Page:EB1911 - Volume 19.djvu/167

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
152
NAGPUR—NAGY-VÁRAD
  

products of the flourishing industry now carried on there and at other places in the province are transported to Nagoya, for sale there or for export. Cotton mills have been established, and an extensive business is carried on in the embroidery of handkerchiefs. Another of its celebrated manufactures is arimatsu-shibori, or textile fabrics (silk or cotton), dyed so as to show spots in relief from which the colour radiates. It is further distinguished as the birthplace of cloisonné enamelling in Japan, all work of that nature before 1838—when a new departure was made by Kaji Tsunekichi—having been for purposes of subordinate decoration. Quantities of cloisonné enamels are now produced in the town.

NAGPUR, a city, district and division of British India, in the Central Provinces. The city is 1125 ft. above the sea; railway station, 520 m. E. of Bombay. Pop. (1901) 127,734. The town is well laid out, with several parks and artificial lakes, and has numerous Hindu temples. The prettily wooded suburb of Sitabaldi contains the chief government buildings, the houses of Europeans, the railway station and the cantonments, with fort and arsenal. In the centre stands Sitabaldi Hill, crowned with the fort. Beyond the station lies the broad sheet of water known as the Jama Talao, and farther east is the city, completely hidden in a mass of foliage. Handsome tanks and gardens, constructed by the Mahratta princes, lie outside the city. The palace, built of black basalt and profusely ornamented with wood carving, was burnt down in 1864, and only the great gateway remains. The garrison consists of detachments of European and native infantry from Kampti. Nagpur is the headquarters of two corps of rifle volunteers. It is the junction of two important railway systems—the Great Indian Peninsula to Bombay and the Bengal-Nagpur to Calcutta. The large weaving population maintain their reputation for producing fine fabrics. There are steam cotton mills and machinery for ginning and pressing cotton. The gaol contains an important printing establishment. Education is provided by two aided colleges—the Hislop and the Morris, called after a missionary and a former chief commissioner; four high schools; a law school; an agricultural school, with a class for the scientific training of teachers; a normal school; a zenana mission for the management of girls’ schools; an Anglican and two Catholic schools for Europeans. There are several libraries and reading rooms, and an active Anjuman or Mahommedan society.

The District of Nagpur has an area of 384 sq. m. Pop. (1901) 751,844. It lies immediately below the great tableland of the Satpura range. A second line of hills shuts in the district on the south-west, and a third runs from north to south, parting the country into two plains of unequal size. These hills are all offshoots of the Satpuras, and nowhere attain any great elevation. Their heights are rocky and sterile, but the valleys and lowlands yield rich crops of corn and garden produce. The western plain slopes down to the river Wardhā, is watered by the Jām and Madār, tributaries of the Wardhā, and contains the most highly-tilled land in the district, abounding in fruit trees and the richest garden cultivation. The eastern plain (six times the larger), stretching away to the confines of Bhandāra and Chānda, consists of a rich undulating country, luxuriant with mango groves and dotted towards the east with countless small tanks. It is watered by the Kanhān, with its tributaries, which flows into the Waingangā beyond the district. The principal crops are millets, wheat, oil-seeds and cotton. There are steam factories for ginning and pressing cotton at the military cantonment of Kampti, which was formerly the chief centre of trades. An important new industry is manganese mining. The district is traversed by the two lines of railway which meet at Nagpur city, and several branches are under construction.

The Division of Nagpur comprises the five districts of Nagpur, Bhandāra, Chānda, Wardhā and Balaghat. Area, 23,521 sq. m. Pop. (1901) 3,728,063, showing a decrease of 9% in the decade.

See Nagpur District Gazetteer (Bombay, 1908).

NAGYKANIZSA, a town of Hungary, in the county of Zala, 137 m. S.W. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900) 23,255. It possesses distilleries and brick-making factories, and has trade in cereals and cattle. Nagykanizsa once ranked as the second fortress of Hungary, and consequently played an important part during the wars with the Turks, who, having gained possession of it in 1600, held it until, in 1690, after a siege of two years, it was recovered by the Austrian and Hungarian forces. In 1702 the fortifications were destroyed.

NAGYKIKINDA, a town of Hungary, in the county of Torontál, 152 m. S.E. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900) 24,843, of which about 60% are Servians. Being one of the centres of production of the famous wheat of the Banat, its flour industry is important. Fruit-farming and cattle-rearing are extensively carried on in the neighbourhood.

NAGYSZEBEN (Ger. Hermannstadt, Rumanian Sibiu), a town of Hungary, in Transylvania, the capital of the county of Szeben, 122 m. S.S.E. of Kolozsvar by rail. Pop. (1900) 26,077, of whom 16,141 were Saxons (Germans), 7106 Rumanians, and 5747 Magyars. It is beautifully situated at an altitude of 1411 ft. in the fertile valley of the Cibin (Hungarian, Szeben), encircled on all sides by the Transylvanian Alps. It is the seat of a Greek Orthodox (Rumanian) archbishop, and of the superintendent of the Protestants for the Transylvanian circle. Some parts of Nagyszeben have a medieval appearance, with houses built in the old German style. The most noteworthy of its public buildings is the handsome Protestant Church, begun in the 14th century and finished in 1520, in the Gothic style, containing a beautiful cup-shaped font, cast by Meister Leonhardus in 1438, and a large mural painting of the Crucifixion by Johannes von Rosenau (1445). In the so-called New Church, comprising the west part of the whole building, which is an addition of the 16th century, are many beautiful memorials of Saxon notables. Other buildings are: the Roman Catholic parish church, founded in 1726; the church of the Ursuline nuns, built in 1474; the town hall, an imposing building of the 15th century, purchased by the municipality in 1545 and containing the archives of the “Saxon nation.” The Brukenthal palace, built in 1777–1787 by Baron Samuel von Brukenthal (1721–1805), governor of Transylvania, contains an interesting picture-gallery with good examples of the Dutch school, and a library. The museum contains a natural history section with the complete fauna and flora of Transylvania, and a rich ethnographical section. Nagyszeben has a law academy, a seminary for Greek Orthodox priests, a military academy and several secondary schools. There are manufactures of cloth, linen, leather, caps, boots, soap, candles, ropes, as well as breweries and distilleries.

The German name of the town is traceable to Hermann, a citizen of Nuremberg, who about the middle of the 12th century established a colony on the spot. In the 13th century it bore the name of Villa Hermanni. Under the last monarchs of the native Magyar' dynasty Hermannstadt enjoyed exceptional privileges, and its commerce with the East rose to importance. In the course of the 15th and 16th centuries it was several times besieged by the Turks. At the beginning of 1849 it was the scene of several engagements between the Austrians and Hungarians; and later in the year it was several times taken and retaken by the Russians and Hungarians.

NAGYSZOMBAT (Ger. Tyrnau), a town of Hungary, in the county of Pozsony, 115 m. N.W. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900) 12,422. It is situated on the Trnava, and has played an important role in the ecclesiastical history of Hungary. It gained prominence after 1543, when the archbishop of Esztergom and primate of Hungary made it his residence after the capture of Esztergom by the Turks. In consequence numerous churches and convents were built, and the town acquired the title of “Little Rome.” It possesses a Roman Catholic seminary for priests, and was the seat of a university founded in 1635, which was transferred to Budapest in 1777. In 1820 the archbishop’s residence was again removed to Esztergom. It has an active trade in cereals and cattle.

NAGY-VÁRAD (Ger. Grosswardein), a town of Hungary, capital of the county of Bihar, 153 m. E.S.E. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900) 47,018. It is situated in a plain on both banks of the river Sebeskörös, and is the seat of a Roman Catholic