Book Description

Excerpt from Supplement to the Imperial Gazetteer: A General Dictionary of Geography, Physical, Political, Statistical and Descriptive Since the time that the publication of the Imperial Gazetteer was completed, very extensive additions have been made to our knowledge of various parts of the world. Africa - Southern, Central, and Eastern - has been opened up greatly by Livingstone, Barth, Richardson, Overweg, Vogel, Baikie, Andersson, Burton, Speke, Grant, Baker, and other travellers. The journeys of the Gregories, Macdouall Stuart, Landsborough, the unfortunate Burke and Wills, M'Kinlay, and others, have changed our ideas regarding the interior of Australia, hitherto supposed to be covered with salt scrub, hard-baked mud, or burning sands, and have shown that immense tracts are suited for the abode of the hardy settler, and capable of grazing countless flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. In Eastern Asia the Russians have augmented our knowledge of the lands bordering the mighty river Amoor; the British and French expeditions to China, and the researches of intrepid travellers, have increased our information regarding the features, the products, and the people of the Middle Kingdom; while in the Arctic regions, new islands, straits, and seas have been added to our maps by the numerous daring explorers who endeavoured to track the course and solve the fate of the lamented Franklin. Much has been done likewise to increase our knowledge of the less known parts of North and South America; and short but sanguinary continental wars have brought about extensive changes in the political geography of Central and Southern Europe. In compiling the Supplement, thus rendered necessary by the progress of discovery, all the valuable works of travel, home and foreign that have appeared in recent years, have been consulted, and also the more important geographical and other periodicals published in this country, and in France, Germany, and America; and considerable additions of noteworthy facts have been obtained through the kindness of private correspondents. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.