inces between the mouths of the Danube and the Cau- Tuscany, the ancient seat of the Etruscans, belonged Tyre, a city of great antiquity, suffered destruction at an early period; rebuilt under Nimus; taken by Nebuchadnezzar after a siege of thirteen years; it became subject to the Romans, B. C. 64. Varangians, The, were the Norse vikings, who, in "Vaticanus Mons" is a hill at Rome, chiefly noted Valencia, conquered by the Moors under Abdallah Vendome Column, The, in Paris was erected by Napoleon I. 1806, in the Place Vendôme, to commemorate his successful campaign in Germany; pulled down by the Communists 1871, but restored by the National Aswith a statue of Napoleon I. at the top. sembly, 1874. It is one hundred and thirty-two feet high, Venice.-Originally inhabitated by the Veneti; conislands on which the city now stands began to be inquered by the Gauls and made a kingdom about B. C. 356; conquered for the Romans by Marcellus, 221. The habited by Italians about 421; its university founded, 1592. Vesuvius, eruptions of, A. D. 79, 203, 272; ejected flames that were seen at Constantinople; obscured the sun at noonday, and ravaged all Campania; was in an active state of eruption upward of 35 times, between the years 472 and the present. Vienna, the capital of Austria-Hungary, was originally Vindobona of Upper Pannonia; afterwards capital of the east provinces of the empire of Charlemagne; besieged by the Turks in 1529, and again in 1683; the French took it in 1806 and in 1809; the Congress of Vienna, which fixed for a time the limits of the countries Vikings, The, were the piratical Northmen who inof Europe, was held here November, 1814, to June, 1815. fested the coasts of the British Islands and of France in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. This word is quite unconnected with "king," being derived from the Scandinavian vik, "a bay" (the same which appears in the names Lerwick, Berwick, etc.), and this class of marauders were so called because their ships put off from the bays and fiords. Visigoths, The, or Western Goths, were the descendants of that branch of the Gothic race established by Aurelian in Dacia (270). The descendants of the other branch of the race, which remained in Southern Russia, were called Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths). On the death of Theodosius, the Visigoths, under Alaric, overran Greece (396) and Italy (400). After Alaric's death (410) they established a kingdom at Toulouse (418) which eventually comprised the whole of Gaul south of the Loire and west of the Rhone, as well as Provence and the greater part of Spain. With the defeat (and death) of Alaric II. by Clovis, on the field of Vouglé (or Vouillé or Voclad) near Poitiers (507), the kingdom of Toulouse came to an end, and the Visigoths abandoned to the conqueror all their territories north of the Pyrenees, with the exception of a small tract of country in Gaul, including the cities of Carcassone, Narbonne, and Nîmes. Virginia, first settled at Jamestown by the English, 1607. Ranks first in peanuts; second in tobacco; eighth in salt and iron ore; sixteenth in wealth. Agriculture is the leading industry; tobacco, wheat, corn, and potatoes being the great staples. The mineral resources are vast; the mountains containing rich deposits of coal and iron, valuable marble, slate, and stone quarries with important salt springs. Wales.-The first king was Edwawl, 690; it was conquered and divided by William I., 1091; Griffith, the last king, died 1137; the sovereign from that time forward was the prince; completely conquered and annexed to the crown of England, 1283. Walloons, The, are the inhabitants of the southeastern division of Belgium, their country comprising the provinces of Hainault, Namur, Liége, and Luxemburg; with part of Brabant. The Walloons are Romanized Gauls, lineal representatives of the ancient Belge, distinguished from their Flemish (Teutonic) neighbors by their Romance language, their stronger physique, and their darker complexion. The Walloon language, however, a strongly marked dialect of Northern France (the Langue d'Oil), is now merely a provincial patois, French being the written standard and official language of the whole kingdom. Warsaw, after two days' hard fighting, capitulated and was taken possession of by the Russians, September 7, 1831. Washington ranks eighth in gold, seventeenth in square miles, forty-first in population, forty-second in miles of railway. Population, according to territorial census in 1885, 127,292; United States Census, 1890,349,390. First settlement, by Americans, at Astoria, 1811. Organized as a territory, 1853. Admitted to the Union, 1889. Wat Tyler's insurrection occurred November 5, 1380, a peasant's revolt, immediately due to the imposition of a poll-tax on all persons above fifteen. Almost the whole of the peasantry of the southern and eastern counties of England rose in arms, murdering and plundering, under the leadership of Wat Tyler, said to have been a soldier in the French wars. On June 12, 1381, they gathered on Blackheath. On June 14, Richard II., then a lad of fifteen, met the Essex contingent at Mile HISTORIC TREATIES. 843. Contract of Verdun. This treaty concluded the war between Lothar, Louis the German, and Charles the Bald, over their respective shares of the imperial dominions on the death of their father. Louis the Pious. 911. Treaty of St.-Clair-sur-Epte: concluded the war between the invading Norsemen under Rollo and the French king, Charles the Simple. 1122. Concordat of Worms: an agreement between the emperor and the pope, closing the long strife known as the war of investitures. 1183. Treaty of Constance: between the emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, and the Lombard cities. 1360. Peace of Bretigny : a treaty that interrupted the Hundred Years' war between France and England. 1397. Union of Calmar: the treaty by which Denmark, Sweden, and Norway were united under Queen Margaret of Denmark. 1420. Treaty of Troyes: interrupted the Hundred Years' war on terms most favorable to England. 1435. Treaty of Arras: a compact between Burgundy and France. f 1 End, and, promising the abolition of villenage, induced them to return home. On June 15, he met the Kentish men at Smithfield, and in the parley Wat Tyler was killed by William Walworth, mayor of London, and others. The peasants were about to avenge his death, when Richard, with great presence of mind, rode forward alone, and induced them to follow him to Islington, when, a body of troops coming to the king's aid, and Richard being profuse of promises, they dispersed. Waterloo, Battle of, in which Napoleon with 69,000 men attacked a combined army of 89,000 English, Dutch, Belgian, and Hanoverian troops; a dreadful slaughter continued until four o'clock, when two Prussian corps of 30,000 and 40,000, under Bulow and Blucher, successively arrived, and, turning his right wing, the whole army fled in confusion at half past nine o'clock, June 18, 1815. West Virginia.-The first settlers were English, Wheeling, 1774. Agriculture is the leading industry, and the principal staples are tobacco, wheat, and corn. The mountain pastures are well adapted to stock raising. Its mineral resources are rich deposits of coal, iron, and numerous oil wells, and salt springs. Westminster Abbey, built by Sebert, king of Essex, on the spot where the Temple of Apollo had once stood; its monastery, consecrated by Edward the Confessor, 1065; rebuilt and consecrated, 1269; turned into a collegiate church, 1560. Wills are of a very high antiquity; Solon introduced them at Athens; there are many regulations respecting wills in the Koran; the Roman had this power; so had the native Mexican, so that it prevailed at least in three parts of the globe; lands were devisable by will before the conquest; privilege of making wills granted by Henry I. in 1100. French, Green Bay, 1660. Admitted to the Union, 1848. Wisconsin (Badger State).- First settlement, by the fourth in rye and buckwheat, fifth in oats and agricul Ranks second in hops, third in barley and potatoes, tural implements, seventh in iron, steel, and wool, eighth in hay and milch cows, ninth in copper, tenth in wealth, eleventh in miles of railway, sixteenth in population, and twenty-third in square miles. The chief industry is ley, hay, potatoes, and hops, as the staple productions. agriculture, with large crops of corn, wheat, oats, barLive stock is largely raised. In the production of wool and cheese it is among the leading states. The manufacturing interests are large and increasing. The great pine forests in abundance, and the most valuable timber, lead, iron, zinc, and marble mines are extensively worked. Lakes Michigan and Superior, and the Mississippi, afford great natural highways for commerce. Witchcraft.-Six hundred condemned as wizards, and most of them burned in France, 1609; Grandier, parish priest of Loudan, burned on the supposition of having bewitched a whole convent of nuns, 1634; nine old women were burned at Kalish, in Poland, charged with having bewitched and rendered unfruitful the lands belonging to a gentleman in that palatinate; the last punished in England for witchcraft, was October 29, 1808. Wyoming.-Ranks ninth in square miles, twelfth in cattle, fourteenth in gold, sixteenth in coal, forty-fourth in miles of railway, forty-sixth in population. First settlement, by Americans, 1867. Organized as a territory, 1868. Admitted to the Union in 1890. F 1466. Treaty of Thorn: settled the terms of the Polish conquest of West Prussia. 1482. Treaty of Arras: settled the dispute between Louis XI. of France, and Maximilian of Austria. 1493. Bull of Pope Alexander VI.: arranged the conflicting claims of Spain and Portugal to newly discov ered lands. 1508. League of Cambray: a union formed by Louis XII. of France and the Emperor Maximilian, which the pope and others were invited to join. 1526. Treaty of Madrid: formed between Charles V. of Germany and Francis I. of France. 1529. Treaty of Cambray: between Francis I. and Charles V. 1544. Treaty of Crespy: concluded the fourth and last war between Francis I. and Charles V. 1579. Union of Utrecht: laid the foundations of the Dutch Republic. 1648. Peace of Westphalia: concluded the Thirty Years' War. 1659. Peace of the Pyrenees: closed the long war between France and Spain. 1660. Treaty of Copenhagen: between Denmark and Sweden. 1667. Treaty of Breda: between England and Holland. 1668. Triple Alliance: between England, Holland, and Sweden to defend Spain against Louis XIV. 1668. Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle: between France and Spain. 1668. Treaty of Lisbon: between Spain and Portugal through the mediation of England. 1678. Peace of Nymwegen: ended the Dutch war. 1697. Peace of Ryswick closed the war between France under Louis XIV. and the principal states of Europe- called the War of the Palatinate. 1699. Peace of Carlowitz: between Turkey on the one hand and the Emperor of Germany, the King of Poland, and the republic of Venice on the other. 1713-14. Treaties of Utrecht, Rastadt, and Baden: concluded between the states taking part in the war of the Spanish succession. 1717. Triple Alliance: between Great Britain, France, and Holland. 1718-19. Quadruple Alliance: between Great Britain, France, Holland, and the emperor against the aggressions of Spain. 1718. Peace of Passarowitz: between the sultan and emperor. 1721. Peace of Nystadt: between Sweden and Russia. 1738. Treaty of Vienna: between France and Germany. 1742. Peace of Breslau: between Frederick II. of Prussia and Maria Theresa of Austria. 1748. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle: between Great Britain, France, and Holland; Austria, Spain, Sardinia, Genoa, and Modena being accessories. 1761. The Family Compact: between the Bourbon rulers of France and Spain. 1763. Peace of Paris: terminated the Seven Years' war, known in United States history as the French and Indian war. 1772. First Partition of Poland: executed by Russia, Austria, and Prussia. 1774. Peace of Kutchuk-Kainardji: between Russia and Turkey. 1783. Treaty of Paris: in which Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the North American colonies. 1783. Treaty of Versailles: between Great Britain, France, and Spain. 1792. First Coalition against France: involved all the powers except Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Tuscany, Venice, and Genoa. 1795. Peace of Basel: between France and Prussia. 1795. Jay Treaty: between the United States and Great Britain. 1797. Treaty of Tolentino: between the French republic and the pope. 1797. Treaty of Campo Formio: between Napoleon and the emperor of Germany. 1798. Second Coalition against France: initiated by Russia; afterward comprised England, Austria, Naples, Portugal, and Turkey. 1802. Peace of Amiens: between Great Britain on the one hand, and France, Spain, and the Batavian republic on the other. 1803. Treaty between France and the United States: touching the purchase of Louisiana. 1805. Peace of Pressburg: between Austria and France. 1807. Treaties of Tilsit: concluded between France, Prussia, and Russia. 1809. Treaty of Schönbrunn: between France and Austria. 1814. First Peace of Paris: between France and the principal European powers; after the defeat of Napoleon at Leipzig. 1814. Treaty of Ghent : between the United States and Great Britain. 1815. Congress of Vienna: attended by the principal European powers. 1815. Second Peace of Paris: between France and the allies after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. 1815. Holy Alliance: forined at Paris between the monarchs of Russia, Austria, and Prussia. 1818. Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle: participated in by Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, and France. 1827. Treaty of London: between Great Britain, Russia, and France, to put an end to the war between Turkey and Greece. 1829. Treaty of Adrianople: between Russia and Turkey. 1840. Quadruple Treaty of London: between Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia on the one hand and Turkey on the other, touching Mehemet Ali of Egypt. 1842. Treaty of Nanking: concluded the so-called opium war between Great Britain and China. 1842. Ashburton Treaty: signed at Washington to define the northeastern boundary between the United States and British North America. 1848. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: between the United States and Mexico. 1854. Treaty between the United States and Japan: negotiated by Commodore Perry. 1856. Treaty of Paris: after the Crimean war. 1858. Treaties of Tientsin: between China and each of the four nations, Great Britain, France, Russia, and United States. 1859. Peace of Zurich; settled the dispute between France and Sardinia on the one hand and Austria on the other. 1864. Peace of Vienna: concluded the war between Austria, Prussia, and Denmark, growing out of the Schleswig-Holstein question. 1865. Convention of Gastein: a compact between Prussia and Austria. 1866. Peace of Prague: concluded the war between Prussia and Austria. 1871. Treaty of Frankfort: between France and Germany. 1871. Treaty of Washington: to adjust the Alabama claims. 1878. Treaty of San Stefano supplemented by the Congress of Berlin: closed the Russo-Turkish war. 1879. Triple Alliance: between Austria, Germany, and Italy. 1895. Treaty of Shimonoseki: concluded the war between China and Japan. 1898. Treaty of Paris: concluded the Spanish-Ameri can war. |