NORTH PLATTE 487 NORTHUMBRIA Exceptional Children. Pop. (1910) 6,117; (1920) 6,916. NORTH PLATTE, a town of Nebras- ka, in Lincoln co. It is at the junction of the North and South Platte rivers, and it is on the Union Pacific railroad. Its industries include railroad machine shops, a cold-storage plant, flour mills, grain elevators, etc. It is the center of an important agricultural and cattle- growing region. Its public buildings in- clude a United States land office, Federal district court. State experimental station, and a public library. Pop. (1910) 4,793; (1920) 10,466. NORTH POLAR EXPEDITIONS. See Arctic and Antarctic Explora- tions. NORTH PROVIDENCE, a town of Rhode Island, the county-seat of Provi- dence CO., 5 miles from Providence on the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad. It has important manufacto- ries of woolen goods. It contains a public library. Pop. (1910) 5,407; (1920) 7,697. NORTH SEA, or GERMAN OCEAN, that portion of the Atlantic Ocean ex- tending from the Straits of Dover to the Shetland Islands, bounded on the E. by Norway and Denmark ; on the S. by Han- over, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, and on the W. by the British Islands; length 700 miles, breadth 420 miles. It communicates with the Atlan- tic by the Straits of Dover and Pentland Firth, and with the Baltic by the Skager- rack, the Cattegat, the Sound, and the Great and Little Belts. It receives the waters of the Elbe, Rhine, Weser, and Scheldt, on the E., and the Thames, Ouse, Humber, Tyne, Tweed, Forth, and Tay on the W. Navigation is very difficult and dangerous, owing to the sand banks along the English coasts, and extending N. E. from the Firth of Forth, and one N. W. from the mouth of the Elbe, be- sides the variety of currents, which gen- erally show a tendency toward the N. E., owing to the prevalence of the S. W. winds. The influence of tidal currents of the Atlantic is felt in the North Sea so as to cause a rise of 20 feet in the estuary of the Humbei The fisheries of the North Sea are important, and em- ploy many tnousands of people. The North Sea was a principal zone of naval authority during the World War. Ger- man submarines infested it, and did great damage until a great barrage of mines, laid by American naval vessels, closed it for navigation. NORTH STAR, the star a of the con- stellation Ursa Minor. It is close to the true pole, never sets, and is therefore of great importance to navigators in the Northern Hemisphere. NORTH STAR, ORDER OF, a Swed- ish order of knighthood, established in 1748 mainly as a recognition of impor- tant scientific services. NORTH TARRYTOWN, a village in New York in Westchester co., 26 miles N. of New York City on the Hudson river and on the New York Central rail- road. It has important manufactories of automobiles and other products. The town is an attractive residential community. Pop. (1910) 5,421; (1920) 5,927. NORTH TONAWANDA, a city of New York in Niagara co., 5 miles N. of Buffalo. It is situated on the Niagara river, Erie canal, and the Erie, the Wa- bash, the West Shore, the Lehigh Valley, and the New York Central railroads. It has important industrial interests, chiefly of lumber and iron. There are manufactories also of steam piping, steam radiators, and motor boats. _ There is a library and other public buildings. Pop. (1910) 11,955; (1920) 15,482. NORTHUMBERLAND, a county of England, situated in the northern ex- tremity. It is for the most part a hilly county. The coast region and the valleys produce barley, wheat, and vegetables. The western part is largely given up to pasturage. There are important mines of coal, lead, and zinc, and there are manufactories of iron, glass, chemicals, and pottery. The county has important salmon fisheries. Pop. about 700,000. NORTHUMBRIA, the extreme N. of the ancient English kingdom, stretching from the Humber N. to the Firth of Forth, and separated W. from Cumbria and Strathclyde by the Pennine range and the Ettrick Forest. Bemicia, the district N. of the Tees, had for its first king Ida (547-559), who built Bamburgh as his capital. His grandson, Ethelfrith, mounted the throne in 593, married the daughter of Ella, who in 560 had formed the kingdom of Deira out of the district between the Tees and the Humber, set aside the rights of his boy brother-in-law Edwin, and so united both Bemicia and Deira into one kingdom. But Edwin re- turning, defeated and killed the usurper in 617, and became King of the North- umbrians as well as Bretwalda. Under him Northumbria was Christianized. In 633 he fell in battle against Penda of Mercia and the Welsh Cadwallon, but a year later St. Oswald, son of Ethelfrith, cleared the country, and united both divi- sions under his rule. His brother and
