ADRIANOPLE (anc. Hadrianopolis; Turk. Edirne, or Edreneh; Slay. Odrin)  , the capital of the vilayet of Adrianople, Turkey in Europe; 137 M. by rail W.N.W. of Constantinople . Pop . (1905) about 80,000, of whom half are Turks, and half Jews, Greeks, Bulgars, Armenians, &c . Adrianople ranks, after Constantinople and Salonica, third in size and importance among the cities of European Turkey . It is the see of a Greek arch-bishop, and of one Armenian and two Bulgarian bishops . It is the chief fortress near the Bulgarian frontier, being defended by a ring of powerful modern forts . It occupies both banks of the river Tunja,, at its confluence with the Maritza, which is navigable to this point in spring and winter . The nearest sea-port by rail is Dedeagatch, west of the Maritza; Enos, at the river-mouth, is the nearest by water . Adrianople is on the rail-way from Belgrade and Sofia to Constantinople and Salonica . In appearance it is thoroughly Oriental—a mass of mean, irregular wooden buildings, threaded by narrow tortuous streets, with a few better buildings . Of these the most important are the Idadieh school, the school of arts and crafts, the Jewish communal school; the Greek college, Zappeion; the Imperial Ottoman Bank and Tobacco Regie; a fire-tower; a theatre; palaces for the prefect of the city, the administrative staff of the second army corps and the defence works commission; a hand-some row of barracks; a military hospital; and a French hospital . Of earlier buildings, the most distinguished are the Eski Serai, an ancient and half-ruined palace of the sultans; the bazaar of Ali Pasha; and the 16th-century mosque of the sultan Selim II., a magnificent specimen of Turkish architecture .

Adrianople has five suburbs, of which Kiretchhane and Yilderim are on the

left bank of the Maritza, and Kirjik stands on a hill overlooking the city . The two Iast named are exclusively Greek, but a large proportion of the inhabitants of Kiretchhane are Bulgarian . These three suburbs —as well as the little hamlet of Demirtash, containing about 300 houses all occupied by Bulgars—are all built in the native fashion; but the, fifth suburb, Karagatch, which is on the right bank of the Maritza, and occupies the region between the railway station and the city; is Western in its design, consisting of detached residences in gardens, many of then handsome villas, and all of modern European type . In all the communities schools have multiplied, but the new seminaries are of the old non-progressive type . The only exception is the Hamidieh school for boys—a government institution which takes both boarders and day-scholars . Like the Lyceum of Galata Serai in Constantinople, it has two sets of professors, Turkish and French, and a full course of education in each language, the pupils following both courses . The several communities have each their own charitable institutions, the Jews being specially well endowed in this respect . The Greeks have a literary society, and there is a well-organized club to which members of all the native communities, as well.as many foreigners, belong . The economic condition of Adrianople was much impaired by the war of 1877-78, and was just showing signs of recovery when, in 1885, the severance from it of Eastern Rumelia by a Customs cordon rendered the situation worse than ever . Adrianople had previously been the commercial headquarters of all Thrace, and of a large portion of the region between the Balkans and the Danube, now Bulgaria . But the separation of Eastern Rumelia isolated Adrianople, and transferred to Philippopolis at least two-thirds of its foreign trade which, as regards sea-borne merchandise, is carried on through the port of Burgas (q.v.) . The city manufactures silk, leather, tapestry, woollens, linen and cotton, and has an active general trade .

Besides fruits and agricultural produce, its exports include raw silk, cotton,

opium, rose-water, attar of roses, wax and the dye known as Turkey red . The surrounding country is extremely fertile, and its wines are the best produced in Turkey . The city is supplied with fresh water by means of an aqueduct carried by arches over an extensive valley . There is also a fine stone bridge over the Tunja . Adrianople was originally known as Uskadama, Uskudama or Uskodama, but was renamed and enlarged by the Roman emperor Hadrian (117-138) . In 378 the Romans were here defeated by the Goths . Adrianople was the residence of the Turkish sultans from 1361, when it was captured by Murad I., until 14J3, when Constantinople fell . It was occupied by the Russians in 1829 and 1878 (see RUSSO-TURKISH WARS) .