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SOIL ,' the See also: term generally applied to that See also: part of the See also: earth's
' This word comes through O
.
Fr. soil from a See also: Late Latin usage of solea for soil or ground, which in classic See also: Lat. meant the See also: sole of the See also: foot, also a sandal
.
This was duetoa confusion with solum, ground; whence Fr. sol
.
Both solea and solum are, of course, from the same See also: root
.
To be distinguished from this word is " soil, to make dirty, to stain, See also: defile
.
The origin is the O
.
Fr. soil or souil, the miry wallowing ground of a See also: wild boar, whence the hunting phrase " to take soil," of a beast of the See also: chase taking to See also: water or marshy ground
.
The derivation is therefore from Lat. soillus, pertaining tq
See also: mausoleum contains the remains of See also: Prince See also: Alexander; there are monuments to the
See also: tsar Alexander II., to See also: Russia, to the medical See also: officers who See also: fell in the war of 1877 and to the patriot Levsky
.
A public See also: park has been laid out in the eastern suburbs
.
The city is well drained and possesses a See also: good water supply; it is lighted by See also: electricity and has an electric See also: car See also: system
.
It contains breweries, tanneries, See also: sugar, See also: tobacco, See also: cloth, and See also: silk factories, and exports skins, cloth, cocoons, cereals, attar of See also: roses, dried fruit, &c
.
Sofia forms the centre of a railway system radiating to Constantinople (300 m.), Belgrade (206 m.) and central See also: Europe, See also: Varna, Rustchuk and the Danube, and See also: Kiustendil near the Macedonian frontier
.
The See also: climate is heaithy; owing to the elevated situation it is somewhat cold, and is liable to sudden diurnal and seasonal changes; the temperature in See also: January sometimes falls to 40 F. below zero and in See also: August rises to 100°
.
The population, of which more than two-thirds are Bulgarians, and about one-See also: sixth See also: Spanish Jews, was 20,501 in 1881, 30,428 in 1888, 46,593 in 1893 and 82,187 in 1907
.
See also: History.—The colony of Serdica, founded here by the emperor Trajan, became a See also: Roman provincial See also: town of considerable importance in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D., and was a favourite residence of See also: Constantine the See also: Great
.
Serdica was burnt by the See also: Huns in A.D
.
449; few traces remain of the Roman city, but more than one See also: hundred types of its coins attest its importance
.
The town was taken by the Bulgarians under Krum in A.D
.
809; the name Serdica was converted into Sredetz by the Slays, who associated it with sreda (See also: middle), and the See also: Slavonic See also: form subsequently became the See also: Byzantine Triaditza
.
The name Sofia, which came into use towards the end of the ,4th century is derived from the early See also: medieval See also: church of St
See also: Sophia, the massive ruins of which stand on an See also: eminence to the See also: east of the town
.
The church, which was converted into a mosque by the See also: Turks, was partly destroyed by earthquakes in ,818 and 1858
.
The town successfully resisted the attacks of the emperor See also: Basil II. in 987; between 1018 and 1186, under Byzantine See also: rule, it served as a frontier fortress
.
During this See also: period a number of prisoners of the Petcheneg tribe were settled in the neighbourhood, in all probability the ancestors of the See also: Shop tribe which now inhabits the surrounding districts
.
In 1382 Sofia was captured by the Turks; in 1443 it was for a brief See also: time occupied by the Hungarians under See also: John Hunyady
.
Under See also: Turkish rule the city was for nearly four centuries the residence of the beylerbey or governor-general of the whole See also: Balkan Peninsula except Bosnia and the Morea
.
During this period the population increased and became mainly Turkish; in 1553 the towr, possessed eleven large and one hundred small mosques
.
In the latter See also: half of the 15th century Sofia, owing to its situation at the junction of several See also: trade routes, became an important centre of Ragusan commerce
.
During the Turco-See also: Russian See also: campaign of 1829 it was the headquarters of Mustafa See also: Pasha of Skodra, and was occupied by the Russians for a few days
.
On the 4th of January 1878 a Russian army again entered Sofia after the passage of the'Balkans by Gourko; the bulk of the Turkish population had previously taken See also: flight
.
Though less central than Philippopolis and less renowned in Bulgarian history than
.
See also: Trnovo, Sofia as selected as the capital of the newly-created Bulgarian See also: state in view of its strategical position, which commands the routes to Constantinople, Belgrade,
See also: Macedonia and the Danube
.
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