chief towns of which, with populations in 1897, are Kostroma (q.v.), Bui (2626), Chukhloma (2200), Galich (6182), Kineshma (7564), Kologriv (2566), Makariev (6068), Nerekhta (3002), Soligalich (3420), Varnavin (1140), Vetluga (5200) and Yurievets (4778).
KOSTROMA, a town of Russia, capital of the government of
the same name, 230 m. N.N.E. of Moscow and 57 m. E.N.E.
from Yaroslav, on the left bank of the Volga, at the mouth of the
navigable Kostroma, with suburbs on the opposite side of the
Volga. Pop. (1897), 41,268. Its glittering gilded cupolas make
it a conspicuous feature in the landscape as it climbs up the
terraced river bank. It is one of the oldest towns of Russia,
having been founded in 1152. Its fort was often the refuge
of the princes of Moscow during war, but the town was plundered
more than once by the Tatars. The cathedral, built in 1239
and rebuilt in 1773, is situated in the kreml, or citadel, and is a
fine monument of old Russian architecture. In the centre of the
town is a monument to the peasant Ivan Susanin and the tsar
Michael (1851). The former sacrificed his own life in 1669 by
leading the Poles astray in the forests in order to save the life of
his own tsar Michael Fedeorovich. On the opposite bank of the
Volga, close to the water’s edge, stands the monastery of Ipatiyev,
founded in 1330, with a cathedral built in 1586, both associated
with the election of Tsar Michael (1669). Kostroma has
been renowned since the 16th century for its linen, which was
exported to Holland, and the manufacture of linen and linen-yarn
is still kept up to some extent. The town has also cotton-mills,
tanneries, saw-mills, an iron-foundry and a machine
factory. It carries on an active trade—importing grain, and
exporting linen, linen yarn, leather, and especially timber and
wooden wares.
KÖSZEG (Ger. Güns), a town in the county of Vas, in Hungary,
173 m. W. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900), 7422. It is
pleasantly situated in the valley of the Güns, and is dominated
towards the west by the peaks of Altenhaus (2000 ft.) and of the
Geschriebene Stein (2900 ft.). It possesses a castle of Count
Esterhazy, a modern Roman Catholic Church in Gothic style and
two convents. It has important cloth factories and a lively trade
in fruit and wine. The town has a special historical interest
for the heroic and successful defence of the fortress by Nicolas
Jurisics against a large army of Sultan Soliman, in July–August
1532, which frustrated the advance of the Turks to Vienna for
that year.
To the south-east of Köszeg, at the confluence of the Güns with the Raab, is situated the town of Sárvár (pop. 3158), formerly fortified, where in 1526 the first printing press in Hungary was established.
KOTAH, a native state of India, in the Rajputana agency,
with an area of 5684 sq. m. The country slopes gently northwards
from the high table-land of Malwa, and is drained by
the Chambal with its tributaries, all flowing in a northerly or
north-easterly direction. The Mokandarra range, from 1200
to 1600 ft. above sea-level, runs from south-east to north-west.
The Mokandarra Pass through these hills, in the neighbourhood
of the highest peak (1671 ft.), has been rendered memorable by
the passage of Colonel Monson’s army on its disastrous retreat
in 1804. There are extensive game preserves, chiefly covered
with grass. In addition to the usual Indian grains, wheat,
cotton, poppy, and a little tobacco of good quality are cultivated.
The manufactures are very limited. Cotton fabrics are woven,
but are being rapidly superseded by the cheap products of
Bombay and Manchaster. Articles of wooden furniture are also
constructed. The chief articles of export are opium and grain;
salt, cotton and woollen cloth are imported.
Kotah is an offshoot from Bundi state, having been bestowed upon a younger son of the Bundi raja by the emperor Shah Jahan in return for services rendered him when the latter was in rebellion against his father Jahangir. In 1897 a considerable portion of the area taken to form Jhalawar (q.v.) in 1838 was restored to Kotah. In 1901 the population was 544,879, showing a decrease of 24% due to the results of famine. The estimated revenue is £206,000; tribute, £28,000. The maharao Umad Singh, was born in 1873, and succeeded in 1889. He was educated at the Mayo College, Ajmere, and became a major in the British army. A continuation of the branch line of the Indian Midland railway from Goona to Baran passes through Kotah, and it is also traversed by a new line, opened in 1909. The state suffered from drought in 1896–1897, and again more severely in 1899–1900.
The town of Kotah is on the right bank of the Chambal. Pop. (1901), 33,679. It is surrounded and also divided into three parts by massive walls, and contains an old and a new palace of the maharao and a number of fine temples. Muslins are the chief articles of manufacture, but the town has no great trade, and this and the unhealthiness of the site may account for the decrease in population.
KOTAS (Kotar, Koter, Kohatur, Gauhatar), an aboriginal
tribe of the Nilgiri hills, India. They are a well-made people,
of good features, tall, and of a dull copper colour, but some of
them are among the fairest of the hill tribes. They recognize
no caste among themselves, but are divided into keris (streets),
and a man must marry outside his keri. Their villages (of
which there are seven) are large, averaging from thirty to
sixty huts. They are agriculturists and herdsmen, and the only
one of the hill tribes who practise industrial arts, being excellent
as carpenters, smiths, tanners and basket-makers. They do
menial work for the Todas, to whom they pay a tribute. They
worship ideal gods, which are not represented by any images.
Their language is an old and rude dialect of Kanarese. In 1901
they numbered 1267.
KOTKA, a seaport of Finland, in the province of Viborg,
35 m. by rail from Kuivola junction on the Helsingfors railway,
on an island of the same name at the mouth of the Kymmene
river. Pop. (1904), 7628. It is the chief port for exports from
and imports to east Finland and a centre of the timber trade.
KOTRI, a town of British India, in Karachi district, Sind,
situated on the right bank of the Indus. Pop. (1901), 7617.
Kotri is the junction of branches of the North-Western railway,
serving each bank of the Indus, which is here crossed by a railway
bridge. It was formerly the station for Hyderabad, which lies
across the Indus, and the headquarters of the Indus steam
flotilla, now abolished in consequence of the development of
railway facilities. Besides its importance as a railway centre,
however, Kotri still has a considerable general transit trade by
river.
KOTZEBUE, AUGUST FRIEDRICH FERDINAND VON (1761–1819), German dramatist, was born on the 3rd of May, 1761, at Weimar. After attending the gymnasium of his native town, he went in his sixteenth year to the university of Jena, and afterwards studied about a year in Duisburg. In 1780 he completed his legal course and was admitted an advocate. Through the influence of Graf Görtz, Prussian ambassador at
the Russian court, he became secretary of the governor-general
of St Petersburg. In 1783 he received the appointment of
assessor to the high court of appeal in Reval, where he married
the daughter of a Russian lieutenant-general. He was ennobled
in 1785, and became president of the magistracy of the province
of Esthonia. In Reval he acquired considerable reputation by
his novels, Die Leiden der Ortenbergischen Familie (1785) and
Geschichte meines Vaters (1788), and still more by the plays
Adelheid von Wulfingen (1789), Menschenhass und Reue (1790)
and Die Indianer in England (1790). The good impression
produced by these works was, however, almost effaced by a
cynical dramatic satire, Doktor Bahrdt mit der eisernen Stirn,
which appeared in 1790 with the name of Knigge on the title-page.
After the death of his first wife Kotzebue retired from
the Russian service, and lived for a time in Paris and Mainz;
he then settled in 1795 on an estate which he had acquired near
Reval and gave himself up to literary work. Within a few years
he published six volumes of miscellaneous sketches and stories
(Die jüngsten Kinder meiner Laune, 1793–1796) and more than
twenty plays, the majority of which were translated into several
European languages. In 1798 he accepted the office of dramatist
to the court theatre in Vienna, but owing to differences with
the actors he was soon obliged to resign. He now returned to
