(8549), Tenejapa (7036), San Antonio (6715), Cintalape (6455), La Concordia (6291), San Carlos (5977), and Ococingo (5667).
CHIAROSCURO (from the Ital. chiaro, light or brightness, and oscuro, darkness or shade), the disposition of light and shade in a painting; the term is applied to an early method of printing wood-engravings from several blocks, and also to a picture in black and white, or brown and white only.
CHIAVARI, a town of Liguria, Italy, in the province of Genoa, 24 m. S.E. by rail from the town of Genoa. Pop. (1901) 10,397 (town), 12,689 (commune). It is situated near the mouth of the Entella, in the centre of a fertile plain surrounded by mountains except on the S.W., where it comes down to the sea. Its buildings are mostly modern, but it has a ruined castle of 1147. It has an active trade in agricultural products, and manufactures lace, light wicker-seated bentwood chairs, silk, &c.
CHIAVENNA (anc. Clavenna), a town of Lombardy, Italy, in the province of Sondrio, 17 m. by rail N. of Colico which lies at the N. end of the lake of Como. Pop. (1901) town 3140, commune 4732. It is well situated on the right bank of the Mera, at the mouth of the Val Bregaglia, through which the road to the Maloja Pass and the Engadine runs to the east. This line was partly followed by a Roman road, which at Casaccia, just below the last ascent to the Maloja Pass, diverged to the N. by the Septimer Pass, joining the Julier route to Coire (anc. Curia) at Stalla. The Splügen route, which was also used by the Romans, runs N. from Chiavenna to Coire: the modern road was constructed by the Austrians in 1819–1821. Chiavenna is crowned by a ruined castle, once an important strategic point, and the seat of the counts who ruled the valley from the time of the Goths till 1194, when the district was handed over to the bishops of Coire. In the 14th century the Visconti, having become masters of the Valtellina, bought the “county” (contado or contea) of Chiavenna from the bishop of Coire; but it was taken by the canton of the Grisons in 1525, and the castle dismantled. In 1797 Chiavenna became part of the Cisalpine republic, and thenceforward followed the fortunes of Lombardy. The church of S. Lorenzo is baroque in style, but its baptistery contains a font of 1206 with reliefs. Chiavenna has cotton factories and breweries, and is a depot for the wine of the district.
CHIBOUQUE, or Chibouk (the Fr. form of the Turk, chibūk, literally a stick), a long pipe, often ornamented with precious stones, smoked by the Turks.
CHIC (a French word, either a shortened form of chicane, or derived from the Ger. Schick, tact or skill), a term properly used, in French artistic slang, of a work of art possessing brilliant but superficial technical ability, or of one executed without reference to a model or study of nature. The use of the word in French dates from the reign of Louis XIV. and then denoted a lawyer who was master of “chicane.” “Chic,” in general use, now connotes “smartness,” in dress, speech, &c.
CHICACOLE, a town of British India in the Ganjam district of Madras, situated on the right bank of the river Languliya, here crossed by a bridge, 4 m. from the sea. Pop. (1901) 18,196. Under Mahommedan rule it was the capital of one of the Northern Circars, and afterwards of a British district. Several old mosques remain. The town was famous for its muslins, but the industry is now decayed. The roadstead and lighthouse of Calingapatam are about 16 m. to the north, and the East Coast railway has a station 9 m. inland.
CHICAGO, a city, a port of entry and the county-seat of Cook
county, Illinois, U.S.A., the second city of the United States in
population, commerce and manufactures; pop. (1900) 1,698,575;
and (1910) 2,185,283. It is situated at the south-west corner
of Lake Michigan (lat. 41° 50′, long. 87° 38′ W.), about
913 m. distant by railway from New York, 912 m. from New
Orleans, 2265 m. from Los Angeles, and 2330 m. from Seattle.
The climate is very changeable and is much affected by the
lake; changes of more than thirty degrees in temperature
within 24 hours are not at all rare, and changes of twenty are
common. The city is the greatest railway centre of the United
States, and was for several decades practically the only commercial
outlet of the great agricultural region of the northern Missis-
sippi Valley. Trunk lines reach E. to Montreal, Boston, New
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore (the nearest point on the Atlantic
coast, 854 m.); S. to Charleston, Savannah, Florida, Mobile,
New Orleans, Port Arthur and Galveston; W. to the Pacific
at Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver, and to
most of these by a variety of routes. In 1905 about 14% of
the world's railway mileage centred in Chicago.
With its suburbs Chicago stretches along the shore of Lake Michigan about 40 m. (the city proper 26.5), and the city in 1910 had a total area of 191.4 sq. m.[1] It spreads loosely and irregularly backward from the lake over a shallow alluvial basin, which is rimmed to the W. by a low moraine water-parting[2] that separates the drainage of the lake from that of the Mississippi Valley. The city site has been built up out of the “Lake Chicago” of glacial times, which exceeded in size Lake Michigan. Three lakes—Calumet, 3122 acres; Hyde; and part of Wolf—with a water-surface of some 4100 acres, lie within the municipal limits. The original elevation of what is now the business heart of the city was only about 7 ft. above the lake, but the level was greatly raised—in some places more than 10 ft.—over a large area, between 1855 and 1860. The West Side, especially in the north-west near Humboldt Park, is much higher (extreme 75 ft.). A narrow inlet from the lake, the Chicago river, runs W. from its shore about a mile, dividing then into a north and a south branch, which run respectively to the N.W. and the S.W., thus cutting the city into three divisions known as the North, the West and the South “Sides,” which are united by three car-tunnels beneath the river as well as by the bridges across it.[3] The river no longer empties into Lake Michigan since the completion of the drainage canal. Its commercial importance is very great: indeed it is probably the most important non-tidal stream of its length in the world, or if it be regarded as a harbour, one of the greatest; the tonnage of its yearly commerce far exceeds that of the Suez Canal and almost equals the tonnage of the foreign trade (the domestic excluded) of the Thames or the Mersey. The increase in size of the newer freighters that ply on the Great Lakes[4] has proved one serious difficulty, and the bridges and the river tunnels, which hinder the deeper cutting of the channel, are others. The improvement of the outer harbour by the national government was begun in 1833. Great breakwaters protect the river mouth from the silting shore currents of the lake and afford secure shelter in an outer roadstead from its storms, and there is a smaller inner-basin (about 450 acres, 16 ft. depth) as well. But the river itself which has about 15 m. of navigable channel, in part lined with docks, is the most important part of the harbour. Its channel has been repeatedly deepened, and in recent years—especially since 1896, after its control as a navigable stream passed (1890) to the federal government—widened and straightened by the removal of jutting building constructions along its shores. Grain elevators of enormous size, coal yards, lumber yards and grimy warehouses or factories crowd close upon it. The shipping facilities on the river are not so good in some ways, however, as on the Calumet in southeastern (or South) Chicago, whither there has been a strong movement of manufactures and heavy commerce.
The plan of the city is in general “regular” i.e. rigidly rectangular, and the streets are in general wide. The evenness of the plain has saved Chicago from most of the vast expense incurred by some American cities (notably Boston and San Francisco) in the extension or levelling of their sites and the removal of obstructions unfavourable to their development. The business district is concentrated in a small area of the South Side, just below the main river and between the south branch and the lake. A number of the railway terminals, almost all the great wholesale and retail houses, the leading hotels and
- ↑ In 1889 the total area (land and water) was increased from 43.8 to 169.9 sq. m.; in 1890 the land area was 163.49 sq. m.
- ↑ About 15 ft. in elevation; hence the possibility of the drainage canal.
- ↑ Among the last are many swing and “jack-knife” bridges, bascules, and a lift-bridge that can be lifted bodily 155 ft. above the channel. Steam, compressed air and electricity are used as power.
- ↑ By 1900 almost all were being built of a length exceeding 400 ft.
