SICILY, I

tal. isl., largest in Med i from 8.W. extremity of Ital. mainland, from which it is separated by the deep, narrow Strait of Me ina; 80 m. from African coast; 180 m. long, 120 wide; triangular in shape, hence old name Trinacria; at N.E. corner is Cape nus). See Map Iratry. Surfaces is mountainous; most of island over 500 ft. above sea-level. Steep mountains (attaining a height of over 6,000 ft.) continue Appennine range along N. coast, which faces Tyrrhenian Sea; highest point, Etna, 11,870 ft.; other volcanoes are extinct, dormant, or incipient. Good harbors are provided by bays and headlands on N. but not on 8, coast. The rivers are unimportant, mostly Intermittent. Summer is hot and dry, winter mild and rainy; rainfall, c. 30 in. Sicily suffers from earthquakes, eruptions, sirocco in summer, and malaria in. Pe he flora is rich; chief crop is wheat; fruit_trees and olives, especially on N. and HE. coasts, vines mainly in W.; soil fertile, but agricultural methods backward; trees scarce, only 4 per cent. of island forested; principal exports, oranges and citrous fruits, almonds, nuts, wine (Marsala, etc.), preserved vegetables, sulphur (from Girgenti, etc.), salt, silk, tunny, and sardines, sumach for dyeing. The earliest recorded inhabitants were came Greeks, 8th cent. B.C.; Eubceans founded Naxos, 735 B.C.; Corinthians, Syracuse, 734 B.C. Tyrants arose. Phalaris made Akragas (Roman Agrigentum, modern Girgenti) supreme in Sicily, c. 560 B.C.; cities combined to withstand Cart hag in i an inroads in 5th cent. B.C.; Gelon of Gela became ruler of Syracuse, and defeated Cart hag in i ans at Himera, 480 B.C.; Syracuse became chief city of Sicily; great A then i an expedition against Syracuse, 415-413 B.C. defeated with Lacedzemonian aid. Dionysius I. made Syracuse leading European city, 405-367 B.C.; waged long war against the Cart hag in i ans, who secured footing in island; republic restored by Timoleon, and overthrown again by Agathocles, who continued Cart hag in i an war. Sicily was battleground of Romans and Cart hag in i ans during first Punic War, 264-241 B.C., and consequently fell under Roman power; rebellious Syracuse taken by Mar cell us, 212 B.O.; slaves’ revolt ruthle ly crushed, 135-132 Cicero, island further declined; pirate régime'ended by Oct avian us, 36 B.C. In the 5th cent. A.D. Sicily came under the Vandals and Goths; recovered by Belisarius, 536. With conquest of island by Saracens in 9th cent., N. coast replaced E. as predominant region; Saracens overcome by Normans under the Guiscards, 1060-90; prosperity was restored—all customs, creeds, legal systems, languages being tolerated under Normans. United Sicily thus became great European power; after 1130, Naples and Sicily were subject to same king; Charles of Anjou conquered Sicily and Naples, 1266; his misrule avenged by ‘Sicilian Vespers’ March 30, 1282, all French being ma acred, and Pedro of Anjou made king. Ferdinand the CathOlic, 1479-1515, seized Naples, Continental Sicily, and became King of the ‘Two Sicilies.’ Span. greed and intolerance impoverished Sicily; Duke of Savoy made king, 1713, but exchanged it to Austria for Sardinia, 1720; Charles III., King of Spain’s son, became King of the Two Sicilies, 1735; disastrous earthquakes (1693,1783). In 1806 French took Naples, but Britain protected Sicily; Ferdinand I restored as king of the two Sicilies, 1815; abortive revolutions against Bourbons, 1836, 1848; Neapolitans defeated, and Sicily finally freed by Garibaldi and united to Italy, 1860, Her ambition realized, Sicily cannot be said to be peaceful: brigandage and bloodshed, earthquakes (e.g., 1908,) volcanic eruptions (e.g., 1910), still disturb the island The pop., which is very mixed, densest is on N. coast; inhabitants mostly uneduca ted, proud, jealous, and intensely pa ion ate. Cap. is Palermo. Poverty and unsettled conditions have caused a great stream of emigration in recent years. Serious agrarian disturb ances took place, 1920. Area,