LANDEN, a town in the province of Liége, Belgium, an important junction for lines of railway from Limburg, Liége and Louvain. Pop. (1904) 2874. It is the birthplace of the first Pippin, distinguished as Pippin of Landen from his grandson Pippin of Herstal. In 1693 the French under Marshal Luxemburg defeated here the Anglo-Dutch army under William III. This battle is also called Neerwinden from a village 3 m. W. of Landen. Here in 1793 the Austrians under Frederick of Saxe-Coburg and Clerfayt defeated the French under Dumouriez.
LANDER, RICHARD LEMON (1804–1834) and JOHN (1807–1839), English explorers of the Niger, were natives of Cornwall,
sons of an innkeeper at Truro. At the age of eleven Richard
went to the West Indies in the service of a merchant. Returning
to England after an absence of three years he took service with
various wealthy families, with whom he travelled on the continent.
In 1823–1824 he accompanied Major (afterwards General Sir)
W. M. Colebrooke, on a tour through Cape Colony. In 1825
Richard offered his services to Hugh Clapperton, then preparing
for his second expedition to West Africa. He was Clapperton’s
devoted servant and companion in this expedition, and on
Clapperton’s death near Sokoto in April 1827 Richard Lander,
after visiting Kano and other parts of the Hausa states, returned
to the Guinea coast through Yoruba bringing with him Clapperton’s
journal. To this on its publication (1829) was added
The Journal of Richard Lander from Kano to the Coast, and in
the next year Lander published another account of the expedition
entitled Records of Captain Clapperton’s Last Expedition
to Africa . . . with the subsequent Adventures of the Author.
To this narrative he prefixed an autobiographical note. Richard
Lander, though without any scientific attainments, had exhibited
such capacity for exploration that the British government
decided to send him out to determine the course of the lower
Niger. In the expedition he was accompanied by his brother
John, by trade a printer, and better educated than Richard, who
went as an unsalaried volunteer. Leaving England in January
1830, the brothers landed at Badagry on the Guinea coast on
the 22nd of March. They then travelled by the route previously
taken by Clapperton to Bussa on the right bank of the Niger,
reached on the 17th of June. Thence they ascended the river
for about 100 m. Going back to Bussa the travellers began,
on the 20th of September, the descent of the river, not knowing
whither it would lead them. They journeyed in canoes accompanied
by a few negroes, their only scientific instrument a common
compass. They discovered the Benue river, ascertaining when
passing its confluence, by paddling against its stream, that their
course was not in that direction. At the beginning of the delta
they were captured by the Ibos, from whom they were ransomed
by “King Boy” of Brass Town; by him they were taken to
the Nun mouth of the river, whence a passage was obtained to
Fernando Po, reached on the 1st of December. The Landers
were thus able to lay down with approximate correctness the
lower course of the Niger—a matter till then as much in dispute
as was the question of the Nile sources. In the attack by the
Ibos the Landers lost many of their records, but they published
a narrative of their discoveries in 1832, in three small volumes—Journal
of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination
of the Niger. In recognition of his services the Royal Geographical
Society—formed two years previously—granted Richard Lander
in 1832 the royal medal, he being the first recipient of such an
award. In the same year Richard went to Africa again as
leader of an expedition organized by Macgregor Laird and other
Liverpool merchants to open up trade on the Niger and to found
a commercial settlement at the junction of the Benue with the
main stream. The expedition encountered many difficulties,
suffered great mortality from fever, and was not able to reach
Bussa. Lander made several journeys up and down stream,
and while going up the river in a canoe was attacked by the
natives on the 20th of January 1834 at a spot about 84 m.
above the Nun mouth, and wounded by a musket ball in the
thigh. He was removed to Fernando Po, where he died on the
6th of February. John Lander, who on his return to England
in 1831 obtained a situation at the London customs house,
died on the 16th of November 1839 of a disease contracted
in Africa.
See, besides the books mentioned, the Narrative of the Niger expedition of 1832–1834, published in 1837 by Macgregor Laird and R. A. K. Oldfield.
LANDES, a department in the south-west of France, formed in 1790 of portions of the ancient provinces of Guyenne (Landes, Condomios Chalosse), Gascony and Béarn, and bounded N. by Gironde, E. by Lot-et-Garonne and Gers, S. by Basses Pyrenées, and W. (for 68 m.) by the Bay of Biscay. Pop. (1906) 293,397. Its area, 3615 sq. m., is second only to that of the department of Gironde. The department takes its name from the Landes, which occupy three-quarters of its surface, or practically the whole region north of the Adour, the chief river of the department. They are separated from the sea by a belt of dunes fringed on the east by a chain of lakes. South of the Adour lies the Chalosse—a hilly region, intersected by the Gabas, Luy and Gave de Pau, left-hand tributaries of the Adour, which descend from the Pyrenees. On the right the Adour is joined by the Midouze, formed by the junction of the Douze and the Midou. The climate of Landes is the Girondine, which prevails from the Loire to the Pyrenees. Snow is almost unknown, the spring is rainy, the summer warm and stormy. The prevailing wind is the south-west, and the mean temperature of the year is 53° F., the thermometer hardly ever rising above 82° or falling below 14°. The annual rainfall in the south of the department in the neighbourhood of the sea reaches 55 in., but diminishes by more than half towards the north-east.
The fertility of La Chalosse is counterbalanced by the comparative poorness of the soil of the Landes, and small though the population is, the department does not produce wheat enough for its own consumption. The chief cereal is maize; next in importance are rye, wheat and millet. Of vegetables, the bean is most cultivated. The vine is grown in the Chalosse, sheep are numerous, and the “Landes” breed of horses is well known. Forests, chiefly composed of pines, occupy more than half the department, and their exploitation forms the chief industry. The resin of the maritime pine furnishes by distillation essence of turpentine, and from the residue are obtained various qualities of resin, which serve to make varnish, tapers, sealing-wax and lubricants. Tar, and an excellent charcoal for smelting purposes, are also obtained from the pine-wood. The department has several mineral springs, the most important being those of Dax, which were frequented in the time of the Romans, and of Eugénie-les-Bains and Préchacq. The cultivation of the cork tree is also important. There are salt-workings and stone quarries. There are several iron-works in the department; those at Le Boucau, at the mouth of the Adour, are the most important. There are also saw-mills, distilleries, flour-mills, brick and tile works and potteries. Exports include resinous products, pine-timber, metal, brandy; leading imports are grain, coal, iron, millinery and furniture. In its long extent of coast the department has no considerable port. Opposite Cape Breton, however, where the Adour formerly entered the sea, there is, close to land, a deep channel where there is safe anchorage. It was from this once important harbour of Capbreton that the discoverers of the Canadian island of that name set out. Landes includes three arrondissements (Mont-de-Marsan, Dax and St Sever), 28 cantons and 334 communes.
Mont-de-Marsan is the capital of the department, which comes within the circumscription of the appeal court of Pau, the académie (educational division) of Bordeaux and the archbishopric of Auch, and forms part of the region of the 18th army corps. It is served by the Southern railway; there is some navigation on the Adour, but that upon the other rivers is of little importance. Mont-de-Marsan, Dax, St Sever and Aire-sur-l’Adour, the most noteworthy towns, receive separate notice. Hagetmau has a church built over a Romanesque crypt, the roof of which is supported on columns with elaborately-carved capitals. Sorde has an interesting abbey-church of the 13th and 14th centuries.
LANDES, an extensive natural region of south-western France, known more strictly as the Landes de Gascogne. It has an area
