops at Arequipa, under Admiral Montero, surrendered that town, and Montero himself, coldly received in Bolivia, whither he had fled for refuge, withdrew from the country to Europe. On the 9th of November the Chilean army of occupation was concentrated at Arequipa, while what remained of the Bolivian army lay at Oruro. Negotiations were opened, and on 11th December a peace was signed between Chile and Bolivia. By this treaty Bolivia ceded to Chile the whole of its sea-coast, including the port of Cobija.
On the 18th of May 1895 a treaty was signed at Santiago between Chile and Bolivia, “with a view to strengthening the bonds of friendship which unite the two countries,” and, “in accord with the higher necessity that the future development and commercial prosperity of Bolivia require her free access to the sea.” By this treaty Chile declared that if, in consequence of the plebiscite (to take place under the treaty of Ancon with Peru), or by virtue of direct arrangement, she should “acquire dominion and permanent sovereignty over the territories of Tacna and Arica, she undertakes to transfer them to Bolivia in the same form and to the same extent as she may acquire them”; the republic of Bolivia paying as an indemnity for that transfer $5,000,000 silver. If this cession should be effected, Chile should advance her own frontier north of Camerones to Vitor, from the sea up to the frontier which actually separates that district from Bolivia. Chile also pledged herself to use her utmost endeavour, either separately or jointly with Bolivia, to obtain possession of Tacna and Arica. If she failed, she bound herself to cede to Bolivia the roadstead (caleta) of Vitor, or another analogous one, and $5,000,000 silver. Supplementary protocols to this treaty stipulated that the port to be ceded must “fully satisfy the present and future requirements” of the commerce of Bolivia.
On the 23rd of May 1895 further treaties of peace and commerce were signed with Chile, but the provisions with regard to the cession of a seaport to Bolivia still remained unfulfilled. During those ten years of recovery on the part of Bolivia from the effects of the war, the presidency was held by Dr Pacheco, who succeeded Campero, and held office for the full term; by Dr Aniceto Arce, who held it until 1892, and by Dr Mariano Baptista, his successor. In 1896 Dr Severe Alonso became president, and during his tenure of office diplomatic relations were resumed with Great Britain, Señor Aramayo being sent to London as minister plenipotentiary in July 1897. As an outcome of his mission an extradition treaty was concluded with Great Britain in March 1898.
In December an attempt was made to pass a law creating Sucre the perpetual capital of the republic. Until this Sucre had taken its turn with La Paz, Cochabamba and Oruro. La Paz rose in open revolt. On the 17th of January of the following year a battle was fought some 40 m. from La Paz between the insurgents and the government forces, in which the latter were defeated with the loss of a colonel and forty-three men. Colonel Pando, the insurgent leader, having gained a strong following, marched upon Oruro, and entered that town on 11th April 1899, after completely defeating the government troops. Dr Severo Alonso took refuge in Chilean territory; and Colonel Pando formed a provisional government. He had no difficulty in obtaining his election to the presidency without opposition. He entered upon office on the 26th of October, and proved himself to be a strong and capable chief magistrate. He had to deal with two difficult settlements as to boundaries with Chile and Brazil, and to take steps for improving the means of communication in the country, by this means reviving its mining and other industries. The dispute with Brazil over the rich Acré rubber-producing territory was accentuated by the majority of those engaged in the rubber industry being Brazilians, who resented the attempts of Bolivian officials to exercise authority in the district. This led to a declaration of independence on the part of the state of Acré, and the despatch of a body of Bolivian troops in 1900 to restore order. There was no desire, however, on the part of President Pando to involve himself in hostilities with Brazil, and in a spirit of concession the dispute was settled amicably by diplomatic means, and a treaty signed in November 1903. A new boundary line was drawn, and a portion of the Acré province ceded to Brazil in consideration of a cash indemnity of $10,000,000.
The long-standing dispute with Chile with regard to its occupation of the former Bolivian provinces of Tacna and Arica under the Parto de Tregna of the 4th of April 1884 was more difficult to arrange satisfactorily. In 1895 there had been some prospect of Chile conceding an outlet on the sea in exchange for a recognition of the Chilean ownership of Tacna and Arica. The discovery, however, of secret negotiations between Bolivia and Argentina caused Chile to change its conciliatory attitude. Bolivia was in no position to venture upon hostilities or to compel the Chileans to make concessions, and the final settlement of the boundary dispute between Argentina and Chile deprived the Bolivians of the hope of obtaining the support of the Argentines. President Pando and his successor, Ismail Montes, who became president in 1904, saw that it was necessary to yield, and to make the best terms they could. A treaty was accordingly ratified in 1905, which was in many ways advantageous to Bolivia, though the republic was compelled to cede to Chile the maritime provinces occupied by the latter power since the war of 1881, and to do without a seaport. The government of Chile undertook to construct a railway at its own cost from Arica to the Bolivian capital, La Paz, and to give the Bolivians free transit through Chilean territory to certain towns on the coast. Chile further agreed to pay Bolivia a cash indemnity and lend certain pecuniary assistance to the construction of other railways necessary for the opening out of the country.
See C. Wiener, Bolivie et Pérou (Paris, 1880); E. Mossbach, Bolivia (Leipzig, 1875); Theodore Child, The South American Republics (New York, 1801); Vicente de Ballivian y Rizas, Archive Boliviano. Collecion de documentes relativos a la historia de Bolivia (Paris, 1872); Ramon Sotomayor Valdes, Estudio historico de Bolivia bajo la administracion del General don José Maria Achá con una introducion que contiene el compendio de la Guerra de la independencia i de los gobiernos de dicha Republica hasta 1861 (Santiago de Chile, 1874).
(W. Hd.; G. E.)
BOLKHOV, a town of Russia, in the government of Orel, and 35 m. N. of the city of Orel. Pop. (1897) 20,703. It is prettily situated amongst orchards and possesses a cathedral. There is a lively trade in hemp, hemp-seed oil, hemp goods and cattle, and there are hemp-mills, soap-works and tanneries. The much-venerated monastery, Optina Pustyn, is close by.
BOLL, a botanical term for a fruit-pod, particularly of the cotton plant. The word is in O. Eng. bolla, which is also represented in “bowl,” a round vessel for liquids, a variant due to “bowl,” ball, which is from the Fr. boule. “Boll” is also used, chiefly in Scotland and the north of England, as a measure of weight for flour = 140 ℔, and of capacity for grain: 16 pecks = 1 boll.
BOLLANDISTS, the Belgian Jesuits who publish the Acta Sanctorum, the great collection of biographies and legends of the saints, arranged by days, in the order of the calendar. The original idea was conceived by a Jesuit father, Heribert Rosweyde (see Hagiology), and was explained by him in a sort of prospectus, which he issued in 1607 under the title of Fasti sanctorum quorum vitae in Belgicis Bibliothecis manuscriptae. His intention was to publish in eighteen volumes the lives of the saints compiled from the MSS., at the same time adding sober notes. At the time of his death (1629) he had collected a large amount of material, but had not been able actually to begin the work. A Jesuit father, John Bolland, was appointed to carry on the project, and was sent to Antwerp. He continued to amass material, and extended the scope of the work. In 1643 the two volumes for January appeared. The three volumes for February appeared in 1658, the three for March in 1668, the three for April in 1675, and so on. In 1635 Henschenius (Godfried Henschen) was associated with Bolland, and collaborated in the work until 1681. From 1659 to 1714 Papebroch (Daniel van Papenbroeck) collaborated. This was the most brilliant period in the history of the Acta Sanctorum. The freedom of Papebroch’s criticism made him many enemies, and he had often to defend himself against their attacks. The work was continued—with some inequalities, but always in the same spirit—until the suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773. The last volume published was vol. iii. of October, which appeared in 1770.
On the dispersion of the Jesuits the Bollandists were authorized to continue their work, and remained at Antwerp until 1778, when they were transferred to Brussels, to the monastery of canons regular of Coudenberg. Here they published vol. iv. of October in 1780, and vol. v. of October in 1786, when the monastery of Coudenberg was suppressed. In 1788 the work of the Bollandists ceased. The remains of their library were acquired by the Premonstratensians of Tongerloo, who endeavoured to continue the work, and in their abbey vol. vi. of October appeared in 1794.
After the re-establishment of the Society of Jesus in Belgium the work was again taken up in 1837, at the suggestion of the Académie Royale of Belgium and with the support of the Belgian government, and the Bollandists were installed at the college of St Michael in Brussels. In 1845 appeared vol. vii. of October, the first of the new series, which reached vol. xiii. of October in 1883. In this series the Jesuit fathers Joseph van der Moere, Joseph van Hecke, Benjamin Bossue, Victor and Remi de Buck, Ant. Tinnebroeck, Edu. Carpentier and Henr. Matagne collaborated. Father John Martinov of Theazan was entrusted with the editing of the Annus Graeco-Slavicus, which appeared in the beginning of vol. xi. of October in 1864.
In 1882 the activities of the Bollandists were exerted in a new direction, with a view to bringing the work more into line with the progress of historical methods. A quarterly review was established under the title of Analecta Bollandiana by the Jesuit fathers C. de Smedt, G. van Hooff and J. de Backer. This reached its 25th volume in 1906, and was edited by the Bollandists de Smedt, F. van Ontroy, H. Delehaye, A. Porcelet and P. Peeters. This review contains studies in preparation for the continuation and remoulding of the Acta Sanctorum, inedited texts, dissertations, and, since 1892, a Bulletin des publications hagiographiques, containing criticisms of recent works on hagiographic questions. In addition to this review, the Bollandists undertook the analysis of the hagiographic MSS. in the principal libraries. Besides numerous library catalogues published in the Analecta (e.g. those of Chartres, Namur, Ghent, Messina, Venice, etc.), separate volumes were devoted to the Latin MSS. in the Bibliothèque Royale at Brussels (2 vols., 1886-1889), to the Latin and Greek MSS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris (5 vols., 1889-1896), to the Greek MSS. in the Vatican (1899), and to the Latin MSS. in the libraries of Rome (1905 seq.). They also prepared inventories of the hagiographic texts hitherto published, and of these there have appeared the Bibliotheca hagiographica graeca (1895), the Bibliotheca hagiographica latina (1899) and the Bibliotheca hagiographica Orientalis. These indispensable works delayed the publication of the principal collection, but tended to give it a more solid basis and a strictly scientific stamp. In 1887 appeared vol. i. for November; in 1894, vol. ii., preceded by the Martyrologium Hieronymianum by J.B. de Rossi and the abbé Louis Duchesne; in 1902, the Propylaeum ad Acta Sanctorum Novembris, comprising the Synaxarium ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae.
There are three editions of the Acta Sanctorum: the original edition (Antwerp, Tongerloo and Brussels, 63 vols., 1643-1902); the Venice edition, stopping at vol. v. of September (1734-1770); and the Paris edition, stopping at vol. xiii. of October (61 vols., 1863-1883). In addition to these, there is a volume of tables, edited by the abbé Rigollot.
See Acta Sanctorum apologelicis libris ... vindicata (Antwerp, 1755); L.P. Gachard, Mémoire historique sur les Bollandistes (Brussels, 1835); van Hecke, “De ratione operis Bollandiani” (Acta Sanctorum Octobris, vii.); and Cardinal J.B. Pitra, Études sur la collection des Actes des Saints (Paris, 1880).
(H. De.)
BOLOGNA, GIOVANNI DA (1524-1608) [Ital. for his real name, Jean Bologne or Boullongne], French sculptor, was born at Douai in 1524. His early training as a sculptor was conducted at Antwerp, but at the age of twenty-five he went to Italy and he settled in 1553 in Florence, where his best works still remain. His two most celebrated productions are the single bronze figure of Mercury, poised on one foot, resting on the head of a zephyr, as if in the act of springing into the air (in the Bargello gallery), and the marble group known as the Rape of the Sabines, which was executed for Francesco de’ Medici and received this name, Lanzi informs us, after it was finished. It is now in the Loggia de Lanzi of the ducal piazza. Giovanni was also employed at Genoa, where he executed various excellent works, chiefly in bronze. Most of his pieces are characterized by great spirit and elegance. His great fountain at Bologna (1563-1567) is remarkable for beauty of proportion. Noteworthy also are his two fountains in the Boboli gardens, one completed in 1576 and the other in 1585. He also cast the fine bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo de’ Medici at Florence and the very richly decorated west door of Pisa cathedral. One of Bologna’s best works, a group of two nude figures fighting, is now lost. A fine copy in lead was at one time in the front quadrangle of Brasenose College, Oxford. In 1881 it was sold for old lead by the principal and fellows of the college, and was melted down by the plumber who bought it.
See La Vie et l’œuvre de Jean Bologne, par Abel Desjardins, d’après les manuscrits—recueillis par Foucques de Vagnonville (1883, numerous illustrations; list of works).
BOLOGNA, a city and archiepiscopal see of Emilia, Italy, the capital of the province of Bologna, and headquarters of the VI. army corps. It is situated at the edge of the plain of Emilia, 180 ft. above sea-level at the base of the Apennines, 82 m. due N. of Florence by rail, 63 m. by road and 50 m. direct, and 134 m. S.E. of Milan by rail. Pop. (1901) town, 102,122; commune, 153,501. The more or less rectangular Roman city, orientated on the points of the compass, with its streets arranged at right angles, can be easily distinguished from the outer city, which received its fortifications in 1206 (see G. Gozzadini, Studi archeologico-topografici sulla citta di Bologna, Bologna, 1868). The streets leading to the gates of the latter radiate from the outskirts, and not from the centre, of the former. Some of the oldest churches, however, lie outside the limits of the Roman city (of which no buildings remain above ground) such as S. Stefano, S. Giovanni in Monte and SS. Vitale ed Agricola. The first consists of a group of no less than seven different buildings, of different dates; the earliest of which, the former cathedral of SS. Pietro e Paolo, was constructed about the middle of the 4th century, in part with the débris of Roman buildings; while S. Sepolcro, a circular church with ornamentation in brick and an imitation of opus reticulatum, should probably be attributed to the 6th or 7th centuries. The present cathedral (S. Pietro), erected in 910, is now almost entirely in the baroque style. The largest church in the town, however, is that of S. Petronio, the patron saint of Bologna, which was begun in 1390; only the nave and aisles as far as the transepts were, however, completed, but even this is a fine fragment, in the Gothic style, measuring 384 ft. long, and 157 wide, whereas the projected length of the whole (a cruciform basilica) was over 700 ft., with a breadth across the transepts of 460 ft., and a dome 500 ft. high over the crossing (see F. Cavazza in Rassegna d’ Arte, 1905, 161). The church of S. Domenico, which contains the body of the saint, who died here in 1221, is unfinished externally, while the interior was remodelled in the 18th century. There are many other churches of interest, among them S. Francesco, perhaps the finest medieval building in Bologna, begun in 1246 and finished in 1260; it has a fine brick campanile of the end of the 14th century. It was restored to sacred uses in 1887, and has been carefully liberated from later alterations (U. Berti in Rassegna d’ Arte, 1901, 55). The church of Corpus Dominii has fine 15th-century terra cottas on the façade (F. Malaguzzi Valeri in Archivio Storico dell’ Arte, ser. ii. vol. ii. (Rome, 1896), 72). The centre of the town is formed by the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele (formerly Piazza Maggiore), and the Piazza del Nettuno, which lie at right angles to one another. Here are the church of S. Petronio, the massive Palazzo Comunale, dating from 1245, the Palazzo del Podesta, completed in the same year, and the fine bronze statue of Neptune by Giovanni da Bologna (Jean Bologne of Douai).
The famous university of Bologna was founded in the 11th century (its foundation by Theodosius the Great in A.D. 425 is legendary), and acquired a European reputation as a school of jurisprudence under Pepo, the first known teacher at Bologna of Roman law (about 1076), and his successor Irnerius and their followers the glossators. The students numbered between three and five thousand in the 12th to the 15th century, and in 1262, it is said, nearly ten thousand (among them were both Dante and Petrarch). Anatomy was taught here in the 14th century. But despite its fame, the university, though an autonomous corporation, does not seem to have had any fixed residence: the professors lectured in their own houses, or later in rooms hired or lent by the civic authorities. It was only in 1520 that the professors of law were given apartments in a building belonging to the church of S. Petronio; and in 1562, by order of Pius IV., the university itself was constructed close by, by Carlo Borromeo, then cardinal legate. The reason of this measure was no doubt partly disciplinary, Bologna itself having in 1506 passed under the dominion of the papacy. Shortly after this, in 1564, Tasso was a student there, and was tried for writing a satirical poem. One of the most famous professors was Marcello Malpighi, a great anatomist of the 17th century. The building has served as the communal library since 1838. Its courtyard contains the arms of those students who were elected as representatives of their respective nations or faculties. The university has since 1803 been established in the (16th century) Palazzo Poggi. Between 1815 and 1848 the number of students sank to about a hundred in some years, chiefly owing to the political persecutions of the government: in 1859 the number had risen to 355. It now possesses four faculties and is attended by some 1700 students. Among its professors women have more than once been numbered.
The Museo Civico is one of the most important museums in Italy, containing especially fine collections of antiquities from Bologna and its neighbourhood. The picture gallery is equally important in its way, affording a survey both of the earlier Bolognese paintings and of the works of the Bolognese eclectics of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Caracci, Guido Reni, Domenichino, Guercino, &c. The primitive masters are not of great excellence, but the works of the masters of the 15th century, especially those of Francesco Francia (1450-1517) and Lorenzo Costa of Ferrara (1460-1535), are of considerable merit. The great treasure of the collection is, however, Raphael’s S. Cecilia, painted for the church of S. Giovanni in Monte, about 1515.
The two leaning towers, the Torre Asinelli and the Torre Garisenda, dating from 1109 and 1110 respectively, are among the most remarkable structures in Bologna: they are square brick towers, the former being 320 ft. in height and 4 ft. out of the perpendicular, the latter (unfinished) 163 ft. high and 10 ft. out of the perpendicular. The town contains many fine private palaces, dating from the 13th century onwards. The streets are as a rule arcaded, and this characteristic has been preserved in modern additions, which have on the whole been made with considerable taste, as have also the numerous restorations of medieval buildings. A fine view may be had from the Madonna di S. Luca, on the south-west of the town (938 ft.).
Among the specialities of Bologna may be noted the salami or mortadella (Bologna sausage), tortellini (a kind of macaroni) and liqueurs.
Bologna is an important railway centre, just as the ancient Bononia was a meeting-point of important roads. Here the main line from Milan divides, one portion going on parallel to the line of the ancient Via Aemilia (which it has followed from Piacenza downwards) to Rimini, Ancona and Brindisi, and the other through the Apennines to Florence and thence to Rome. Another line runs to Ferrara and Padua, another (eventually to be prolonged to Verona) to S. Felice sul Panaro, and a third to Budrio and Portomaggiore (a station on the line from Ferrara to Ravenna). Steam tramways run to Vignola, Pieve di Cento and Malalbergo.
Bologna was only for a short while subject to the Lombards, remaining generally under the rule of the exarchate of Ravenna, until this in 756 was given by Pippin to the papacy. It was sacked by the Hungarians in 902, but otherwise its history is little known, and it is uncertain when it acquired its freedom and its motto Libertas. But the first “constitution” of the commune of Bologna dates from about 1123, and at that time we find it a free and independent city. From the 12th to the 14th century it was very frequently at war, and strongly supported the Guelph cause against Frederick II. and against the neighbouring cities of Romagna and Emilia; indeed, in 1249 the Bolognese took Enzio, the emperor’s son, prisoner, and kept him in confinement for the rest of his life. But the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines in Bologna itself soon followed, and the commune was so weakened that in 1337 Taddeo de’ Pepoli made himself master of the town, and in 1350 his son sold it to Giovanni Visconti of Milan. Ten years later it was given to the papacy, but soon revolted and recovered its liberty. In 1401 Giovanni Bentivoglio made himself lord of Bologna, but was killed in a rebellion of 1402. It then returned to the Visconti, and after various struggles with the papacy was again secured in 1438 by the Bentivoglio, who held it till 1506, when Pope Julius II. drove them out, and brought Bologna once more under the papacy, under the sway of which it remained (except in the Napoleonic period between 1796 and 1815 and during the revolutions of 1821 and 1831) until in 1860 it became part of the kingdom of Italy.
Among the most illustrious natives of Bologna may be noted Luigi Galvani (1737-1798), the discoverer of galvanism, and Prospero Lambertini (Pope Benedict XIV.).
See C. Ricci, Guida di Bologna (3rd ed., Bologna, 1900).
(T. As.)
BOLSENA (anc. Volsinii), a town of the province of Rome, Italy, 12 m. W.S.W. of Orvieto by road, situated on the north-east bank of the lake of Bolsena. Pop. (1901) 3286. The town is dominated by a picturesque medieval castle, and contains the church of S. Christina (martyred by drowning in the lake, according to the legend, in 278) which dates from the 11th century and contains some frescoes, perhaps of the school of Giotto. It has a fine Renaissance façade, constructed about 1500 by Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici (afterwards Pope Leo X.), and some good terra cottas by the Della Robbia. Beneath the church are catacombs, with the tomb of the saint, discovered in 1880 (E. Stevenson in Notizie degli Scavi, 1880, 262; G.B. de Rossi in Bullettino d’Archeologia Cristiana, 1880, 109). At one of the altars in this crypt occurred the miracle of Bolsena in 1263. A Bohemian priest, sceptical of the doctrine of transubstantiation, was convinced of its truth by the appearance of drops of blood on the host he was consecrating. In commemoration of this Pope Urban IV. instituted the festival of Corpus Christi, and ordered the erection of the cathedral of Orvieto. The miracle forms the subject of a celebrated fresco by Raphael in the Vatican.
The Lake of Bolsena (anc. Lacus Volsiniensis), 1000 ft. above sea-level, 71 sq. m. in area, and 480 ft. deep, is almost circular, and was the central point of a large volcanic district, though it is probably not itself an extinct crater. Its sides show fine basaltic formation in places. It abounds in fish, but its banks are somewhat deserted and not free from malaria. It contains two islands, Bisentina and Martana, the former containing a church constructed by Vignola, the latter remains of the castle where Amalasuntha, the daughter of Theodoric, was imprisoned and strangled.
(T. As.)
According to the theory now generally adopted, the Etruscan Volsinii occupied the site of Orvieto, which was hence called Urbs vetus in late classical and medieval times, while the Roman Volsinii was transferred to Bolaena (see Volsinii).
BOLSOVER, an urban district in the north-eastern parliamentary division of Derbyshire, England, 5½ m. E. of Chesterfield, on branch lines of the Midland and the Great Central railways. Pop. (1901) 6844. It lies at a considerable height on a sharp slope above a stream tributary to the river Rother. The castle round which the town grew up was founded shortly after the Conquest by William Peveril, but the existing building, a fine castellated residence, was erected on its site in 1613. The town itself was fortified, and traces of early works remain. The church of St Mary is of Norman and later date; it contains some interesting early stone-carving, and monuments to the family of Cavendish, who acquired the castle in the 16th century. Coal-mining and quarrying are carried on in the neighbourhood of Bolsover.
BOLSWARD, a town in the province of Friesland, Holland, 6½ m. W.N.W. of Sneek. A steam-tramway connects it with Sneek, Makkum, Harlingen and Franeker. Pop. (1900) 6517. The Great church, or St Martin’s (1446-1466) is a large building containing some good carving, a fine organ and the tombs of many Frisian nobles. The so-called Small church, dating from about 1280, also contains fine carving and tombstones; and is the remnant of a Franciscan convent which once existed here. Bolsward also possesses a beautiful renaissance town-hall (1614-1618) and various educational and charitable institutions, including a music and a drawing school. It has an active trade in agricultural produce, and some spinning-mills and tile and pottery works. The town is mentioned in 725, when it was situated on the Middle Sea. When this receded, a canal was cut to the Zuider Zee, and in 1422 it was made a Hansa town.
The medieval constitution of Bolsward, though in its government by eight scabini, with judicial, and four councillors with administrative functions, it followed the ordinary type of Dutch cities, was in some ways peculiar. The family of Jongema had certain hereditary rights in the administration, which, though not mentioned in the town charter of 1455, were defined in that of 1464. According to this the head of the family sat for two years with the scabini and the third year with the councillors, and had the right to administer an oath to one of each body. More singular was the influential position assigned, in civic legislation and administration, to the clergy, to whom in conjunction with the councillors, there was even, in certain cases, an appeal from the judgment of the scabini.
See C. Hegel, Stadte u. Gilden der germanischen Völker im Mittelalter (Leipzig, 1891).
BOLT, an O. Eng. word (compare Ger. Bolz, an arrow), for a “quarrel” or cross-bow shaft, or the pin which fastened a door. From the swift flight of an arrow comes the verb “to bolt,” as applied to a horse, &c., and such expressions as “bolt upright,” meaning straight upright; also the American use of “bolt” for refusing to support a candidate nominated by one’s own party. In the sense of a straight pin for a fastening, the word has come to mean various sorts of appliances. From the sense of “fastening together” is derived the use of the word “bolt” as a definite length (in a roll) of a fabric (40 ft. of canvas, &c.).
From another “bolt” or “boult,” to sift (through O. Fr. buleter, from the Med. Lat. buretare or buletare), come such expressions as in Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale, “The fann’d snow, That’s bolted by the northern blasts twice o’er,” or such a figurative use as in Burke’s “The report of the committee was examined and sifted and bolted to the bran.” From this sense comes that of to moot, or discuss, as in Milton’s Comus, “I hate when vice can bolt her arguments.”
BOLTON, DUKES OF. The title of duke of Bolton was held in the family of Powlett or Paulet from 1689 to 1794. Charles Powlett, the 1st duke (c. 1625-1699), who became 6th marquess of Winchester on his father’s death in 1675, had been member of parliament for Winchester and then for Hampshire from 1660 to 1675. Having supported the claim of William and Mary to the English throne in 1688, he was restored to the privy council and to the office of lord-lieutenant of Hampshire, and was created duke of Bolton in April 1689. An eccentric man, hostile to Halifax and afterwards to Marlborough, he is said to have travelled during 1687 with four coaches and 100 horsemen, sleeping during the day and giving entertainments at night. He died in February 1699, and was succeeded by his elder son, Charles, 2nd duke of Bolton (1661-1722), who had also been a member of parliament for Hampshire and a supporter of William of Orange. He was lord-lieutenant of Hampshire and of Dorset, a commissioner to arrange the union of England and Scotland; and was twice a lord justice of the kingdom. He was also lord chamberlain of the royal household; governor of the Isle of Wight; and for two short periods was lord-lieutenant of Ireland. His third wife was Henrietta (d. 1730), a natural daughter of James, duke of Monmouth. According to Swift this duke was “a great booby.” His eldest son, Charles, 3rd duke of Bolton (1685-1754), was a member of parliament from 1705 to 1717, when he was made a peer as Baron Pawlet of Basing. He filled many of the public offices which had been held by his father, and also attained high rank in the British army. Having displeased Sir Robert Walpole he was deprived of several of his offices in 1733; but some of them were afterwards restored to him, and he raised a regiment for service against the Jacobites in 1745. He was a famous gallant, and married for his second wife the singer, Lavinia Fenton (d. 1760), a lady who had previously been his mistress. He died in August 1754, and was succeeded as 4th duke by his brother Harry (c. 1690-1759), who had been a member of parliament for forty years, and who followed the late duke as lord-lieutenant of Hampshire. The 4th duke’s son, Charles (c. 1718-1765), who became 5th duke in October 1759, committed suicide in London in July 1765, and was succeeded by his brother Harry (c. 1719-1794), an admiral in the navy, on whose death without sons, in December 1794, the dukedom became extinct. The other family titles descended to a kinsman, George Paulet (1722-1800), who thus became 12th marquess of Winchester. In 1778 Thomas Orde (1746-1807) married Jean Mary (d. 1814), a natural daughter of the 5th duke of Bolton, and this lady inherited Bolton Castle and other properties on the death of the 6th duke. Having taken the additional name of Powlett, Orde was created Baron Bolton in 1797, and the barony has descended to his heirs.
BOLTON (or Boulton), EDMUND (1575?-1633?), English historian and poet, was born by his own account in 1575. He was brought up a Roman Catholic, and was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, afterwards residing in London at the Inner Temple. In 1600 he contributed to England’s Helicon. He was a retainer of the duke of Buckingham, and through his influence he secured a small place at the court of James I. Bolton formulated a scheme for the establishment of an English academy, but the project fell through after the death of the king, who had regarded it favourably. He wrote a Life of King Henry II. for Speed’s Chronicle, but his Catholic sympathies betrayed themselves in his treatment of Thomas Becket, and a life by Dr John Barcham was substituted (Wood, Ath. Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 36). The most important of his numerous works are Hypercritica (1618?), a short critical treatise valuable for its notices of contemporary authors, reprinted in Joseph Haslewood’s Ancient Critical Essays (vol. ii., 1815); Nero Caesar, or Monarchic Depraved (1624), with special note of British affairs. Bolton was still living in 1633, but the date of his death is unknown.
BOLTON (Bolton-le-Moors), a municipal, county and parliamentary borough of Lancashire, England, 196 m. N.W. by N. from London and 11 m. N.W. from Manchester. Pop. (1891) 146,487; (1901) 168,215. Area, 15,279 acres. It has stations on the London & North-Western and the Lancashire & Yorkshire railways, with running powers for the Midland railway. It is divided by the Croal, a small tributary of the Irwell, into Great and Little Bolton, and as the full name implies, is surrounded by high moorland. Although of early origin, its appearance, like that of other great manufacturing towns of the vicinity, is wholly modern. It owes not a little to the attractions of its site. The only remnants of antiquity are two houses of the 16th century in Little Bolton, of which one is a specially good example of Tudor work. The site of the church of St Peter has long been occupied by a parish church (there was one in the 12th century, if not earlier), but the existing building dates only from 1870. There may also be mentioned a large number of other places of worship, a town hall with fine classical façade and tower, market hall, museums of natural history and of art and industry, an exchange, assembly rooms, and various benevolent institutions. Several free libraries are maintained. Lever’s grammar school, founded in 1641, had Robert Ainsworth, the Latin lexicographer, and John Lemprière, author of the classical dictionary, among its masters. There are municipal technical schools. A large public park, opened in 1866, was laid out as a relief work for unemployed operatives during the cotton famine of the earlier part of the decade. On the moors to the north-west, and including Rivington Pike (1192 ft.), is another public park, and there are various smaller pleasure grounds. A large number of cotton mills furnish the chief source of industry; printing, dyeing and bleaching of cotton and calico, spinning and weaving machine making, iron and steel works, and collieries in the neighbourhood, are also important. The speciality, however, is fine spinning, a process assisted by the damp climate. The parliamentary borough, created in 1832 and returning two members, falls within the Westhoughton division of the county. Before 1838, when Bolton was incorporated, the town was governed by a borough-reeve and two constables appointed at the annual court-leet. The county borough was created in 1888. The corporation consists of a mayor, 24 aldermen and 72 councillors.
The earliest form of the name is Bodleton or Botheltun, and the most important of the later forms are Bodeltown, Botheltun-le-Moors, Bowelton, Boltune, Bolton-super-Moras, Bolton-in-ye-Moors, Bolton-le-Moors. The manor was granted by William I. to Roger de Poictou, and passed through the families of Ferrers and Pilkington to the Harringtons of Hornby Castle, who lost it with their other estates for their adherence to Richard III. In 1485 Henry VII. granted it to the first earl of Derby. The manor is now held by different lords, but the earls of Derby still have a fourth part. The manor of Little Bolton seems to have been, at least from Henry III.’s reign, distinct from that of Great Bolton, and was held till the 17th century by the Botheltons or Boltons.
From early days Bolton was famous for its woollen manufactures. In Richard I.’s reign an aulneger, whose duty it was to measure and stamp all bundles of woollen goods, was appointed, and it is clear, therefore, that the place was already a centre of the woollen cloth trade. In 1337 the industry received an impulse from the settlement of a party of Flemish clothiers, and extended so greatly that when it was found necessary in 1566 to appoint by act of parliament deputies to assist the aulnegers, Bolton is named as one of the places where these deputies were to be employed. Leland in his Itinerary (1558) recorded the fact that Bolton made cottons, which were in reality woollen goods. Real cotton goods were not made in Lancashire till 1641, when Bolton is named as the chief seat of the manufacture of fustians, vermilions and dimities. After the revocation of the edict of Nantes the settlement of some French refugees further stimulated this industry. It was here that velvets were first made about 1756, by Jeremiah Clarke, and muslins and cotton quiltings in 1763. The cotton trade received an astonishing impetus from the inventions of Sir Richard Arkwright (1770), and Samuel Crompton (1780), both of whom were born in the parish. Soon after the introduction of machinery, spinning factories were erected, and the first built in Bolton is said to have been set up in 1780. The number rapidly increased, and in 1851 there were 66 cotton mills with 860,000 throstle spindles at work. The cognate industry of bleaching has been carried on since early in the 18th century, and large ironworks grew up in the latter half of the 19th century. In 1791 a canal was constructed from Manchester to Bolton, and by an act of parliament (1792) Bolton Moor was enclosed.
During the Civil War Bolton sided with the parliament, and in February 1643 and March 1644 the royalist forces assaulted the town, but were on both occasions repulsed. On the 28th of May 1644, however, it was attacked by Prince Rupert and Lord Derby, and stormed with great slaughter. On the 15th of October 1651 Lord Derby, who had been taken prisoner after the battle of Worcester, was brought here and executed the same day.
Up to the beginning of the 19th century the market day was Monday, but the customary Saturday market gradually superseded this old chartered market. In 1251 William de Ferrers obtained from the crown a charter for a weekly market and a yearly fair, but gradually this annual fair was replaced by four others chiefly for horses and cattle. The New Year and Whitsuntide Show fairs only arose during the 19th century.
BOLTON ABBEY, a village in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 22 m. N.W. from Leeds and 5½ from Ilkley by the Midland railway. It takes its name, inaccurately, from the great foundation of Bolton Priory, the ruins of which are among the most exquisitely situated in England. They stand near the right bank of the upper Wharfe, the valley of which is beautifully wooded and closely enclosed by hills. The earliest part of the church is of transitional Norman date; the nave, which is perfect, is Early English and Decorated. The transepts and choir are ruined, and the remains of domestic buildings are slight. The manor of Bolton Abbey with the rest of the district of Craven was granted by William the Conqueror to Robert de Romili, who evidently held it in 1086, although there is no mention made of it in the Domesday survey. William de Meschines and Cicely de Romili, his wife, heiress of Robert, founded and endowed a priory at Embsay or Emmesay, near Skipton, in 1120, but it was moved here in 1151 by their daughter, Alice de Romili, wife of William FitzDuncan, who gave the manor to the monks in exchange for other lands. After the dissolution of the monasteries the manor was sold in 1542 to Henry Clifford, 2nd earl of Cumberland, whose descendants, the dukes of Devonshire, now hold it.
See J.D. Whitaker, LL.D., F.S.A., History of the District of Craven (ed. Morant, 1878); Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum.
BOLZANO, BERNHARD (1781-1848), Austrian priest and philosopher, was born at Prague on the 5th of October 1781. He distinguished himself at an early age, and on his ordination to the priesthood (1805) was appointed professor of the philosophy of religion in Prague University. His lectures, in which he endeavoured to show that Catholic theology is in complete harmony with reason, were received with eager interest by the younger generation of thinkers. But his views met with much opposition; and it was only through the protection of the archbishop, Prince Salm-Salm, that he was enabled to retain his chair. In 1820 he was accused of being connected with some of the students’ revolutionary societies, and was compelled to resign. Several doctrines extracted from his works were condemned at Rome, and he was suspended from his priestly functions, spending the rest of his life in literary work. He died at Prague on the 18th of December 1848. The most important of his numerous works are the Wissenschaftslehre, oder Versuch einer neuen Darstellung der Logik, advocating a scientific method in the study of logic (4 vols., Sulzbach, 1837); the Lehrbuch der Religionswissenschaft (4 vols., Sulzbach, 1834), a philosophic representation of all the dogmas of Roman Catholic theology; and Athanasia, oder Gründe für die Unsterblichkeit der Seele (2nd ed., Mainz, 1838). In philosophy he followed Reinhard in ethics and the monadology of Leibnitz, though he was also influenced by Kant.
See Lebensbeschreibung des Dr Bolzano (an autobiography, 1836); Wisshaupt, Skizzen aus dem Leben Dr Bolzanos (1850); Palágy, Kant und Bolzano (Halle, 1902).
BOMA (properly Mboma), a port on the north bank of the river Congo about 60 m. from its mouth, the administrative capital of Belgian Congo. Pop. about 5000. It was one of the places at which the European traders on the west coast of Africa established stations in the 16th and 17th centuries. It became the entrepôt for the commerce of the lower Congo and a well-known mart for slaves. The trade was chiefly in the hands of Dutch merchants, but British, French and Portuguese firms also had factories there. No European power exercised sovereignty, though shadowy claims were from time to time put forward by Portugal (see Africa, § 5). In 1884 the natives of Boma granted a protectorate of their country to the International Association of the Congo.
See H.M. Stanley, The Congo and the Founding of its Free State (London, 1885).
BOMB, a term formerly used for an explosive shell (see Ammunition) fired by artillery. The word is derived from the Gr. βόμβος, a hammering, buzzing noise, cf. “bombard” (q.v.). At the present day it is most frequently used of a shattering or incendiary grenade, or of an explosive vessel actuated by clockwork or trip mechanism, employed to destroy life or property. In naval warfare, before the introduction of the shell gun, explosive projectiles were carried principally by special vessels known as bomb-vessels, bombards or, colloquially, bombs.
In geology, the name “bomb” is given to certain masses of lava which have been hurled forth from a volcanic vent by explosive action. In shape they are spheroidal, ellipsoidal or discoidal; in structure they may be solid, hollow or more or less cavernous; whilst in size they vary from that of a walnut to masses weighing several tons. It is generally held that the form is partly due to rotation of the mass during its aerial flight, and in some cases the bomb becomes twisted by a gyratory movement. According, however, to Dr H.J. Johnston-Lavis, many of the so-called bombs of Vesuvius are not projectiles, but merely globular masses formed in a stream of lava; and in like manner Professor J.D. Dana showed that what were regarded as bombs in Hawaii are in many cases merely lava-balls that have not been hurled through the air. Certain masses of pumice ejected from Vulcano have been called by Johnston-Lavis “bread-crust bombs,” since they present a coating of obsidian which has been bent and cracked in a way suggestive of the crust of a roll. It is probable that here the acid magma was expelled in a very viscous condition, and the crust which formed on cooling was burst by the steam from the occluded water. Some of the bombs thrown out during recent eruptions of Etna consist of white granular quartz, encased in a black scoriaceous crust, the quartz representing an altered sandstone. The bombs of granular olivine, found in some of the tuffs in the Eifel, are represented in most geological collections (see Volcano).
BOMBARD (derived through Med. Lat. and Fr. forms from Gr. βομβεῖν, to make a humming noise), a term applied in the middle ages to a sort of cannon, used chiefly in sieges, and throwing heavy stone balls; hence the later use as a verb (see BOMBARDMENT). The name, in various forms, was also given to a medieval musical instrument (“bombard,” “bumhart,” “pumhart,” “pommer”), the forerunner of the bass oboe or schalmey. At the present day a small primitive oboe called bombarde, with eight holes but no keys, is used among the Breton peasants.
BOMBARDIER, originally an artilleryman in charge of a bombard; now a non-commissioned officer in the artillery of the British army, ranking below a corporal.
BOMBARDMENT, an attack by artillery fire directed against fortifications, troops in position or towns and buildings. In its strict sense the term is only applied to the bombardment of defenceless or undefended objects, houses, public buildings, &c., the object of the assailant being to dishearten his opponent, and specially to force the civil population and authorities of a besieged place to persuade the military commandant to capitulate before the actual defences of the place have been reduced to impotence. It is, therefore, obvious that mere bombardment can only achieve its object when the amount of suffering inflicted upon non-combatants is sufficient to break down their resolution, and when the commandant permits himself to be influenced or coerced by the sufferers. A threat of bombardment will sometimes induce a place to surrender, but instances of its fulfilment being followed by success are rare; and, in general, with a determined commandant, bombardments fail of their object. Further, an intentionally terrific fire at a large target, unlike the slow, steady and minutely accurate “artillery attacks “directed upon the fortifications, requires the expenditure of large quantities of ammunition, and wears out the guns of the attack. Bombardments are, however, frequently resorted to in order to test the temper of the garrison and the civil population, a notable instance being that of Strassburg in 1870. The term is often loosely employed to describe artillery attacks upon forts or fortified positions in preparation for assaults by infantry.
BOMBARDON, or Bass Tuba, the name given to the bass and contrabass of the brass wind in military bands, called in the orchestra bass tuba.
The name of bombardon is unquestionably derived from bombardone, the Italian for contrabass pommer (bombard), which, before the invention of the fagotto, formed the bass of medieval orchestras; it is also used for a bass reed stop of 16 ft. tone on the organ. The bombardon was the very first bass wind instrument fitted with valves, and it was at first known as the corno basso, clavicor or bass horn (not to be confounded with the bass horn with keys, which on being perfected became the ophicleide). The name was attached more to the position of the wind instruments as bass than to the individual instrument. The original corno basso was a brass instrument of narrow bore with the pistons set horizontally. The valve-ophicleide in F of German make had a wider bore and three vertical pistons, but it was only a “half instrument,” measuring about 12 ft. A. Kalkbrenner, in his life of W. Wieprecht (1882), states that in the Jäger military bands of Prussia the corno basso (keyed bass horn) was introduced as bass in 1829, and the bombardon (or valve-ophicleide) in 1831; in the Guards these instruments were superseded in 1835 by the bass tuba invented by Wieprecht and J.G. Moritz.
The modern bombardon is made in two forms: the upright model, used in stationary band music; and the circular model, known as the helicon, worn round the body with the large bell resting on the left shoulder, after the style of the Roman cornu (see Horn), which is a more convenient way of carrying this heavy instrument when marching. The bombardon, and the euphonium, of which it is the bass, are the outcome of the application of valves to the bugle family whereby the saxhorns were also produced. The radical difference between the saxhorns and the tubas (including the bombardon) is that the latter have a sufficiently wide conical bore to allow of the production of fundamental sounds in a rich, full quality of immense power. This difference, first recognized in Germany and Austria, has given rise in those countries to the classification of the brass wind as “half” and “whole” instruments (Halbe and Ganze Instrumente). When the brass wind instruments with conical bore and cup-shaped mouthpiece first came into use, it was a well-understood principle that the tube of each instrument must theoretically be made twice as long as an organ pipe giving the same note; for example, the French horn sounding the 8 ft. C of an 8 ft. organ pipe, must have a tube 16 ft. long; C then becomes the second harmonic of the series for the 16 ft. tube, the first or fundamental being unobtainable. After the introduction of pistons, instrument-makers experimenting with the bugle, which has a conical bore of very wide diameter in proportion to the length, found that baritone and bass instruments constructed on the same principle gave out the fundamental full and clear. A new era in the construction of brass wind instruments was thus inaugurated, and now that the proportions of the bugle have been adopted, the tubes of the tubas are made just half the length of those of the older instruments, corresponding to the length of the organ pipe of the same pitch, so that a euphonium sounding 8 ft. C no longer needs to be 16 ft. long but only 8 ft. The older instruments, such as the saxhorns, with narrow bore, have therefore been denominated “half instruments,” because only half the length of the instrument is of practical utility, while the tubas with wide bore are styled “whole instruments.” Bombardons are made in E flat and F of the 16 ft. octave, corresponding to the orchestral bass tuba, double bass in strings, and pedal clarinet and contrafagotto in the wood wind. The bombardon in B flat or C, an octave lower than the euphonium, corresponds to the contrabass tuba in the orchestra.
The bombardons possess a chromatic compass of 3½ to 4 octaves. The harmonic series consists of the harmonics from the 1st to the 8th.
Bombardon in E Flat.
Harmonic Series of the Contrabass Bombardon in C.*
The lowest notes produced by the valves are very difficult to obtain, for the lips seldom have sufficient power to set in vibration a column of air of such immense length, at a rate of vibration slow enough to synchronize with that of notes of such deep pitch. Even when they are played, the lowest valve notes can hardly be heard unless doubled an octave higher by another bombardon.
Bombardons are generally treated as non-transposing instruments, the music being written as sounded, except in France and Belgium, where transposition is usual. The intervening notes are obtained by means of pistons or valves, which, on being depressed, either admit the wind into additional lengths of tubing to lower the pitch, or cut off a length in order to raise it. Bombardons usually have three or four pistons lowering the pitch of the instrument respectively 1, ½, 1½ and 2½ tones (in Belgium, 1, ½, 2 and 3 tones). The valve system, disposal of the tubing and shape and position of the bell differ considerably in the various models of well-known makers. In Germany and Austria what is known as the cylinder action is largely used; for the piston or pump is substituted a four-way brass cock operated by means of a key and a series of cranks.
In order to obtain a complete chromatic scale throughout the compass, there must be, as on the slide-trombone, seven different positions or lengths of tubing available, each having its harmonic series. These different lengths are obtained on the bombardon by means of a combination of pistons: the simultaneous use of Nos. 2 and 3 lowers the pitch two tones; of Nos. 1, 2 and 3, three tones; of Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, five and a half tones, &c. A combination of pistons, however, fails to give the interval with an absolutely correct intonation, since the length of tubing thrown open is not of the theoretical length required to produce it. Many ingenious contrivances have been invented from time to time to remedy this inherent defect of the valve system, such as the six-valve independent system of Adolphe Sax; the Besson Registre, giving eight independent positions; the Besson compensating system Transpositeur; the Boosey automatic compensating piston invented by D.J. Blaikley, and V. Mahillon’s automatic regulating pistons. More recently the Besson enharmonic valve system, with six independent tuning slides and three pistons, and Rudall, Carte & Company’s new (Klussmann’s patent) bore, conical throughout the open tube and additional lengths, have produced instruments which leave nothing to be desired as to intonation. (See Valves and Tuba.)
(K. S.)
See Dr E. Schafhäutl’s article on Musical Instruments, section 4 of Bericht der Beurtheilungscommission bei der Allg. deutschen Industrie-Ausstellung, 1854 (Munich, 1855), pp. 169-170; also Friedr. Zamminer, Die Musik und die Musikinstrumente in ihrer Beziehung zu den Gesetzen der Akustik (Giessen, 1855), p. 313.
V.C. Mahillon, Eléments d’acoustique musicale et instrumentale (Bruxelles, 1874), p. 153.
The bombardon is used in the military bands of Austria, but in those of Germany it has been superseded by a bass tuba differing slightly in form and construction from the bombardons and bass tubas used in England, France, Belgium and Austria.
BOMBAY CITY, the capital of Bombay Presidency, and the chief seaport of western India, situated in 18° 55′ N. and 72° 54′ E. The city stands on an island of the same name, which forms one of a group now connected by causeways with the mainland. The area is 22 sq. m.; and the population of the town and island (1901) 776,006 (estimate in 1906, 977,822). Bombay is the second most populous city in the Indian empire, having fallen behind Calcutta at the census of 1901. Its position on the side of India nearest to Europe, its advantages as a port and a railway centre, and its monopoly of the cotton industry, are counteracted by the fact that the region which it serves cannot vie with the valley of the Ganges in point of fertility and has no great waterway like the Ganges or Brahmaputra. Nevertheless Bombay pushes Calcutta hard for supremacy in point of population and commercial prosperity.
The Bombay Island, or, as it ought to be more correctly called, the Bombay Peninsula, stands out from a coast ennobled by lofty hills, and its harbour is studded by rocky islands and precipices, whose peaks rise to a great height. The approach from the sea discloses one of the finest panoramas in the world,—the only European analogy being the Bay of Naples. The island consists of a plain about 11 m. long by 3 broad, flanked by two parallel lines of low hills. A neck of land stretching towards the south-west forms the harbour on its eastern side, sheltering it from the force of the open sea, and enclosing an expanse of water from 5 to 7 m. wide. At the south-west of the island, Back Bay, a shallow basin rather more than 2 m. in breadth, runs inland for about 3 m. between the extreme points of the two ranges of hills. On a slightly raised strip of land between the head of Back Bay and the harbour is situated the fort, the nucleus of the city of Bombay. From this point the land slopes westward towards the central plain, a low-lying tract, which before the construction of the embankment known as the Hornby Vellard, used at high tide to be submerged by the sea. The town itself consists of well-built and unusually handsome native bazaars, and of spacious streets devoted to European commerce. In the native bazaar the houses rise three or four storeys in height, with elaborately carved pillars and front work. Some of the European hotels and commercial buildings are on the American scale, and have no rival in any other city of India. The Taj Mahal hotel, which was built by the Tata family in 1904, is the most palatial and modern hotel in India. The private houses of the European residents lie apart alike from the native and from the mercantile quarters of the town. As a rule, each is built in a large garden or compound; and although the style of architecture is less imposing than that of the stately residences in Calcutta, it is well suited to the climate, and has a beauty and comfort of its own. The favourite suburb is Malabar hill, a high ridge running out into the sea, and terraced to the top by handsome houses, which command one of the finest views, of its kind, in the world. Of recent years wealthy natives have been competing with Europeans for the possession of this desirable quarter. To the right of this ridge, looking towards the sea, runs another suburb known as Breach Candy, built close upon the beach and within the refreshing sound of the waves. To the left of Malabar hill lies Back Bay, with a promontory on its farther shore, which marks the site of the old Bombay Fort; its walls are demolished, and the area is chiefly devoted to mercantile buildings. Farther round the island, beyond the fort, is Mazagon Bay, commanding the harbour, and the centre of maritime activity. The defences of the port, remodelled and armed with the latest guns, consist of batteries on the islands in the harbour, in addition to which there are three large batteries on the mainland. There is also a torpedo-boat detachment stationed in the harbour.
No city in the world has a finer water-front than Bombay. The great line of public offices along the esplanade and facing Back Bay, which are in the Gothic style mixed with Saracenic, are not individually distinguished for architectural merit, but they have a cumulative effect of great dignity. The other most notable buildings in the city are the Victoria terminus of the Great Indian Peninsula railway and the Taj Mahal hotel. Towards the northern end of Malabar hill lie the Parsee Towers of Silence, where the Parsees expose their dead till the flesh is devoured by vultures, and then cast the bones into a well where they crumble into dust. The foundation-stone of a museum was laid by the prince of Wales in 1905.
Local Government.—The port of Bombay (including docks and warehouses) is managed by a port trust, the members of which are nominated by the government from among the commercial community. The municipal government of the city was framed by an act of the Bombay legislative council passed in 1888. The governing body consists of a municipal corporation and a town council. The corporation is composed of 72 members, of whom 16 are nominated by the government. Of the remainder, 36 are elected by the ratepayers, 16 by the justices of the peace, 2 by the senate of the university, and 2 by the chamber of commerce. The council, which forms the standing committee of the corporation, consists of 12 members, of whom 4 are nominated by the government and the rest elected by the corporation. The members of the corporation include Europeans, Hindus, Mahommedans and Parsees. The Bombay University was constituted in 1857 as an examining body, on the model of the university of London. The chief educational institutions in Bombay City are the government Elphinstone College, two missionary colleges (Wilson and St Xavier), the Grant medical college, the government law school, the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy school of art, and the Victoria Jubilee technical institute.
Docks.—The dockyard, originally built in 1736, has a sea-face of nearly 700 yds. and an area of about 200 acres. There are five graving docks, three of which together make one large dock 648 ft. long, while the other two make a single dock 582 ft. long. There are also four building slips opposite the Apollo Bandar (landing-place) on the south-east side of the enclosure. The dockyard is lighted by electricity, so that work can be carried on by night as well as day. Bombay is the only important place near the sea in India where the rise of the tide is sufficient to permit docks on the largest scale. The highest spring tides here reach 17 ft., but the average is 14 ft. Prince’s dock, of which the foundation-stone was laid by the prince of Wales in 1875, was opened in 1879, and is 1460 ft. long by 1000 ft. broad, with a water area of 30 acres; while the Victoria dock, which was completed and opened in 1887-1888, has a water area of 25 acres. South of the Victoria dock, the foundation-stone of the Alexandra dock, the largest in India, was laid by the prince of Wales in 1905.
Cotton Mills.—The milling industry is, next to the docks, the chief feature of Bombay’s commercial success. The staple manufacture is cotton-spinning, but in addition to this there are flour mills and workshops to supply local needs. The number of factories increased from fifty-three in 1881 to eighty-three in 1890, and that decade saw the influx of a great industrial population from the surrounding districts; but the decade 1891-1901 witnessed at least a temporary set-back owing to the ravages caused by plague and the effects of over-production. In addition to the actual mortality it inflicted, the plague caused an exodus of the population from the island, disorganized the labour at the docks and in the mills, and swallowed up large sums which were spent by the municipality on plague operations and sanitary improvements. After 1901, however, both population and trade began to revive again. In 1901 there were 131,796 persons employed in the cotton industry.
Population.—Owing to its central position between East and West and to the diversity of races in India, no city in the world can show a greater variety of type than Bombay. The Mahratta race is the dominant element next to the European rulers, but in addition to them are a great and influential section of Parsee merchants, Arab traders from the Gulf, Afghans and Sikhs from northern India, Bengalis, Rajputs, Chinese, Japanese, Malays, negroes, Tibetans, Sinhalese and Siamese. Bombay is the great port and meeting-place of the Eastern world. Out of the large sections of its population, Hindu, Mahommedan, Parsee, Jain and Christian, the Parsees are one of the smallest and yet the most influential. They number only some 46,000 all told, but most of the great business houses are owned by Parsee millionaires and most of the large charities are founded by them.
History.—The name of the island and city of Bombay is derived from Mumba (a form of Parvati), the goddess of the Kolis, a race of husbandmen and fishermen who were the earliest known inhabitants, having occupied the island probably about the beginning of the Christian era. Bombay originally consisted of seven islands (the Heptanesia of Ptolemy) and formed an outlying portion of the dominions of successive dynasties dominant in western India: Satavahanas, Mauryas, Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas. In the Maurya and Chalukya period (450-750) the city of Puri on Elephanta Island was the principal place in Bombay harbour. The first town built on Bombay Island was Mahikavati (Mahim), founded by King Bhima, probably a member of the house of the Yadavas of Deogiri, as a result of Ala-ud-din Khilji’s raid into the Deccan in 1294. It remained under Hindu rule until 1348, when it was captured by a Mahommedan force from Gujarat; and the islands remained part of the province (later kingdom) of Gujarat till 1534, when they were ceded by Sultan Bahadur to the Portuguese.
The island did not prosper under Portuguese rule. By the system known as aforamento the lands were gradually parcelled out into a number of fiefs granted, under the crown of Portugal, to individuals or to religious corporations in return for military service or equivalent quit-rents. The northern districts were divided among the Franciscans and Jesuits, who built a number of churches, some of which still survive. The intolerance of their rule did not favour the growth of the settlement, which in 1661, when it was transferred to the British, had a population of only 10,000. The English had, however, long recognized its value as a naval base, and it was for this reason that they fought the battle of Swally (1614-1615), attempted to capture the place in 1626, and that the Surat Council urged the purchase of Bombay from the Portuguese. In 1654 the directors of the Company drew Cromwell’s attention to this suggestion, laying stress on the excellence of its harbour and its safety from attack by land. It finally became the property of the British in 1661 as part of the dowry of the infanta Catherine of Portugal on her marriage to Charles II., but was not actually occupied by the British until 1665, when they experienced much difficulty in overcoming the opposition of the Portuguese, and especially of the religious orders, to the cession. In 1668 it was transferred by the crown to the East India Company, who placed it under the factory of Surat.
The real foundation of the modern city dates from this time, and was the work of Gerald Aungier (or Angier), brother of Francis Aungier, 3rd Lord Aungier of Longford and 1st earl of Longford in Ireland (d. 1700), who succeeded Sir George Oxenden as president of Surat in 1669 and died in 1677. At this time Bombay was threatened by the Mahrattas from inland, by the Malabar pirates and the Dutch from the sea, and was cut off from the mainland by the Portuguese, who still occupied the island of Salsette and had established a customs-barrier in the channel between Bombay and the shore. In spite of the niggardly policy of the court of directors, who refused to incur the expense of employing skilled engineers, Aungier succeeded in fortifying the town and shore; he also raised a force of militia and regulars, the latter mainly Germans (as more trustworthy than the riffraff collected in London by the Company’s crimps). In 1672 Aungier transferred his headquarters to Bombay, and after frightening off an imposing Dutch fleet, which in 1670 attempted to surprise the island, set to work to organize the settlement anew. To this task he brought a mind singularly enlightened and a sincere belief in the best traditions of English liberty. In its fiscal policy, in its religious intolerance, and in its cruel and contemptuous treatment of the natives, Portuguese rule had been alike oppressive. Aungier altered all this. With the consent of “a general assembly of the chief representatives of the people” he commuted the burdensome land tax for a fixed money payment; he protected all castes in the celebration of their religious ceremonies; and he forbade any compulsion of natives to carry burdens against their will. The result was that the population of Bombay increased rapidly; a special quarter was set apart for the banya, or capitalist, class of Hindus; while Parsees and Armenians flocked to a city where they were secure of freedom alike for their trade and their religion. Within eight years the population had grown from 10,000 to 60,000. The immediate result of this concentration of people in a spot so unwholesome was the prevalence of disease, produced by the appalling sanitary conditions. This, too, Aungier set himself to remedy. In 1675 he initiated the works for draining the foul tidal swamps; and, failing the consent of the Company to the erection of a regular hospital, he turned the law court into an infirmary. He also set up three courts of justice: a tribunal for petty causes under a factor with native assessors, a court of appeal under the deputy governor and members of council, and a court-martial. A regular police force was also established and a gaol built in the Bazaar.
During this period, however, the position of Bombay was sufficiently precarious. The Malabar pirates, though the city itself was too strong for them, were a constant menace to its trade; and it required all the genius of Aungier to maintain the settlement, isolated as it was between the rival powers of the Mahrattas and the Mogul empire. After his death, on the 30th of June 1677, its situation became even more precarious. Even under Aungier the Siddi admirals of the Moguls had asserted their right to use Bombay harbour as winter quarters for their fleet, though they had failed to secure it as a base against the Mahrattas. Under his weak successor (Rolt, 1677-1682), the English waters, the value of which had now been proved, became the battle-ground between the rival navies, and for some years Bombay lay at the mercy of both. The Company’s rule, moreover, was exposed to another danger. The niggardly policy of the board of directors, more intent on peaceful dividends than on warlike rule, could not but be galling to soldiers of fortune. A mutiny at Bombay in 1674 had only been suppressed by the execution of the ringleader; and in 1683 a more formidable movement took place under Richard Keigwin, a naval officer who had been appointed governor of St Helena in reward for the part played by him in the capture of the island from the Dutch in 1673. Keigwin, elected governor of Bombay by popular vote, issued a proclamation in the king’s name, citing the “intolerable extortions, oppressions and exactions” of the Company, and declaring his government under the immediate authority of the crown. He ruled with moderation, reformed the system of taxation, obtained notable concessions from the Mahrattas, and increased the trade of the port by the admission of “interlopers.” But he failed to extend the rebellion beyond Bombay; and when a letter arrived, under the royal sign manual, ordering him to surrender the fort to Sir John Child, appointed admiral and captain-general of the Company’s forces, he obeyed.
Meanwhile the Company had decided to consider Bombay as “an independent settlement, and the seat of the power and trade of the English in the East Indies.” But a variety of causes set back the development of the city, notably the prevalence of plague and cholera due to the silting up of the creeks that divided its component islands; and it was not till after the amalgamation of the old and new companies in 1708 that the governor’s seat was transferred from Surat to Bombay. In 1718 the city wall was completed; settlers began to stream in, especially from distracted Gujarat; and a series of wise administrative reforms increased this tendency until in 1744 the population, which in 1718 had sunk to 16,000, had risen to 70,000. Meanwhile the Mahratta conquest of Bassein and Salsette (1737-1739) had put a stop to the hostility of the Portuguese, and a treaty of alliance with the Siddis (1733) had secured a base of supplies on the mainland. The French wars of 1744-1748 and 1756-1763 led to a further strengthening of the fortifications; and the influx of settlers from the mainland made the questions of supplies and of the protection of trade from piracy more pressing. The former was in part settled by the acquisition of Bankot (1755) as a result of an alliance with the peshwa, the latter by the successful expedition under Watson and Clive against Vijayadrug (1756). During this period, too, the importance of Bombay as a naval base, long since recognized, was increased by the building of a dock (1750), a second being added in 1762. The year 1770 saw the beginning of the cotton trade with China, the result of a famine in that country, the Chinese government having issued an edict commanding more land to be used for growing grain. This, too, was a period of searching reforms in the administration and the planning and building of the city; the result being a further immense growth of its population, which in 1780 was 113,000. This was still further increased by the famine of 1803, which drove large numbers of people from Konkan and the Deccan to seek employment in Bombay. A great fire broke out in the fort in the same year and caused enormous loss; but it enabled the government to open wider thoroughfares in the more congested parts, and greatly stimulated the tendency of the natives to build their houses and shops outside the walls of the fort in what are now some of the busiest parts of the city.
The British victory over the Mahrattas and the annexation of the Deccan opened a new period of unrestricted development for Bombay. At this time, too (1819), its fortunes were vigorously fostered by Mountstuart Elphinstone, and in 1838 the population had risen to 236,000. But in the next fifty years it more than doubled itself, the figures for 1891 being 821,000. This great leap was due to the influence of railways, of which the first line was completed in 1853, the opening of the Suez Canal, and the foundation of cotton factories. In 1866-1867 the tide of prosperity was interrupted by a financial crisis, due to the fall in the price of cotton on the termination of the American war. Bombay, however, soon recovered herself, and in 1891 was more prosperous than ever before; but during the ensuing decade great havoc was played by plague (q.v.) with both her population and her trade. In addition to a decline of 6% in the population, the exports also declined by 7%, whereas Calcutta’s exports rose during the same period by 38%.
See S.M. Edwardes, The Rise of Bombay (1902); James Douglas, Bombay and Western India (1893); G.W. Forrest, Cities of India (1903); Sir William Hunter, History of British India (London, 1900); Imp. Gazetteer of India (Oxford, 1908), s.v. “Bombay City.”
Hunter, Hist. of British India, ii. pp. 212, &c.
See Hunter, op. cit. ii. 205, &c. He received a full pardon, was appointed later to the command of a frigate in the royal navy, and fell while leading the assault on St Christopher’s (June 21, 1690).
BOMBAY FURNITURE. “Bombay blackwood furniture” is a term applied to a rather extensive class of articles manufactured in the city of Bombay and in the towns of Surat and Ahmedabad in India. The wood used is Shisham or blackwood (Dalbergia), a hard-grained dark-coloured timber which with proper treatment assumes a beautiful natural polish. Much of the so-called Bombay furniture is clumsy and inelegant in form, defects which it is suggested by experts, like Sir George Birdwood, it owes to the circumstance that the original models were Dutch. Some of the smaller articles, such as flower stands, small tables, and ornamental stands, are, however, of exceedingly graceful contour, and good examples are highly prized by collectors. The carving at its best is lace-like in character, and apart from its inherent beauty is attractive on account of the ingenuity shown by the worker in adapting his design in detail to the purpose of the article he is fashioning. The workmen who manufacture the most artistic Bombay furniture are a special class with inherited traditions. Often a man knows only one design, which has been transmitted to him by his father, who in his turn had had it from his father before him. In recent years under European auspices efforts have been made with a certain measure of success to modernize the industry by introducing portions of the native work into furniture of Western design. In the main, however, the conventional patterns are still adhered to. “Bombay boxes” are inlaid in geometrical patterns on wood. The inlaying materials consist of the wire, sandal wood, sapan wood, ebony, ivory and stags’ horns, and the effect produced by the combination of minute pieces of these various substances is altogether peculiar and distinctive.
BOMBAY PRESIDENCY, a province or presidency of British India, consisting partly of British districts, and partly of native states under the administration of a governor. This territory extends from 13° 53′ to 28° 45′ N., and from 66° 40′ to 76° 30′ E., and is bounded on the N. by Baluchistan, the Punjab and Rajputana; on the E. by Indore, the Central Provinces and Hyderabad; on the S. by Madras and Mysore; and on the W. by the Arabian Sea. Within these limits lie the Portuguese settlements of Diu, Damaun and Goa, and the native state of Baroda which has direct relations with the government of India; while politically Bombay includes the settlement of Aden. The total area, including Sind but excluding Aden, is 188,745 sq. m., of which 122,984 sq. m. are under British and 65,761 under native rule. The total population (1901) is 25,468,209, of which 18,515,587 are resident in British territory and 6,908,648 in native states. The province is divided into four commissionerships and twenty-six districts. The four divisions are the northern or Gujarat, the central or Deccan, the southern or Carnatic, and Sind. The twenty-six districts are: Bombay City, Ahmedabad, Broach, Kaira, Panch Mahals, Surat, Thana, Ahmednagar, Khandesh (partitioned into two districts in 1906), Nasik, Poona, Satara, Sholapur, Belgaum, Bijapur, Dharwar, Kanara, Kolaba, Ratnagiri, Karachi, Hyderabad, Shikarpur, Thar and Parkar, and Upper Sind Frontier. The native states comprise in all 353 separate units, which are administered either by political agents or by the collectors of the districts in which the smaller states are situated. The chief groups of states are North Gujarat, comprising Cutch, Kathiawar agency, Palanpur agency, Mahi Kantha agency, Rewa Kantha agency and Cambay; South Gujarat, comprising Dharampur, Bansda and Sachin; North Konkan, Nasik and Khandesh, comprising Khandesh political agency, Surgana and Jawhar; South Konkan and Dharwar, comprising Janjira, Sawantwari and Savanur; the Deccan Satara Jagirs, comprising Akalkot, Bhor, Aundh, Phaltan, Jath and Daphlapur; the southern Mahratta states, comprising Kolhapur and other states, and Khairpur in Sind. The native states under the supervision of the government of Bombay are divided, historically and geographically, into two main groups. The northern or Gujarat group includes the territories of the gaekwar of Baroda, with the smaller states which form the administrative divisions of Cutch, Palanpur, Rewa Kantha, and Mahi Kantha. These territories, with the exception of Cutch, have an historical connexion, as being the allies or tributaries of the gaekwar in 1805, when final engagements were included between that prince and the British government. The southern or Mahratta group includes Kolhapur, Akalkot, Sawantwari, and the Satara and southern Mahratta Jagirs, and has an historical bond of union in the friendship they showed to the British in their final struggle with the power of the peshwa in 1818. The remaining territories may conveniently be divided into a small cluster of independent zamin-daris, situated in the wild and hilly tracts at the northern extremity of the Sahyadri range, and certain principalities which, from their history or geographical position, are to some extent isolated from the rest of the presidency.
Physical Aspects.—The Bombay Presidency consists of a long strip of land along the Indian Ocean from the south of the Punjab to the north of Mysore. The coast is rock-bound and difficult of access; and though it contains several bays forming fairweather ports for vessels engaged in the coasting trade, Bombay, Karachi-in-Sind, Marmagoa and Karwar alone have harbours sufficiently land-locked to protect shipping during the prevalence of the south-west monsoon. The coast-line is regular and little broken, save by the Gulfs of Cambay and Cutch, between which lies the peninsula of Kathiawar.
Speaking generally, a range of hills, known as the Western Ghats, runs down the coast, at places rising in splendid bluffs and precipices from the water’s edge, at others retreating inland, and leaving a flat fertile strip of 5 to 50 m. between their base and the sea. In the north of the presidency on the right bank of the Indus, the Hala mountains, a continuation of the great Suleiman range, separate British India from the dominions of the khan of Kalat. Leaving Sind, and passing by the ridges of low sandhills,—the leading feature of the desert east of the Indus,—and the isolated hills of Cutch and Kathiawar, which form geologically the western extremity of the Aravalli range, the first extensive mountain range is that separating Gujarat from the states of central India. The rugged and mountainous country south of the Tapti forms the northern extremity of the Sahyadri or Western Ghats. This great range of hills, sometimes overhanging the ocean, and generally running parallel to it at a distance nowhere exceeding 50 m., with an average elevation of about 1800 ft., contains individual peaks rising to more than double that height. They stretch southwards for upwards of 500 m., with a breadth of 10 to 20 m. The western declivity is abrupt, the land at the base of the hills being but slightly raised above the level of the sea. As is usually the case with the trap formation, they descend to the plains in terraces with abrupt fronts. The landward slope is in many places very gentle, the crest of the range being sometimes but slightly raised above the level of the plateau of the Deccan. Their best-known elevation is Mahabaleshwar, 4500 ft. high, a fine plateau, 37 m. from Poona, covered with rich vegetation, and used by the Bombay government as its summer retreat and sanitarium. In the neighbourhood of the Sahyadri hills, particularly towards the northern extremity of the range, the country is rugged and broken, containing isolated peaks, masses of rock and spurs, which, running eastward, form watersheds for the great rivers of the Deccan. The Satpura hills separate the valley of the Tapti from the valley of the Nerbudda, and the district of Khandesh from the territories of Indore. The Satmala or Ajanta hills, which are rather the northern slope of the plateau than a distinct range of hills, separate Khandesh from the Nizam’s Dominions.
The more level parts of Bombay consist of five well-demarcated tracts—Sind, Gujarat, the Konkan, the Deccan, and the Carnatic. Sind, or the lower valley of the Indus, is very flat, with but scanty vegetation, and depending for productiveness entirely on irrigation. Gujarat, except on its northern parts, consists of rich, highly cultivated alluvial plains, watered by the Tapti and Nerbudda, but not much subject to inundation. The Konkan lies between the Western Ghats and the sea. It is a rugged and difficult country, intersected by creeks, and abounding in isolated peaks and detached ranges of hills. The plains of the Deccan and Khandesh are watered by large rivers, but as the rainfall is uncertain, they are generally, during the greater part of the year, bleak and devoid of vegetation. The Carnatic plain, or the country south of the river Kistna, consists of extensive tracts of black or cotton soil in a high state of cultivation.
The chief river of western India is the Indus, which enters the presidency from the north of Sind and flowing south in a tortuous course, falls into the Arabian Sea by several mouths, such as the Ghizri creek, Khudi creek, Pitiani creek, Sisa creek, Hajamro creek, Vatho creek, Mall creek, Wari creek, Bhitiara creek, Sir creek and Khori creek. In the dry season the bed varies at different places from 480 to 1600 yds. The flood season begins in March and continues till September, the average depth of the river rising from 9 to 24 ft., and the velocity of the current increasing from 3 to 7 m. an hour. Next to the Indus comes the Nerbudda. Rising in the Central Provinces, and traversing the dominions of Holkar, the Nerbudda enters the presidency at the north-western extremity of the Khandesh district, flows eastward, and after a course of 700 m. from its source, falls into the Gulf of Cambay, forming near its mouth the alluvial plain of Broach, one of the richest districts of Bombay. For about 100 m. from the sea the Nerbudda is at all seasons navigable by small boats, and during the rains by vessels of from 30 to 50 tons burden. The Tapti enters the presidency a few miles south of the town of Burhanpur, a station on the Great Indian Peninsula railway, flows eastward through the district of Khandesh, the native state of Rewa Kantha and the district of Surat, and falls into the Gulf of Cambay, a few miles west of the town of Surat. The Tapti drains about 250 m. of country, and is, in a commercial point of view, the most useful of the Gujarat rivers. Besides these there are many minor streams. The Banas and the Saraswati take their rise in the Aravalli hills, and flowing eastward through the native state of Palanpur, fall into the Runn of Cutch. The Sabarmati and the Mahi rise in the Mahi Kantha hills, and flowing southwards, drain the districts of Northern Gujarat, and fall into the sea near the head of the Gulf of Cambay. The streams which, rising in the Sahyadri range, or Western Ghats, flow westward into the Arabian Sea, are of little importance. During the rains they are formidable torrents, but with the return of the fair weather they dwindle away, and during the hot season, with a few exceptions, they almost dry up. Clear and rapid as they descend the hills, on reaching the lowlands of the Konkan they become muddy and brackish creeks. The Kanarese rivers have a larger body of water and a more regular flow than the streams of the Konkan. One of them, the Sharawati, forcing its way through the western ridge of the Ghats, plunges from the high to the low country by a succession of falls, the principal of which is 800 ft. in height. The Sahyadri, or Western Ghats, also throw off to the eastward the two principal rivers of the Madras Presidency, the Godavari and the Kistna. These rivers collect countless tributary streams, some of them of considerable size, and drain the entire plain of the Deccan as they pass eastward towards the Bay of Bengal.
The Manchar Lake is situated on the right bank of the Indus. During inundations it attains a length of 20 m., and a breadth of 10, covering a total area estimated at 180 sq. m. But the most peculiar lacustrine feature of the presidency is the Runn or Lake of Cutch, which, according to the season of the year, is a salt marsh, an inland lake, or an arm of the sea with an area of 8000 sq. m. It forms the western boundary of the province of Gujarat, and when flooded during the rains unites the Gulfs of Cutch and Cambay, and converts the territory of Cutch into an island.
Geology.—South of Gujarat nearly the whole of Bombay is covered by the horizontal lava flows of the Deccan Trap series, and these flows spread over the greater part of the Kathiawar peninsula and extend into Cutch. In Cutch and Kathiawar they are underlaid by Jurassic and Neocomian beds. The Jurassic beds are marine and contain numerous Ammonites, but the beds which are referred to the Neocomian include a series of sandstones and shales with remains of plants. Several of the plants are identical with forms which occur in the upper portion of the Gondwana system. Tertiary limestones, sandstones and shales overlie the Deccan Trap in Cutch, but the greatest development of deposits of this age is to be met with on the western side of the Indus (see Sind). The plain of Sind and of eastern Gujarat is covered by alluvium and wind-blown sand.
Climate.—Great varieties of climate are met with in the presidency. In its extreme dryness and heat, combined with the aridity of a sandy soil, Upper Sind resembles the sultry deserts of Africa. The mean maximum temperature at Hyderabad, in Lower Sind, during the six hottest months of the year, is 98° F. in the shade, and the water of the Indus reaches blood heat; in Upper Sind it is even hotter, and the thermometer has been known to register 130° in the shade. In Cutch and in Gujarat the heat, though less, is still very great. The Konkan is hot and moist, the fall of rain during the monsoon sometimes approaching 300 in. The table-land of the Deccan above the Ghats, on the contrary, has an agreeable climate except in the hot months, as has also the southern Mahratta country; and in the hills of Mahabaleshwar, Singarh, and other detached heights, Europeans may go out at all hours with impunity. Bombay Island itself, though in general cooled by the sea breeze, is oppressively hot during May and October. The south-west monsoon generally sets in about the first week in June, and pours down volumes of rain along the coast. From June to October travelling is difficult and unpleasant, except in Sind, where the monsoon rains exert little influence.
Forests.—Bombay Presidency possesses two great classes of forests—those of the hills and those of the alluvial plains. The hill forests are scattered over a wide area, extending from 23° to 14° N. lat. Most of them lie among the Sahyadri hills or Western Ghats. The alluvial forests lie in Sind, on or close to the banks of the Indus, and extend over an area of 550 sq. m. The principal timber trees in the forests are—teak; blackwood of two varieties (Dalbergia Sisu and Dalbergia latifolia), Dalbergia ujainensis, Pterocarpus Marsupium, Terminalia glabra, Acacia arabica, Acacia Catechu, Nauclea cordifolia, Nauclea parvifolia, Bidelia spinosa, Hardwickia binata, Juga xylocarpa, Populus euphratica, and Tamarindus indica. The forests contain many trees which, on account of their fruits, nuts or berries, are valuable, irrespective of the quality of their timber. Among these are the mango (Mangifera indica); the jack (Artocarpus integrifolia), Zizypkus Jujuba, Aegle Marmelos, Terminalia Chebula, Calophyllum Inophyllum, Bassia latifolia and Pongamia glabra. The jungle tribes collect gum from several varieties of trees, and in Sind the Forest Department derives a small revenue from lac. The palms of the presidency consist of cocoa-nut, date, palmyra and areca catechu.
Population.—The census of 1901 gave a total of 25,468,209, out of which the chief religions furnished the following numbers:—
Hindu 19,916,438
Mahommedan 4,567,295
Jain 535,950
Zoroastrian 78,552
Christian 216,118
In Sind Islam has been the predominant religion from the earliest Arab conquest in the 8th century. In Gujarat the predominant religion is Hinduism, though petty Mahommedan kingdoms have left their influence in many parts of the province. The Deccan is the home of the Mahrattas, who constitute 30% of the population. The Konkan is notable for various Christian castes, owing their origin to Portuguese rule; while in the Carnatic, Lingayatism, a Hindu reformation movement of the 12th century, has been embraced by 45% of the population. The Mahrattas are the dominating race next to the Europeans and number (1901) 3,650,000, composed of 1,900,000 Kunbis, 350,000 Konkanis, and 1,400,000 Mahrattas not otherwise specified.
Languages.—The chief languages of the presidency are Sindhi in Sind, Cutchi in Cutch, Gujarati and Hindustani in Gujarat, Mahratti in Thana and the central division, Gujarati and Mahratti in Khandesh, and Mahratti and Kanarese in the southern division. There are also Bhil (120,000) and Gipsy (30,000) dialects.
Agriculture.—The staple crops are as follows:—Joar (Sorghum vulgare) and bajra (Holcus spicatus) are the staple food grains in the Deccan and Khandesh. Rice is the chief product of the Konkan. Wheat, generally grown in the northern part of the Presidency, but specially in Sind and Gujarat, is exported to Europe in large quantities from Karachi, and on a smaller scale from Bombay. Barley is principally grown in the northern parts of the presidency. Nachani (Eleusine coracana) and kodra (Paspalum serobiculatum), inferior grains grown on the hill-sides, furnish food to the Kolis, Bhils, Waralis, and other aboriginal tribes. Of the pulses the most important are gram (Cicer arietinum), tur (Cajanus indicus), kulti (Dolichos biflorus), and mug (Phaseolus Mungo). Principal oil-seeds: til (Sesamum orientale), mustard, castor-oil, safflower and linseed. Of fibres the most important are cotton, Deccan hemp (Hibiscus cannabinus), and sunn or tag (Crotalaria juncea). Much has been done to improve the cotton of the presidency. American varieties have been introduced with much advantage in the Dharwar collectorate and other parts of the southern Mahratta country. In Khandesh the indigenous plant from which one of the lowest classes of cotton in the Bombay market takes its name has been almost entirely superseded by the superior Hinganghat variety. Miscellaneous crops: sugar-cane, requiring a rich soil and a perennial water-supply, and only grown in favoured localities, red pepper, potatoes, turmeric and tobacco.
Manufactures.—The chief feature of the modern industrial life of Bombay is the great development in the growth and manufacture of cotton. Large steam mills have rapidly sprung up in Bombay City, Ahmedabad and Khandesh. In 1905 there were 432 factories in the presidency, of which by far the greater number were engaged in the preparation and manufacture of cotton. The industry is centred in Bombay City and Island, which contains nearly two-thirds of the mills. During the decade 1891-1901 the mill industry passed through a period of depression due to widespread plague and famine, but on the whole there has been a marked expansion of the trade as well as a great improvement in the class of goods produced. In addition to the mills there are (1901) 178,000 hand-loom weavers in the province, who still have a position of their own in the manipulation of designs woven into the cloth. Silk goods are manufactured in Ahmedabad, Surat, Yeola, Nasik, Thana and Bombay, the material being often decorated with printed or woven designs; but owing to the competition of European goods most branches of the industry are declining. The custom of investing savings in gold and silver ornaments gives employment to many goldsmiths; the metal is usually supplied by the customer, and the goldsmith charges for his labour. Ahmedabad and Surat are famous for their carved wood-work. Many of the houses in Ahmedabad are covered with elaborate wood-carving, and excellent examples exist in Broach, Baroda, Surat, Nasik and Yeola. Salt is made in large quantities in the government works at Kharaghoda and Udu in Ahmedabad, whence it is exported by rail to Gujarat and central India. There is one brewery at Dapuri near Poona.
Railways and Irrigation.—The province is well supplied with railways, all of which, with one exception, concentrate at Bombay City. The exception is the North-Western line, which enters Sind from the Punjab and finds its natural terminus at Karachi. The other chief lines are the Great Indian Peninsula, Indian Midland, Bombay, Baroda & Central India, Rajputana-Malwa & Southern Mahratta systems. In 1905 the total length of railway under the Bombay government open for traffic was 7980 m. These figures do not include the railway system in Sind. With the exception of Sind, the water-supply of the Bombay Presidency does not lend itself to the construction of large irrigation works.
Army.—Under Lord Kitchener’s re-arrangement of the Indian army in 1904 the old Bombay command was abolished and its place was taken by the Western army corps under a lieutenant-general. The army corps was divided into three divisions under major-generals. The 4th division, with headquarters at Quetta, comprises the troops in the Quetta and Sind districts. The 5th division, with headquarters at Mhow, consists of three brigades, located at Nasirabad, Jubbulpore and Jhansi, and includes the previous Mhow, Deesa, Nagpur, Nerbudda and Bundelkhand districts, with the Bombay district north of the Tapti. The 6th division, with headquarters at Poona, consists of three brigades, located at Bombay, Ahmednagar and Aden. It comprises the previous Poona district, Bombay district south of the Tapti, Belgaum district north of the Tungabhadra, and Dharwar and Aurungabad districts.
Education.—The university of Bombay, established in 1857, is a body corporate, consisting of a chancellor, vice-chancellor and fellows. The governor of Bombay is ex officio chancellor. The education department is under a director of public instruction, who is responsible for the administration of the department in accordance with the general educational policy of the state. The native states have generally adopted the government system. Baroda and the Kathiawar states employ their own inspectors. In 1905 the total number of educational institutions was 10,194 with 593,431 pupils. There are ten art colleges, of which two are managed by government, three by native states, and five are under private management. According to the census of 1901, out of a population of 25½ millions nearly 24 millions were illiterate.
Administration.—The government of Bombay is administered by a governor in council consisting of the governor as president and two ordinary members. The governor is appointed from England; the council is appointed by the crown, and selected from the Indian civil service. These are the executive members of government. For making laws there is a legislative council, consisting of the governor and his executive council, with certain other persons, not fewer than eight or more than twenty, at least half of them being non-officials. Each of the members of the executive council has in his charge one or two departments of the government; and each department has a secretary, an under-secretary, and an assistant secretary, with a numerous staff of clerks. The political administration of the native states is under the superintendence of British agents placed at the principal native courts; their position varies in different states according to the relations in which the principalities stand with the paramount power. The administration of justice throughout the presidency is conducted by a high court at Bombay, consisting of a chief justice and seven puisne judges, along with district and assistant judges throughout the districts of the presidency. The administration of the districts is carried on by collectors, assistant collectors, and a varying number of supernumerary assistants.
History.—In the earliest times of which any record remains the greater part of the west coast of India was occupied by Dravidian tribes, living under their kings in fortified villages, carrying on the simpler arts of life, and holding a faith in which the propitiation of spirits and demons played the chief part. There is evidence, however, that so early as 1000 B.C. an export trade existed to the Red Sea by way of East Africa, and before 750 B.C. a similar trade had sprung up with Babylon by way of the Persian Gulf. It was by this latter route that the traders brought back to India the Brahmi alphabet, the art of brick-making and the legend of the Flood. Later still the settlement of Brahmans along the west coast had already Aryanized the country in religion, and to some extent in language, before the Persian conquest of the Indus valley at the close of the 6th century B.C. The Persian dominion did not long survive; and the march of Alexander the Great down the Indus paved the way for Chandragupta and the Maurya empire. Under this empire Ujjain was the seat of a viceroy, a prince of the imperial house, who ruled over Kathiawar, Malwa and Gujarat. On the death of Asoka in 231 B.C. the empire of the Mauryas broke up, and their heritage in the west fell to the Andhra dynasty of the Satavahanas of Paithan on the Godavari, a Dravidian family whose dominion by 200 B.C. stretched across the peninsula from the deltas of the Godavari and Kistna to Nasik and the Western Ghats. About A.D. 210, however, their power in the west seems to have died out, and their place was taken by the foreign dynasty of the Kshaharatas, the Saka satraps of Surashtra (Kathiawar), who in 120 had mastered Ujjain and Gujarat and had built up a rival kingdom to the north. Since about A.D. 40 the coast cities had been much enriched by trade with the Roman empire, which both the Satavahanas and the satraps did much to encourage; but after the fall of Palmyra (273) and the extinction of the main Kshaharata dynasty (c. 300) this commerce fell into decay. The history of the century and a half that follows is very obscure; short-lived Saka dynasties succeeded one another until, about 388, the country was conquered by the Guptas of Magadha, who kept a precarious tenure of it till about 470, when their empire was destroyed by the White Huns, or Ephthalites (q.v.), who, after breaking the power of Persia and assailing the Kushan kingdom of Kabul, poured into India, conquered Sind, and established their dominion as far south as the Nerbudda.
Under the Hun tyranny, which lasted till the overthrow of the White Huns on the Oxus by the Turks (c. 565), native dynasties had survived, or new ones had established themselves. In Kathiawar a chief named Bhatarka, probably of foreign origin, had established himself at Valabhi (Wala) on the ruins of the Gupta power (c. 500), and founded a dynasty which lasted until it was overthrown by Arab invaders from Sind in 770. The northern Konkan was held by the Mauryas of Puri near Bombay, the southerly coast by the Kadambas of Vanavasi, while in the southern Deccan Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas struggled for the mastery. A new power, too, appeared from the north: the Gurjaras (ancestors, it is supposed, of the Gujar caste), who had probably entered India with the White Huns, established their power over Gujarat and (c. 600) overran north-eastern Kathiawar, made the raja of Valabhi their tributary, and established a branch at Broach (585-740). During the short-lived empire of Harsha (d. 647 or 648), Malwa, Gujarat and Kathiawar were subject to his sway; but the southern boundary of his kingdom was the Nerbudda, south of which the Chalukyas in the 7th century, having overcome the Rashtrakutas and other rivals, had absorbed the smaller kingdoms into their empire. In 710-711 (92 A.H.) the Arabs invaded India, and in 712 conquered and established themselves in Sind; they did not, however, attempt any serious attack on the Gurjara and Chalukya empires, confining themselves to more or less serious raids. In 770 they destroyed the city of Valabhi and, as already mentioned, brought its dynasty to an end. Meanwhile the Chalukyas, after successfully struggling with the Pallavas (whose capital was taken by Vikramaditya II., c. 740), had in their turn succumbed to their ancient rivals the Rashtrakutas, who succeeded to the bulk of their dominions, including Gujarat, where they had set up a branch line. For some two centuries (c. 750-950) there was a balance of power between the Gurjaras and Rashtrakutas, neither kingdom being strong enough to encroach on the other to any extent. The Rashtrakutas were, moreover, debarred from large schemes of conquest by dissensions with the branch dynasty which they had set up in Gujarat and by the constant threat of attack by the Chalukyas from Mysore. Nevertheless their power and magnificence (they were notable builders and patrons of literature) greatly impressed the Arabs, by whom the king was known as Balhara (i.e. Vallhaba, “well-beloved”), a title borrowed from the preceding dynasty. Under them the Konkan and the coast farther south were governed by chiefs of the Silahara family, whose rule is mainly notable for the revival of trade with the Persian Gulf and, doubtless as a result of this, the arrival in 775 on the west coast of a number of Parsee refugees, who found, in a country where three religions were already equally honoured, the toleration denied to them in Mussulman Persia. But in the 10th century the Rashtrakuta power began to break up; in 961 Mularaja Solanki (Chalukya) conquered the kingdom of Anhilvada (Anhilvara) in Gujarat, where his dynasty reigned till 1242; and twelve years later the Chalukyas once more overthrew the Rashtrakutas in the Deccan, establishing their capital at Kalyani, while a branch line was set up in southern Gujarat. Farther south the Silaharas, however, continued to rule the coast, and succeeded in maintaining their independence until after the final fall of the Chalukyas in 1192. The cause of the downfall of the dynasty, splendid and enlightened as any of its predecessors, was the system of governing by means of great feudatories, which also proved fatal to the Solanki rajas of Anhilvada. From 1143 onward the power of the latter had been overshadowed by that of the Vaghela chiefs of Dholka, and during the same period the Deccan had been rapidly lapsing into absolute anarchy, amid which rival chiefs struggled for the supreme power. In the end the Yadavas of Devagiri (Daulatabad) prevailed, and in 1192 established a short-lived empire to which the Dholka princes were ultimately forced to become tributary.
But meanwhile a new power had appeared, which was destined to establish the Mussulman domination in western and southern India. In 1023 Mahmud of Ghazni had already invaded Gujarat with a large army, destroyed the national Hindu idol of Somnath, and carried away an immense booty. Mahommed Ghori also invaded Gujarat, and left a garrison in its capital. But it was not till after the Mussulman power was firmly established in northern India that the Mahommedan sovereigns of Delhi attempted the conquest of the south. In 1294 the emperor Ala-ud-din first invaded the Deccan, and in 1297 he conquered Gujarat. In 1312 the Mahommedan arms were triumphant through the Mahratta country; and seven years later the whole of Malabar fell a prey to the invaders. In the middle of the 14th century the weakness of the Delhi sovereigns tempted the governors of provinces to revolt against their distant master, and to form independent kingdoms. In this way the Bahmani kingdom was established in the Deccan, and embraced a part of the Bombay presidency. Ahmednagar and Gujarat also became the seats of a new kingdom. In 1573 Akbar conquered Gujarat and reannexed it to the empire; in 1599 he effected the reconquest of Khandesh, and in 1600 that of Ahmednagar. From this time the country was never tranquil, and Ahmednagar became the focus of constant rebellions. During the latter part of the 17th century the Mahrattas rose into power, and almost every part of the country now comprising the presidency of Bombay fell under their sway. In 1498 the Portuguese came first to Calicut, their earliest possession in the presidency being the island of Anjidiv. After their victory at Diu over the Egyptian fleet their mastery of the Indian Ocean was undisputed, and they proceeded to establish themselves on the coast. They captured Goa in 1510, Malacca in 1511, and Ormuz in 1515. They next took advantage of the decay of the kingdom of Gujarat to occupy Chaul (1531), Bassein with its dependencies, including Bombay (1534), Diu (1535) and Daman (1559). But the inherent vices of their intolerant system undermined their power, even before their Dutch and English rivals appeared on the scene.
The first English settlement in the Bombay presidency was in 1618, when the East India Company established a factory at Surat, protected by a charter obtained from the emperor Jahangir. In 1626 the Dutch and English made an unsuccessful attempt to gain possession of the island of Bombay, and in 1653 proposals were suggested for its purchase from the Portuguese. In 1661 it was ceded to the English crown, as part of the dower of the infanta Catherine of Portugal on her marriage with Charles II. So lightly was the acquisition esteemed in England, and so unsuccessful was the administration of the crown officers, that in 1668 Bombay was transferred to the East India Company for an annual payment of £10. At the time of the transfer, powers for its defence and for the administration of justice were also conferred; a European regiment Vas enrolled; and the fortifications erected proved sufficient to deter the Dutch from their intended attack in 1673 (see Bombay City: History). In 1687 Bombay was placed at the head of all the Company’s possessions in India; but in 1753 the government of Bombay became subordinate to that of Calcutta. The first collision of the English with the Mahratta power was in 1774 and resulted in 1782 in the treaty of Salbai, by which Salsette was ceded to the British, while Broach was handed over to Sindhia. More important were the results of the second Mahratta war, which ended in 1803. Surat had already been annexed in 1800; the East India Company now received the districts of Broach, Kaira, &c.
In 1803 the Bombay presidency included only Salsette, the islands of the harbour (since 1774), Surat and Bankot (since 1756); but between this date and 1827 the framework of the presidency took its present shape. The Gujarat districts were taken over by the Bombay government in 1805 and enlarged in 1818; and the first measures for the settlement of Kathiawar and Mahi Kantha were taken between 1807 and 1820. Baji Rao, the last of the peshwas, who had attempted to shake off the British yoke, was defeated, captured and pensioned (1817-1818), and large portions of his dominions (Poona, Ahmednagar, Nasik, Sholapur, Belgaum, Kaladgi, Dharwar, &c.) were included in the presidency, the settlement of which was completed by Mountstuart Elphinstone, governor from 1819 to 1827. His policy was to rule as far as possible on native lines, avoiding all changes for which the population was not yet ripe; but the grosser abuses of the old régime were stopped, the country was pacified, the laws were codified, and courts and schools were established. The period that followed is notable mainly for the enlargement of the presidency through the lapse of certain native states, by the addition of Aden (1839) and Sind (1843), and the lease of the Panch Mahals from Sindhia (1853). The establishment of an orderly administration, one outcome of which was a general fall of prices that made the unwonted regularity of the collection of taxes doubly unwelcome, naturally excited a certain amount of misgiving and resentment; but on the whole the population was prosperous and contented, and under Lord Elphinstone (1853-1860) the presidency passed through the crisis of the Mutiny without any general rising. Outbreaks among the troops at Karachi, Ahmedabad and Kolhapur were quickly put down, two regiments being disbanded, and the rebellions in Gujarat, among the Bhils, and in the southern Mahratta country were local and isolated. Under Sir Bartle Frere (1862-1867) agricultural prosperity reached its highest point, as a result of the American Civil War and the consequent enormous demand for Indian cotton in Europe. The money thus poured into the country produced an epidemic of speculation known as the “Share Mania” (1864-1865), which ended in a commercial crisis and the failure of the bank of Bombay (1866). But the peasantry gained on the whole more than they lost, and the trade of Bombay was not permanently injured. Sir Bartle Frere encouraged the completion of the great trunk lines of railways, and with the funds obtained by the demolition of the town walls (1862) he began the magnificent series of public buildings that now adorn Bombay.
During recent times the entire history of Bombay has been sadly affected by plague and famine. Bubonic plague, of a fatal and contagious nature, first broke out in Bombay City in September 1896, and, despite all the efforts of the government, quickly spread to the surrounding country. Down to the end of October 1902 over 531,000 deaths had taken place due to plague. In 1903-1904 there were 426,387 cases with 316,523 deaths, and 1904-1905 there were 285,897 cases with 212,948 deaths. The great cities of Bombay, Karachi and Poona suffered most severely. A few districts in Gujarat almost entirely escaped; but the mortality was very heavy in Satara, Thana, Surat, Poona, Kolaba, and in the native states of Cutch, Baroda, Kolhapur and Palanpur. The only sanitary measure that can be said to have been successful was complete migration, which could only be adopted in villages and smaller towns. Inoculation was extensively tried in some cases. Segregation was the one general method of fighting the disease; but, unfortunately, it was misunderstood by the people and led to some deplorable outbreaks. In Poona, during 1897, two European officials were assassinated; the editor of a prominent native paper was sentenced to imprisonment for sedition; and two leaders of the Brahman community were placed in confinement. At Bombay, in March 1898, a riot begun by Mahommedan weavers was not suppressed until several Europeans had been fatally injured. In Nasik district, in January 1898, the native chairman of the plague committee was brutally murdered by a mob. But on the whole the people submitted with characteristic docility to the sanitary regulations of the government. Bombay, like the Central Provinces, suffered from famine twice within three years. The failure of the monsoon of 1896 caused widespread distress throughout the Deccan, over an area of 46,000 sq. m., with a population of 7 millions. The largest number of persons on relief was 301,056 in September 1897; and the total expenditure on famine relief was Rs. 1,28,000,000. The measures adopted were signally successful, both in saving life and in mitigating distress. In 1899 the monsoon again failed in Gujarat, where famine hitherto had been almost unknown; and the winter rains failed in the Deccan, so that distress gradually spread over almost the entire presidency. The worst feature was a virulent outbreak of cholera in Gujarat, especially in the native states. In April 1900 the total number of persons in receipt of relief was 1,281,159 in British districts, 566,671 in native states, and 71,734 in Baroda. For 1900-1901 the total expenditure on famine relief was nearly 3 crores (say, £2,000,000 sterling); and a continuance of drought necessitated an estimate of 1 crore in the budget of the following year. The Bombay government exhausted its balances in 1897, and was subsequently dependent on grants from the government of India.
See Sir James Campbell, Gazetteer of Bombay (26 vols., 1896); S.M. Edwardes, The Rise of Bombay (1902); James Douglas, Bombay and Western India (1893); and Sir William Lee-Warner, The Presidency of Bombay (Society of Arts, 1904); The Imperial Gazetteer of India (Oxford, 1908); and for the early history, V.A. Smith, The Early History of India (2nd ed., Oxford, 1908).
V.A. Smith, Early History of India, p. 295.
BOMBAZINE, or Bombasine, a stuff originally made of silk or silk and wool, and now also made of cotton and wool or of wool alone. Good bombazine is made with a silk warp and a worsted weft. It is twilled or corded and used for dress-material. Black bombazine has been used largely for mourning, but the material has gone out of fashion. The word is derived from the obsolete French bombasin, applied originally to silk but afterwards to “tree-silk” or cotton. Bombazine is said to have been made in England in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, and early in the 19th century it was largely made at Norwich.
BOMBELLES, MARC MARIE, Marquis de (1744-1822), French diplomatist and ecclesiastic, was the son of the comte de Bombelles, tutor and guardian of the duke of Orleans. He was born at Bitsch in Lorraine, and served in the army through the Seven Years’ War. In 1765 he entered the diplomatic service, and after several diplomatic missions became ambassador of France to Portugal in 1786, being charged to win over that country to the Family Compact; but the madness of the queen and then the death of the king prevented his success. He was transferred to Vienna early in 1789, but the Revolution cut short his diplomatic career, and he was deprived of his post in September 1790. He remained attached to Louis XVI., and was employed on secret missions to other sovereigns, to gain their aid for Louis. In 1792 he emigrated, and after Valmy lived in retirement in Switzerland. In 1804, after the death of his wife, he withdrew to the monastery of Brünn in Austria, and became bishop of Oberglogau in Prussia. In 1815 he returned to France, and became bishop of Amiens (1819). He died in Paris in 1822.
His son, Louis Philippe, comte de Bombelles (1780-1843), born at Regensburg, passed his life in the diplomatic service of Austria. In 1814 he became Austrian ambassador to Denmark, and in 1816 filled a similar position at Dresden.
(E. Es.)
BOMBERG, DANIEL, a famous Christian printer of Hebrew books. His chief activity was in Venice between 1516 and 1549 (the year of his death). Bomberg introduced a new era in Hebrew typography. Among other great enterprises, he published the editio princeps (1516-1517) of the rabbinical Bible (Hebrew text with rabbinical commentaries, &c.). He also produced the first complete edition of the Talmud (1520-1523).
BONA, JOHN (1609-1674), Italian cardinal and author, was born at Mondovi in Piedmont, on the 10th of October 1609. In 1624 he joined the Congregation of Feuillants and was successively elected prior of Asti, abbot of Mondovi and general of his order. He was created cardinal in 1669 by Clement IX., and during the conclave, which followed that pope’s death, was regarded as a possible candidate for the papacy. He died on the 27th of October 1674. Bona’s writings are mainly concerned with liturgical and devotional subjects. Of the numerous editions of his works, the best are those of Paris (1677), Turin (1747) and Antwerp (1777). Stores of interesting rubrical information, interspersed with verses and prayers, are to be found in the De Libris Liturgicis and the Divina Psalmodia; recent advances in liturgical studies, however, have somewhat lessened their value. The De Discretione Spirituum treats of certain higher phases of mysticism; the Via Compendii ad Deum was well translated in 1876 by Henry Collins, O. Cist., under the title of An Easy Way to God. Sir Roger L’Estrange’s translation (The Guide to Heaven, 1680) of the Manuductio ad Coelum was reprinted in 1898, and a new edition of the Principia Vitae Christianae, ed. by D. O’Connor, appeared in 1906. The devotional treatise De Sacrificio Missae is the classical work in its field (new edition by Ildephonsus Cummins, 1903).
The chief source for the life of Bona is the biography by the Cistercian abbot Bertolotti (Asti, 1677); the best modern study is by A. Ighina (Mondovi, 1874).
BONA (Bône), a seaport of Algeria, in 36° 53′ N., 7° 46′ E., on a bay of the Mediterranean, chief town of an arrondissement in the department of Constantine, 220 m. by rail W. of Tunis, and 136 m. N.E. of Constantine. The town, which is situated at the foot of the wooded heights of Edugh, is surrounded with a modern rampart erected outside the old Arab wall, the compass of which was found too small for its growth. Much of the old town has been demolished, and its general character now is that of a flourishing French city. The streets are wide and well laid out, but some are very steep. Through the centre of the town runs a broad tree-lined promenade, the Cours Jérôme-Bertagna, formerly the Cours National, in which are the principal buildings —theatre, banks, hotels. At its southern end, by the quay, is a bronze statue of Thiers, and at the northern end, the cathedral of St Augustine, a large church built in quasi-Byzantine style. In it is preserved a relic supposed to be the right arm of St Augustine, brought from Pavia in 1842. The Grand Mosque, built out of ruins of the ancient Hippo, occupies one side of the chief square, the Place d’Armes. There are barracks with accommodation for 3000 men, and civil and military hospitals. The Kasbah (citadel) stands on a hill at the north-east of the town. The inner harbour, covering 25 acres, is surrounded by fine quays at which vessels drawing 22 ft. can be moored. Beyond is a spacious outer harbour, built 1857-1868 and enlarged in 1905-1907. Bona is in direct steamship communication with Marseilles, and is the centre of a large commerce, ranking after Algiers and Oran alone in Algeria. It imports general merchandise and manufactures, and exports phosphates, iron, zinc, barley, sheep, wool, cork, esparto, &c. There are manufactories of native garments, tapestry and leather. The marshes at the mouths of the Seybuse and Bujema rivers, which enter the sea to the south of Bona, have been drained by a system of canals, to the improvement of the sanitary condition of the town, which has the further advantage of an abundant water supply obtained from the Edugh hills. There are cork woods and marble quarries in the vicinity, and the valley of the Seybuse and the neighbouring plains are rich in agricultural produce. The population of the town of Bona in 1906 was 36,004, of the commune 42,934, of the arrondissement, which includes La Calle (q.v.) and 11 other communes, 77,803.
Bona is identified with the ancient Aphrodisium, the seaport of Hippo Regius or Ubbo, but it derives its name from the latter city, the ruins of which, consisting of large cisterns, now restored, and fragments of walls, are about a mile to the south of the town. In the first three centuries of the Christian era Hippo was one of the richest cities in Roman Africa; but its chief title to fame is derived from its connexion with St Augustine, who lived here as priest and bishop for thirty-five years. Hippo was captured by the Vandals under Genseric in 431, after a siege of fourteen months, during which Augustine died. Only the cathedral, together with Augustine’s library and MSS., escaped the general destruction. The town Avas partially restored by Belisarius, and again sacked by the Arabs in the 7th century. On the top of the hill on which Hippo stood, a large basilica, with chancel towards the west, dedicated to St Augustine, was opened in 1900. An altar surmounted by a bronze statue of the saint has also been erected among the ruins. The place was named Hippo Regius (Royal) by the Romans because it was a favourite residence of the Numidian kings. Bona (Arabic annaba, “the city of jujube trees”), which has passed through many vicissitudes, was built by the Arabs, and was for centuries a possession of the rulers of Tunis, who built the Kasbah in 1300. From the beginning of the 14th to the middle of the 15th century it was frequented by Italians and Spaniards, and in the 16th it was held for some time by Charles V., who strengthened its citadel. Thereafter it was held in turn by Genoese, Tunisians and Algerines. From the time of Louis XIV. to the Revolution, the French Compagnie d’Afrique maintained a very active trade with the port. The town was occupied by the French for a few months in 1830 and reoccupied in 1832, when Captains Armandy and Yusuf with a small force of marines seized the Kasbah and held it for some months until help arrived. From that time the history of Bona is one of industrial development, greatly stimulated since 1883 by the discovery of the phosphate beds at Tebessa.
BONA DEA, the “good goddess,” an old Roman deity of fruitfulness, both in the earth and in women. She was identified with Fauna, and by later syncretism also with Ops and Maia—the latter no doubt because the dedication-day of her temple on the Aventine was 1st May (Ovid, Fasti, v. 149 foll.). This temple was cared for, and the cult attended, by women only, and the same was the case at a second celebration at the beginning of December in the house of a magistrate with imperium, which became famous owing to the profanation of these mysteries by P. Clodius in 62 B.C., and the political consequences of his act. Wine and myrtle were tabooed in the cult of this deity, and myths grew up to explain these features of the cult, of which an account may be read in W.W. Fowler’s Roman Festivals, pp. 103 foll. Herbs with healing properties were kept in her temple, and also snakes, the usual symbol of the medicinal art. Her victim was a porca, as in the cults of other deities of fertility, and was called damium, and we are told that the goddess herself was known as Damia and her priestess as damiatrix. These names are almost certainly Greek; Damia is found worshipped at several places in Greece, and also at Tarentum, where there was a festival called Dameia. It is thus highly probable that on the cult of the original Roman goddess was engrafted the Greek one of Damia, perhaps after the conquest of Tarentum (272 B.C.). It is no longer possible to distinguish clearly the Greek and Roman elements in this curious cult, though it is itself quite intelligible as that of an Earth-goddess with mysteries attached.
See also Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopadie.
(W. W. F.*)
BONA FIDE (Lat. “in good faith”), in law, a term implying the absence of all fraud or unfair dealing or acting. It is usually employed in conjunction with a noun, e.g. “bona fide purchaser,” one who has purchased property from its legal owner, to whom he has paid the consideration, and from whom he has taken a legal conveyance, without having any notice of any trust affecting the property; “bona fide holder” of a bill of exchange, one who has taken a bill complete and regular on the face of it, before it was overdue, and in good faith and for value, and without notice of any defect in the title of the person who negotiated it to him; “bona fide traveller” under the licensing acts, one whose lodging-place during the preceding night is at least 3 m. distant from the place where he demands to be supplied with liquor, such distance being calculated by the nearest public thoroughfare.
BONALD, LOUIS GABRIEL AMBROISE, Vicomte de (1754-1840), French philosopher and politician, was born at Le Monna, near Millau in Aveyron, on the 2nd of October 1754. Disliking the principles of the Revolution, he emigrated in 1791, joined the army of the prince of Condé, and soon afterwards settled at Heidelberg. There he wrote his first important work, the highly conservative Théorie du pouvoir politique et religieux (3 vols., 1796; new ed., Paris, 1854, 2 vols.), which was condemned by the Directory. Returning to France he found himself an object of suspicion, and was obliged to live in retirement. In 1806 he was associated with Chateaubriand and Fiévée in the conduct of the Mercure de France, and two years later was appointed councillor of the Imperial University which he had often attacked. After the restoration he was a member of the council of public instruction, and from 1815 to 1822 sat in the chamber as deputy. His speeches were on the extreme conservative side; he even advocated a literary censorship. In 1822 he was made minister of state, and presided over the censorship commission. In the following year he was made a peer, a dignity which he lost through refusing to take the oath in 1830. From 1816 he had been a member of the Academy. He took no part in public affairs after 1830, but retired to his seat at Le Monna, where he died on the 23rd of November 1840.
Bonald was one of the leading writers of the theocratic or traditionalist school, which included de Maistre, Lamennais, Ballanche and d’Eckstein. His writings are mainly on social and political philosophy, and are based ultimately on one great principle, the divine origin of language. In his own words, “L’homme pense sa parole avant de parler sa pensée”; the first language contained the essence of all truth. From this he deduces the existence of God, the divine origin and consequent supreme authority of the Holy Scriptures, and the infallibility of the church. While this thought lies at the root of all his speculations there is a formula of constant application. All relations may be stated as the triad of cause, means and effect, which he sees repeated throughout nature. Thus, in the universe, he finds the first cause as mover, movement as the means, and bodies as the result; in the state, power as the cause, ministers as the means, and subjects as the effects; in the family, the same relation is exemplified by father, mother and children. These three terms bear specific relations to one another; the first is to the second as the second to the third. Thus, in the great triad of the religious world—God, the Mediator, and Man-God is to the God-Man as the God-Man is to Man. On this basis he constructed a system of political absolutism which lacks two things only:—well-grounded premisses instead of baseless hypotheses, and the acquiescence of those who were to be subjected to it.
Bonald’s style is remarkably fine; ornate, but pure and vigorous. Many fruitful thoughts are scattered among his works, but his system scarcely deserves the name of a philosophy. In abstract thought he was a mere dilettante, and his strength lay in the vigour and sincerity of his statements rather than in cogency of reasoning.
He had four sons. Of these, Victor de Bonald (1780-1871) followed his father in his exile, was rector of the academy of Montpellier after the restoration, but lost his post during the Hundred Days. Regaining it at the second restoration, he resigned finally in 1830. He wrote Des vrais principes opposés aux erreurs du XIXe siècle (1833), Moïse et les géologues modernes (1835), and a life of his father. Louis Jacques Maurice (1787-1870), cardinal (1841), was condemned by the council of state for a pastoral letter attacking Dupin the elder’s Manuel de droit ecclésiastique. In 1848 he held a memorial service “for those who fell gloriously in defence of civil and religious liberty.” In 1851 he nevertheless advocated in the senate the maintenance of the temporal power of Rome by force of arms. Henri (d. 1846) was a contributor to legitimist journals; and René was interim prefect of Aveyron in 1817.
Besides the Théorie above mentioned, the vicomte de Bonald published Essai analytique sur les lois naturelles de l’ordre social (1800); Législation primitive (1802); Du divorce considéré au XIXe siècle (1801); Recherches philosophiques sur les premiers objets de connaissances morales (2 vols., 1818); Mélanges littéraires et politiques, démonstration philosophique du principe constitutif de la société (1819, 1852). The first collected edition appeared in 12 vols., 1817-1819; the latest is that of the Abbé Migne (3 vols., 1859).
See Notice sur M. le Vicomte de Bonald (1841, ed. Avignon, 1853), (by his son Victor); Damiron, Phil. en France au XIXe siècle; Windelband, History of Philosophy (trans. J.H. Tufts, 1893); E. Faguet in Rev. des deux mondes (April 15, 1889).
BONAPARTE, the name of a family made famous by Napoleon I. (q.v.), emperor of the French. The French form Bonaparte was not commonly used, even by Napoleon, until after the spring of 1796. The original name was Buonaparte, which was borne in the early middle ages by several distinct families in Italy. One of these, which settled at Florence before the year 1100, divided in the 13th century into the two branches of San Miniato and Sarzana. A member of this latter, Francesco Buonaparte, emigrated in the middle of the 16th century to Corsica, where his descendants continued to occupy themselves with the affairs of law and the magistracy.
Carlo Buonaparte [Charles Marie de Bonaparte] (1746-1785), the father of Napoleon I., took his degree in law at the university of Pisa, and after the conquest of Corsica by the French became assessor to the royal court of Ajaccio and the neighbouring districts. His restless and dissatisfied nature led him to press or intrigue for other posts, and to embark in risky business enterprises which compromised the fortune of his family for many years to come. In 1764 he married Letizia Ramolino, a beautiful and high-spirited girl, aged fourteen, descended from a well-connected family domiciled in Corsica since the middle of the 15th century. The first two children, born in 1765 and 1767, died in infancy; Joseph (see below), the first son who survived, was born in 1768, and Napoleon in 1769. The latter was born in the midst of the troubles consequent on the French conquest, Letizia having recently accompanied her husband in several journeys and escapes. Her firm and courageous disposition showed itself at that trying time and throughout the whole of her singularly varied career. Simple and frugal in her tastes, and devout in thought and manner of life, she helped to bind her children to the life of Corsica, while her husband, a schemer by nature and a Voltairian by conviction, pointed the way to careers in France, the opening up of which moulded the fortunes of the family and the destinies of Europe. He died of cancer in the stomach at Montpellier in 1785.
Letizia lived to witness the glory and the downfall of her great son, surviving Napoleon I. by sixteen years. She never accommodated herself to the part she was called on to play during the Empire, and, though endowed with immense wealth and distinguished by the title of Madame Mère, lived mainly in retirement, and in the exercise of a strict domestic economy which her early privations had made a second nature to her, but which rendered her very unpopular in France and was displeasing to Napoleon. After the events of 1814 she joined the emperor in the island of Elba and was privy to his plans of escape, returning to Paris during the Hundred Days. After the final downfall of Waterloo, she took up her residence at Rome, where Pope Pius VII. treated her with great kindness and consideration, and protected her from the suspicious attentions of the powers of the Grand Alliance. In 1818 she addressed a pathetic letter to the powers assembled at the congress of Aix, petitioning for Napoleon’s release, on the ground that his mortal illness had removed any possibility of his ever again becoming a menace to the world’s peace. The letter remained unanswered, the powers having reason to believe that it was a mere political move, and that its terms had been previously concerted with Napoleon. Henceforth, saddened by the death of Napoleon, of her daughters Pauline and Elisa, and of several grandchildren, she lived a life of mournful seclusion. In 1829 she was crippled by a serious fall, and was all but blind before her death in 1836.
For the Bonaparte family in general, and Carlo and Letizia, see Storia genealogica della famiglia Bonaparte, della sua origine fina all’ estinzione del ramo già esisente nella città di S. Miniato, scritta da un Samminiatese (D. Morali) (Florence, 1846); F. de Stefani, Le antichità dei Bonaparte; precede per una introduzione (L. Beretta) (Venice, 1857); L. Ambrosini and A. Huard, La Famille impériale. Hist. de la famille Bonaparte depuis son origine jusqu’en 1860 (Paris, 1860); C. Leynadier, Histoire de la famille Bonaparte de l’an 1050 à l’an 1848 (continuée jusqu’en 1866 par de la Brugère) (Paris, 1866); A. Kleinschmidt, Die Eltern und Geschwister Napoleons I. (Berlin, 1876); D.A. Bingham, The Marriages of the Bonapartes (2 vols., London, 1881); F. Masson, Napoléon et sa famille (4 vols., Paris, 1897-1900); A. Chuquet, La Jeunesse de Napoléon (3 vols., Paris, 1897-1899); T. Nasica, Mémoires sur l’enfance et la jeunesse de Napoléon jusqu’à la âge vingt-trois ans; précédes d’une notice historique sur son père; Baron H. Larrey, Madame Mère (2 vols., Paris, 1892); Clara Tschudi, Napoleons Mutter: aus dem Norwegischen übersetzt von H. von Lenk (Leipzig, 1901).
The brothers and sisters of Napoleon I., taken in order of age, are the following:—
I. Joseph (1768-1844), was born at Corte in Corsica, on the 7th of January 1768. He was educated at the college at Autun in France, returned to Corsica in 1784, shortly after the death of his father, and thereafter studied law at the university of Pisa. He became a barrister at Bastia in June 1788, and was soon elected a councillor of the municipality of Ajaccio. Like his brothers, Napoleon and Lucien, he embraced the French or democratic side, and on the victory of the Paolist party fled with his family from Corsica and sought refuge in France. After spending a short time in Paris, where he was disgusted with the excesses of the Jacobins, he settled at Marseilles and married Mlle Julie Clary, daughter of a merchant of that town. The Bonapartes moved from place to place, mainly with the view of concerting measures for the recovery of Corsica. Joseph took part in these efforts and went on a mission to Genoa in 1795. In 1796 he accompanied his brother Napoleon in the early part of the Italian campaign, and had some part in the negotiations with Sardinia which led to the armistice of Cherasco (April 28), the news of which he bore to the French government. Later he proceeded to Leghorn, took part in the French expedition for the recovery of Corsica, and, along with the commissioner of the French Republic, Miot de Melito, helped in the reorganization of that island. In March 1797 he was appointed by the Directory, minister to the court of Parma, and early in the summer he proceeded to Rome in the same capacity. Discords arose between the Vatican and the French Republic, and it is clear that Napoleon and the French Directory ordered Joseph to encourage revolutionary movements in Rome. On the 28th of December 1797 a disturbance took place opposite the French embassy, which led to the death of the French general, Léonard Duphot. Joseph at once left Rome, which soon became a republic. Repairing to Paris, he entered on parliamentary life, becoming one of the members for Corsica in the Council of Five Hundred. He made no mark in the chamber and retired in 1799.
Before the coup d’état of Brumaire he helped Napoleon in making overtures to Sieyès and Moreau, but otherwise did little. Thereafter he refused to enter the ministry, but became a member of the council of state and of the Corps Législatif, where his advice on the state of public opinion was frequently useful. He had a hand in the negotiations for the Concordat, but, according to Lucien Bonaparte, looked on that measure as “ill-advised and retrograde.” His services in the diplomatic sphere were more important. At Mortfontaine, his country-house, he concluded with the envoy of the United States a convention which bears that name (1800). He also presided over the negotiations which led to the treaty of Lunéville with Austria (February 9, 1801); and he and Maret represented France in the lengthy discussions with the British envoy, Lord Cornwallis, which resulted in the signature of the treaty of Amiens (March 25, 1802). This diplomatic triumph in its turn led to the consolidation of Napoleon’s power as First Consul for life (August 1, 1802) with the chief voice in the selection of his successor. On this question the brothers disagreed. As neither Joseph nor Napoleon had a male heir, the eldest brother, whose ideas of primogeniture were very strict, claimed to be recognized as heir, while Napoleon wished to recognize the son of Louis Bonaparte. On the proclamation of the French empire (May 1804) the friction became acute. Napoleon offered to make Joseph king of Lombardy if he would waive all claim of succession to the French throne, but met with a firm refusal.
Meanwhile Joseph had striven earnestly, but in vain, to avert a rupture with England, which came about in May 1803. In 1805 he acted as chief of the French government while Napoleon was campaigning in Germany. Early in 1806 he proceeded to Naples with a French force in order to expel the Bourbon dynasty from southern Italy, Napoleon adding the promise that the Neapolitan crown would be for Joseph if he chose to accept it. The conquest of the mainland was speedily effected, though Gaëta, Reggio and the rock of Scylla held out for some months. The Bourbon court retired to Sicily, where it had the protection of a British force. By the decree of the 30th of March 1806 Napoleon proclaimed Joseph king of Naples, but allowed him to keep intact his claims to the throne of France. In several letters he enjoined his brother to greater firmness in his administration: “These peoples in Italy, and in general all nations, if they do not find their masters, are disposed to rebellion and mutiny.” The memoirs of Count Miot de Melito, whom Joseph appointed minister of war, show how great were the difficulties with which the new monarch had to contend—an almost bankrupt treasury, a fickle and degraded populace, Bourbon intrigues and plots, and frequent attacks by the British from Sicily. General Stuart’s victory at Maida (July 3) shook Joseph’s throne to its base; but the surrender of Gaëta soon enabled Massena to march southwards and subdue Calabria. During his brief reign at Naples, Joseph effected many improvements; he abolished the relics of feudalism, reformed the monastic orders, reorganized the judicial, financial and educational systems, and initiated several public works. In everything he showed his desire to carry out the aims which he expressed to his consort in April 1806: “Justice demands that I should make this people as happy as the scourge of war will permit.”
From these well-meant, but not always successful, efforts he was suddenly called away by Napoleon to take the crown of Spain (May 1808). There his difficulties were far greater. Despite the benevolent intentions announced to the Spaniards in his proclamation dated Bayonne, 23rd of June 1808, all reconciliation between them and the French was impossible after Napoleon’s treatment of their de facto king, Ferdinand VII. For the varying fortunes of King Joseph in Spain and in the eventful years of the Peninsular War, see Spain and Peninsular War. His sovereignty was little more than titular. Compelled to leave Madrid hastily in August 1808, owing to the Spanish success at Baylen, he was reinstated by Napoleon at the close of the year; and he was thereafter kept in a subordinate position which led him on four occasions to offer to abdicate. The emperor took no notice of these offers, and ordered him to govern with more energy. Between February and May 1810 the emperor placed the northern and north-eastern provinces under the command of French generals as military districts, virtually independent of Joseph’s authority. Again the king protested, but in vain. As his trusted adviser, Miot de Melito, observed in his memoirs, Joseph tried to be constitutional king of Spain, whereas after the experience of the years 1808-1809 he could only succeed in the Peninsula by becoming “the mere instrument of a military power.” “Bearing a title which was only an oppressive burden, the king had in reality ceased to exist as a monarch, and barely retained some semblance of authority over a small part of the French army as a general. Reduced by the exhausted state of his treasury to the last extremity he at length seriously thought of departure.” Joseph took this step in April 1811, and proceeded to Paris in order to extort better terms, or offer his abdication; but he had to return with a monthly subsidy of 500,000 francs and the promise that the army of the centre (the smallest of the five French armies) should be under his control. Late in that year Napoleon united Catalonia to France. Wellington’s victory at Salamanca (July 22, 1812) compelled Joseph to leave his capital; and despite the retirement of the British in the autumn of that year, Joseph’s authority never fully recovered from that blow. The end of his nominal rule came in the next year, when Wellington utterly overthrew the chief French army, commanded by King Joseph and Marshal Jourdan, at Vittoria (June 21, 1813). The king fled from Spain, was disgraced by Napoleon, and received the order to retire incognito to Mortfontaine. The emperor wrote to the minister of war (July 11, 1813):—“His [Joseph’s] behaviour has never ceased bringing misfortune upon my army; it is time to make an end of it.”