000,000. The red ores, found in enormous quantities in the region, make an excellent quality of steel, and the annual output is now very considerable, giving employment to many thousand hands. Seven railroads center here and fine buildings are going up. Krupp, the iron king of Germany, is reported to have said that “if fate should drive him from Germany, he would go to Birmingham, Alabama.” The city has fine schools and churches, including among its public buildings a handsome courthouse, a $200,000 high school building and many other fine civic institutions. Near by, at East Lake, is Howard College, a Baptist institution, and three miles west of the city is Birmingham College, the Methodist institution of the state. Electric trains give access to the city's growing suburbs, which have a combined population greater than the city; it also has an excellent system of water-works. The population (1910) is 132,685, while in 1880 it was only a little over 3,800.
Bir′mingham, an English manufacturing city in Warwickshire, famed for its metal works, is situated near the center of England. From an early period it has made all kinds of metallic articles. The chief variety is the brass-working trade, in which 10,000 people are engaged. The next in importance is the manufacture of jewelry, gold, silver and gilt; then come small arms of all sorts. Other specialties are buttons, hooks and eyes, pins, screws, nails, steel pens, electric-plating and bell making. About 20,000,000 steel pens are made every week, and Birmingham has the monopoly of the screw trade in England. There are a large number of fine buildings, such as the City Hall, where musical festivals are held every three years, and great political gatherings, for which the place is famous. Mason and Queen's Colleges are situated here, together with several art galleries and libraries. A large number of fine statues adorn the place, among them those of Lord Nelson and Sir Robert Peel. The famous Soho works, founded by Watt and Boulton, where the first engines were made, are near Birmingham. The city is divided into seven districts, each of which returns a member to Parliament. The population, 570,113.
Bisbee, a city in Cochise County, Arizona, about thirty miles from Tombstone, is situated in a cañon of the Mule-Pass Mountains, and is a substantially built modern city. Among its noteworthy buildings are the Y. M. C. A., the public library and Central School. Bisbee has an admirable public-school system and several fine churches. Its copper mines are among the richest in the world, and the two of greatest importance are known as the Calumet and Arizona and the Copper Queen. The city has electric light, waterworks and an electric street-car system; also the service of the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad, by which it is connected (at Benson) with the Southern Pacific. Bisbee, inclusive of its suburbs, has a population of 9,019.
Biscay (bĭs′kắ) Bay of, an eastern arm of the Atlantic, extending from Ushant Island to Cape Ortegal, and flanked on the east by France and on the south by Spain. It is about 350 miles long by 300 miles in width. Violent circular currents, as well as storms, make the navigation difficult. The Spanish coast is rocky, but the French coast is low and sandy. The depth varies from 20 to 200 fathoms. The principal ports on the French coast are Bayonne, Bordeaux, Nantes, Rochefort, La Rochelle and Brest; those on the Spanish coast are Santander, San Sebastian and Bilboa. The Rivers Loire and Garonne flow into the bay.
Bismarck (bĭs′märk) Archipelago, is made up of what was formerly called the New Britain Archipelago, the Admiralty Islands and several other groups lying to the north and east of Kaiser Wilhelm's Land or German New Guinea. The white population in 1909 was 474, of whom 364 were Germans. The imports in 1910 amounted to 2,914,792 marks; the exports to 3,224,027, chiefly copra, with some cotton, coffee and kapok, a sort of cotton. About 170,000 acres are under cultivation.
Bismarck, N. Dakota, since 1889 capital of the state, on the Missouri River. Four federal buildings are located here—an Indian school an army post, a weather bureau and a modern building containing the new post office, the land office and the federal courts. The state buildings are the capitol and the penitentiary. The city has good grammar schools, a model high school, ample fire and police protection, good sewerage and well lighted streets. Sixteen wholesale houses have their home offices or branches here and there are three excellent banking institutions. It has the service of two railroads. The site of the town was visited by the explorers, Lewis and Clarke, but it was not until after 1875 that it was incorporated. Population, 5,443.
Bismarck, Otto Edouard Leopold von, Prince, one of the greatest of modern statesmen, was born at Schönhausen, in Brandenburg, April 1, 1815, of an old and distinguished family. Educated at Göttingen, Berlin and Greifswald, he lived for awhile on his estates; but in 1847 entered politics as a member of the first Prussian parliament, where he sided with the conservatives. From that time forward he was the great champion of a united Germany, with Prussia at its head. He was sent as minister to St. Petersburg and Paris; and in 1862 was appointed minister of foreign affairs and prime minister. His policy was strongly opposed by the liberals, and for awhile he became very unpopular. At this time the
