Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

SOIL

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 345 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

SOIL ,' the See also:

term generally applied to that See also:part of the See also:earth's ' This word comes through O. Fr. soil from a See also:Late Latin usage of solea for soil or ground, which in classic See also:Lat. meant the See also:sole of the See also:foot, also a See also:sandal. This was duetoa confusion with solum, ground; whence Fr. sol. Both solea and solum are, of course, from the same See also:root. To be distinguished from this word is " soil, to make dirty, to stain, See also:defile. The origin is the O. Fr. soil or souil, the miry wallowing ground of a See also:wild See also:boar, whence the See also:hunting phrase " to take soil," of a beast of the See also:chase taking to See also:water or marshy ground. The derivation is therefore from Lat. soillus, pertaining tq See also:mausoleum contains the remains of See also:Prince See also:Alexander; there are monuments to the See also:tsar Alexander II., to See also:Russia, to the medical See also:officers who See also:fell in the See also:war of 1877 and to the patriot Levsky. A public See also:park has been laid out in the eastern suburbs. The See also:city is well drained and possesses a See also:good water See also:supply; it is lighted by See also:electricity and has an electric See also:car See also:system. It contains breweries, tanneries, See also:sugar, See also:tobacco, See also:cloth, and See also:silk factories, and exports skins, cloth, cocoons, cereals, See also:attar of See also:roses, dried See also:fruit, &c. See also:Sofia forms the centre of a railway system radiating to See also:Constantinople (300 m.), See also:Belgrade (206 m.) and central See also:Europe, See also:Varna, See also:Rustchuk and the See also:Danube, and See also:Kiustendil near the Macedonian frontier.

The See also:

climate is heaithy; owing to the elevated situation it is somewhat See also:cold, and is liable to sudden diurnal and seasonal changes; the temperature in See also:January sometimes falls to 40 F. below zero and in See also:August rises to 100°. The See also:population, of which more than two-thirds are Bulgarians, and about one-See also:sixth See also:Spanish See also:Jews, was 20,501 in 1881, 30,428 in 1888, 46,593 in 1893 and 82,187 in 1907. See also:History.—The See also:colony of Serdica, founded here by the See also:emperor See also:Trajan, became a See also:Roman provincial See also:town of considerable importance in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D., and was a favourite See also:residence of See also:Constantine the See also:Great. Serdica was burnt by the See also:Huns in A.D. 449; few traces remain of the Roman city, but more than one See also:hundred types of its coins attest its importance. The town was taken by the Bulgarians under Krum in A.D. 809; the name Serdica was converted into Sredetz by the Slays, who associated it with sreda (See also:middle), and the See also:Slavonic See also:form subsequently became the See also:Byzantine Triaditza. The name Sofia, which came into use towards the end of the ,4th See also:century is derived from the See also:early See also:medieval See also:church of St See also:Sophia, the massive ruins of which stand on an See also:eminence to the See also:east of the town. The church, which was converted into a See also:mosque by the See also:Turks, was partly destroyed by earthquakes in ,818 and 1858. The town successfully resisted the attacks of the emperor See also:Basil II. in 987; between 1018 and 1186, under Byzantine See also:rule, it served as a frontier fortress. During this See also:period a number of prisoners of the Petcheneg tribe were settled in the neighbourhood, in all See also:probability the ancestors of the See also:Shop tribe which now inhabits the surrounding districts. In 1382 Sofia was captured by the Turks; in 1443 it was for a brief See also:time occupied by the Hungarians under See also:John Hunyady.

Under See also:

Turkish rule the city was for nearly four centuries the residence of the beylerbey or See also:governor-See also:general of the whole See also:Balkan See also:Peninsula except Bosnia and the Morea. During this period the population increased and became mainly Turkish; in 1553 the towr, possessed eleven large and one hundred small mosques. In the latter See also:half of the 15th century Sofia, owing to its situation at the junction of several See also:trade routes, became an important centre of Ragusan See also:commerce. During the Turco-See also:Russian See also:campaign of 1829 it was the headquarters of Mustafa See also:Pasha of Skodra, and was occupied by the Russians for a few days. On the 4th of January 1878 a Russian See also:army again entered Sofia after the passage of the'Balkans by See also:Gourko; the bulk of the Turkish population had previously taken See also:flight. Though less central than See also:Philippopolis and less renowned in Bulgarian history than. See also:Trnovo, Sofia as selected as the See also:capital of the newly-created Bulgarian See also:state in view of its strategical position, which commands the routes to Constantinople, Belgrade, See also:Macedonia and the Danube. (J. D.

End of Article: SOIL

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
SOIGNIES (or SOIGNES, the Walloon form) 		[next]
SOISSONS

Site © 2006 - Net Industries