Chapter 18

except in the central valley of the Maritza, and along the banks of its tributaries, the Tunja, Arda, Ergene, &c. On the west, the great Rhodope range and its outlying ridges extend as far as the Maritza, and attain an altitude of more than 7000 ft. in the summits of the Kushlar Dagh, Karluk Dagh and the Balkan. Towards the Black Sea, the less elevated Istranja Dagh stretches from north-west to south-east; and the entire south coast, which includes the promontory of Gallipoli and the western shore of the Dardanelles, is everywhere hilly or mountainous, except near the estuaries of the Maritza, and of the Mesta, a western frontier stream. The climate is mild and the soil fertile; but political disturbances and the conservative character of the people tend to thwart the progress of agriculture and other industries. The vilayet suffered severely during the Russian occupation of 1878, when, apart from the natural dislocation of commerce, many of the Moslem cultivators emigrated to Asia Minor, to be free from their alien rulers. Through the resultant scarcity of labour, much land fell out of cultivation. This was partially remedied after the Bulgarian annexation of Eastern Rumella, in 1885, had driven the Moslems of that country to emigrate in like manner to Adrianople; but the advantage was counterbalanced by the establishment of hostile Bulgarian tariffs. The important silk industry, however, began to revive about 1890, and dairy farming is prosperous; but the condition of the vilayet is far less unsettled than that of Macedonia, owing partly to the preponderance of Moslems among the peasantry, and partly to the nearness of Constantinople, with its Western influences. The main railway from Belgrade to Constantinople skirts the Maritza and Ergene valleys, and there is an important branch line down the Maritza valley to Dedeagatch, and thence coastwise to Salonica. After the city of Adrianople (pop. 1905, about 80,000), which is the capital, the principal towns are Rodosto (35,000), Gallipoli (25,000), Kirk-Kilisseh (16,000), Xanthi (14,000), Chorlu (11,500), Demotica (10,000), Enos (8000), Gumuljina (8000) and Dedeagatch (3000).

ADRIANOPLE (anc. Hadrianopolis; Turk. Edirne, or Edreneh; Slav. Odrin), the capital of the vilayet of Adrianople, Turkey in Europe; 137 m. by rail W.N.W. of Constantinople. Pop. (1905) about 80,000, of whom half are Turks, and half Jews, Greeks, Bulgars, Armenians, &c. Adrianople ranks, after Constantinople and Salonica, third in size and importance among the cities of European Turkey. It is the see of a Greek archbishop, and of one Armenian and two Bulgarian bishops. It is the chief fortress near the Bulgarian frontier, being defended by a ring of powerful modern forts. It occupies both banks of the river Tunja, at its confluence with the Maritza, which is navigable to this point in spring and winter. The nearest seaport by rail is Dedeagatch, west of the Maritza; Enos, at the river-mouth, is the nearest by water. Adrianople is on the railway from Belgrade and Sofia to Constantinople and Salonica. In appearance it is thoroughly Oriental--a mass of mean, irregular wooden buildings, threaded by narrow tortuous streets, . with a few better buildings. Of these the most important are the Idadieh school, the school of arts and crafts, the Jewish communal school; the Greek college, Zappeion; the Imperial Ottoman Bank and Tobacco Regie; a fire-tower; a theatre; palaces for the prefect of the city, the administrative staff of the second army corps and the defence works commission; a handsome row of barracks; a military hospital; and a French hospital. Of earlier buildings, the most distinguished are the Eski Serai, an ancient and half-ruined palace of the sultans; the bazaar of Ali Pasha; and the 16th-century mosque of the sultan Selim II., a magnificent specimen of Turkish architecture. Adrianople has five suburbs, of which Kiretchhane and Yilderim are on the left bank of the Maritza, and Kirjikstands on a hill overlooking the city. The two last named are exclusively Greek, but a large proportion of the inhabitants of Kiretchhane are Bulgarian. These three suburbs---as well as the little hamlet of Demirtash, containing about 300 houses all occupied by Bulgars---are all built in the native fashion; but the fifth suburb, Karagatch, which is on the right bank of the Maritza, and occupies the region between the railway station and the city, is Western in its design, consisting of detached residences in gardens, many of them handsome villas, and all of modern European type. In all the communities schools have multiplied, but the new seminaries are of the old non-progressive type. The only exception is the Hamidieh school for boys---a government institution which takes both boarders and day-scholars. Like the Lyceum of Galata Serai in Constantinople, it has two sets of professors, Turkish and French, and a full course of education in each language, the pupils following both courses. The several communities have each their own charitable institutions, the Jews being socially well endowed in this respect, The Greeks have a literary society, and there is a well-organized club to which members of all the native communities, as well as many foreigners, belong.

The economic condition of Adrianople was much impaired by the war of 1877-78, and was just showing signs of recovery when, in 1885, the severance from it of Eastern Rumelia by a Customs cordon rendered the situation more than ever. Adrianople had previously been the commercial headquarters of all Thrace, and of a large portion of the region between the Balkans and the Danube, now Bulgaria. But the separation of Eastern Rumeha isolated Adrianople, and transferred to Philippopolis at least two-thirds of its foreign trade which, as regards sea-borne merchandise, is carried on through the port of Burgas (q.v.). The city manufactures silk, leather, tapestry, woollens, linen and cotton, and has an active general trade. Besides fruits and agricultural produce, its exports include raw silk, cotton, opium, rose-water, attar of roses, wax and the dye known as Turkey red. The surrounding country is extremely fertile, and its wines are the best produced in Turkey. The city is supplied with fresh water by means of an aqueduct carried by arches over an extensive valley. There is also a fine stone bridge over the Tunja.

Adrianople was originally known as Uskadama, Uskudama or Uskodama, but was renamed and enlarged by the Roman emperor Hadrian (117-138). In 378 the Romans were here defeated by the Goths. Adrianople was the residence of the Turkish sultans from 1361, when it was captured by Murad I., until 1453, when Constantinople fell. It was occupied by the Russians in 1829 and 1878 (see RUSSO-TURKISH WARS).

ADRIATIC SEA (ancient Adria or Hadria), an arm of the Mediterranean Sea separating Italy from the Austro-Hungarian, Montenegrin and Albanian littorals, and the system of the Apennine mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges. The name, derived from the town of Adria, belonged originally only to the upper portion of the sea (Herodotus vi. 127, vii. 20, ix. 92; Euripides, Hippolytus, 736), but was gradually extended as the Syracusan colonies gained in importance. But even then the Adriatic in the narrower sense only extended as far as the Mons Garganus, the outer portion being called the Ionian Sea: the name was sometimes, however, inaccurately used to include the Gulf of Tarentum, the Sea of Sicily, the Gulf of Corinth and even the sea between Crete and Malta (Acts xxvii. 27). The Adriatic extends N.W. from 40 deg. to 45 deg. 45' N., with an extreme length of nearly 500 m., and a mean breadth of about 110 m., but the Strait of Otranto, through which it connects at the south with the Ionian Sea, is only 45 m. wide. Moreover, the chain of islands which fringes the northern part of the eastern shore reduces the extreme breadth of open sea in this part to 90