Little Belt, 9 m. N. of the German frontier. Pop. (1901), 12,516. It is on the Eastern railway of Jutland. The harbour throughout has a depth of over 20 ft. A little to the north-west is the splendid remnant of the royal castle Koldinghuus, formerly called Oernsborg or Arensborg. It was begun by Duke Abel in 1248; in 1808 it was burned. The large square tower was built by Christian IV. (1588–1648), and was surmounted by colossal statues, of which one is still standing. It contains an antiquarian and historical museum (1892). The name of Kolding occurs in the 10th century, but its earliest known town-rights date from 1321. In 1644 it was the scene of a Danish victory over the Swedes, and on the 22nd of April 1849 of a Danish defeat by the troops of Schleswig-Holstein. A comprehensive view of the Little Belt with its islands, and over the mainland, is obtained from the Skamlingsbank, a slight elevation 812 m. S.E., where an obelisk (1863) commemorates the effort made to preserve the Danish language in Schleswig.
KOLGUEV, Kolgueff or Kalguyev, an island off the north-west
of Russia in Europe, belonging to the government of Archangel.
It lies about 50 m. from the nearest point of the mainland,
and is of roughly oval form, 54 m. in length from N.N.E. to S.S.W.
and 39 m. in extreme breadth. It lies in a shallow sea, and is
quite low, the highest point being 250 ft. above the sea. Peat-bogs
and grass lands cover the greater part of the surface; there
are several considerable streams and a large number of small lakes.
The island is of recent geological formation; it consists almost
wholly of disintegrated sandstone or clay (which rises at the
north-west into cliffs up to 60 ft. high), with scattered masses
of granite. Vegetation is scanty, but bears, foxes and other
Arctic animals, geese, swans, &c., provide means of livelihood for
a few Samoyed hunters.
KOLHAPUR, a native state of India, within the Deccan
division of Bombay. It is the fourth in importance of the Mahratta
principalities, the other three being Baroda, Gwalior and
Indore; and it is the principal state under the political control
of the government of Bombay. Together with its jagirs or
feudatories, it covers an area of 3165 sq. m. In 1901 the population
was 910,011. The estimated revenue is £300,000. Kolhapur
stretches from the heart of the Western Ghats eastwards into the
plain of the Deccan. Along the spurs of the main chain of the
Ghats lie wild and picturesque hill slopes and valleys, producing
little but timber, and till recently covered with rich forests.
The centre of the state is crossed by several lines of low hills running
at right angles from the main range. In the east the
country becomes more open and presents the unpicturesque uniformity
of a well-cultivated and treeless plain, broken only by an
occasional river. Among the western hills are the ancient Mahratta
strongholds of Panhala, Vishalgarh, Bavda and Rungna.
The rivers, though navigable during the rains by boats of 2 tons
burthen, are all fordable during the hot months. Iron ore is
found in the hills, and smelting was formerly carried on to a considerable
extent; but now the Kolhapur mineral cannot compete
with that imported from Europe. There are several good stone
quarries. The principal agricultural products are rice, millets,
sugar-cane, tobacco, cotton, safflower and vegetables.
The rajas of Kolhapur trace their descent from Raja Ram, a younger son of Sivaji the Great, the founder of the Mahratta power. The prevalence of piracy caused the British government to send expeditions against Kolhapur in 1765 and 1792; and in the early years of the 19th century the misgovernment of the chief compelled the British to resort to military operations, and ultimately to appoint an officer to manage the state. In recent years the state has been conspicuously well governed, on the pattern of British administration. The raja Shahu Chhatrapati, G.C.S.I. (who is entitled to a salute of 21 guns) was born in 1874, and ten years later succeeded to the throne by adoption. The principal institutions are the Rajaram college, the high school, a technical school, an agricultural school, and training-schools for both masters and mistresses. The state railway from Miraj junction to Kolhapur town is worked by the Southern Mahratta company. In recent years the state has suffered from both famine and plague.
The town of Kolhapur, or Karvir, is the terminus of a branch of the Southern Mahratta railway, 30 m. from the main line. Pop. (1901), 54,373. Besides a number of handsome modern public buildings, the town has many evidences of antiquity. Originally it appears to have been an important religious centre, and numerous Buddhist remains have been discovered in the neighbourhood.
KOLIN, or Neu-Kolin (also Kollin; Czech, Nový Kolín), a
town of Bohemia, Austria, 40 m. E. of Prague by rail. Pop.
(1900), 15,025, mostly Czech. It is situated on the Elbe, and
amongst its noteworthy buildings may be specially mentioned
the beautiful early Gothic church of St Bartholomew, erected
during the latter half of the 14th century. The industries of the
town include sugar-refining, steam mills, brewing, and the manufacture
of starch, syrup, spirits, potash and tin ware. The
neighbourhood is known for the excellence of its fruit and vegetables.
Kolin is chiefly famous on account of the battle here
on the 18th of June 1757, when the Prussians under Frederick
the Great were defeated by the Austrians under Daun (see Seven Years’ War).
The result was the raising of the siege of Prague
and the evacuation of Bohemia by the Prussians. Kolin was
colonized in the 13th century by German settlers and made a
royal city. In 1421 it was captured by the men of Prague, and
the German inhabitants who refused to accept “the four articles”
were expelled. In 1427 the town declared against Prague, was
besieged by Prokop the Great, and surrendered to him upon conditions
at the close of the year.
KOLIS, a caste or tribe of Western India, of uncertain origin.
Possibly the name is derived from the Turki kuleh a slave; and,
according to one theory, this name has been passed on to the
familiar word “cooly” for an agricultural labourer. They form
the main part of the inferior agricultural population of Gujarat,
where they were formerly notorious as robbers; but they also
extend into the Konkan and the Deccan. In 1901 the number
of Kolis in all India was returned as nearly 334 millions; but this
total includes a distinct weaving caste of Kolis or Koris in
northern India.
KÖLLIKER, RUDOLPH ALBERT VON (1817–1905), Swiss
anatomist and physiologist, was born at Zürich on the 6th of
July 1817. His father and his mother were both Zürich people,
and he in due time married a lady from Aargau, so that Switzerland
can claim him as wholly her own, though he lived the
greater part of his life in Germany. His early education was
carried on in Zürich, and he entered the university there in 1836.
After two years, however, he moved to the university of Bonn,
and later to that of Berlin, becoming at the latter place the pupil
of Johannes Müller and of F. G. J. Henle. He graduated in philosophy
at Zürich in 1841, and in medicine at Heidelberg in 1842.
The first academic post which he held was that of prosector of
anatomy under Henle; but his tenure of this office was brief, for
in 1844 his native city called him back to its university to occupy
a chair as professor extraordinary of physiology and comparative
anatomy. His stay here too, however, was brief, for in 1847 the
university of Würzburg, attracted by his rising fame, offered him
the post of professor of physiology and of microscopical and
comparative anatomy. He accepted the appointment, and at
Würzburg he remained thenceforth, refusing all offers tempting
him to leave the quiet academic life of the Bavarian town, where
he died on the 2nd of November 1905.
Kölliker’s name will ever be associated with that of the tool with which during his long life he so assiduously and successfully worked, the microscope. The time at which he began his studies coincided with that of the revival of the microscopic investigation of living beings. Two centuries earlier the great Italian Malpighi had started, and with his own hand had carried far the study by the help of the microscope of the minute structure of animals and plants. After Malpighi this branch of knowledge, though continually progressing, made no remarkable bounds forward until the second quarter of the 19th century, when the improvement of the compound microscope on the one hand, and the promulgation by Theodor Schwann and Matthias Schleiden of the “cell theory” on the other, inaugurated a new era of
