and subsequently the name was confined to the chief towns of the various administrative districts. These were also the seats of the bishops. It is thus affirmed that in France from the 5th to the 15th century the name civitas or cité was confined to such towns as were episcopal sees, and Du Cange (Gloss. s.v. civitas) defines that word as urbs episcopalis, and states that other towns were termed castra or oppida. How far any such distinction can be sharply drawn may be doubted. With regard to England no definite line can be drawn between those towns to which the name civitas or cité is given in medieval documents and those called burgi or boroughs (see J. H. Round, Feudal England, p. 338; F. W. Maitland, Domesday Book and After, p. 183). It was, however, maintained by Coke and Blackstone that a city is a town incorporate which is or has been the see of a bishop. It is true, indeed, that the actual sees in England all have a formal right to the title; the boroughs erected into episcopal sees by Henry VIII. thereby became “cities”; but towns such as Thetford, Sherborne and Dorchester are never so designated, though they are regularly incorporated and were once episcopal sees. On the other hand, it has only been since the latter part of the 19th century that the official style of “city” has, in the United Kingdom, been conferred by royal authority on certain important towns which were not episcopal sees, Birmingham in 1889 being the first to be so distinguished. It is interesting to note that London, besides 27 boroughs, now contains two cities, one (the City of London) outside, the other (the City of Westminster) included in the administrative county.
For the history of the origin and development of modern city government see Borough and Commune: Medieval.
CIUDAD BOLÍVAR, an inland city and river port of Venezuela,
capital of the state of Bolívar, on the right bank of the Orinoco
river, 240 m. above its mouth. Pop. (1891) 11,686. It stands
upon a small hill about 187 ft. above sea-level, and faces the
river where it narrows to a width of less than half a mile. The
city is largely built upon the hillside. It is the seat of the
bishopric of Guayana (founded in 1790), and is the commercial
centre of the great Orinoco basin. Among its noteworthy edifices
are the cathedral, federal college, theatre, masonic temple,
market, custom-house, and hospital. The mean temperature
is 83°. The city has a public water-supply, a tramway line,
telephone service, subfluvial cable communication with Soledad
near the mouth of the Orinoco, where connexion is made with the
national land lines, and regular steamship communication with
the lower and upper Orinoco. Previous to the revolution of
1901–3 Ciudad Bolívar ranked fourth among the Venezuelan
custom-houses, but the restrictions placed upon transit trade
through West Indian ports have made her a dependency of the
La Guaira custom-house to a large extent. The principal exports
from this region include cattle, horses, mules, tobacco, cacáo,
rubber, tonka beans, bitters, hides, timber and many valuable
forest products. The town was founded by Mendoza in 1764 as
San Tomás de la Nueva Guayana, but its location at this particular
point on the river gave to it the popular name of Angostura,
the Spanish term for “narrows.” This name was used until
1849, when that of the Venezuelan liberator was bestowed upon
it. Ciudad Bolívar played an important part in the struggle for
independence and was for a time the headquarters of the revolution.
The town suffered severely in the struggle for its possession,
and the political disorders which followed greatly retarded its
growth.
CIUDAD DE CURA, an inland town of the state of Aragua, Venezuela, 55 m. S.W. of Carácas, near the Lago de Valencia.
Pop. (1891) 12,198. The town stands in a broad, fertile valley,
between the sources of streams running southward to the Guárico
river and northward to the lake, with an elevation above sea-level
of 1598 ft. Traffic between Puerto Cabello and the Guárico
plains has passed through this town since early colonial times,
and has made it an important commercial centre, from which
hides, cheese, coffee, cacao and beans are sent down to the coast
for export; it bears a high reputation in Venezuela for commercial
enterprise. Ciudad de Cura was founded in 1730, and suffered
severely in the war of independence.
CIUDAD JUAREZ, formerly El Paso Del Norte, a northern frontier town of Mexico, in the state of Chihuahua, 1223 m. by rail N.N.W. of Mexico City. Pop. (1895) 6917. Ciudad Juarez stands 3800 ft. above sea-level on the right bank of the Rio Grande del Norte, opposite the city of El Paso, Texas, with which
it is connected by two bridges. It is the northern terminus of
the Mexican Central railway, and has a large and increasing
transit trade with the United States, having a custom-house
and a United States consulate. It is also a military post with a
small garrison. The town has a straggling picturesque appearance,
a considerable part of the habitations being small adobe
or brick cabins. In the fertile neighbouring district cattle are
raised, and wheat, Indian corn, fruit and grapes are grown, wine
and brandy being made. The town was founded in 1681–1682;
its present importance is due entirely to the railway. It was the
headquarters of President Juarez in 1865, and was renamed
in 1885 because of its devotion to his cause.
CIUDAD PORFIRIO DIAZ, formerly Piedras Negras, a northern frontier town of Mexico in the state of Coahuila, 1008 m. N. by W. from Mexico City, on the Rio Grande del Norte, 720 ft. above sea-level, opposite the town of Eagle Pass, Texas. Pop. (1900, estimate) 5000. An international bridge connects the two towns, and the Mexican International railway has its northern terminus in Mexico at this point. The town has an important transfer trade with the United States, and is the centre of a fertile district devoted to agriculture and stock-raising. Coal is found in the vicinity. The Mexican government maintains a custom-house and military post here. The town was founded in 1849.
CIUDAD REAL, a province of central Spain, formed in 1833 of districts taken from New Castile, and bounded on the N. by Toledo, E. by Albacete, S. by Jaen and Cordova and W. by Badajoz. Pop. (1900) 321,580; area, 7620 sq. m. The surface of Ciudad Real consists chiefly of a level or slightly undulating plain, with low hills in the north-east and south-west; but along
the south-western frontier the Sierra de Alcudia rises in two
parallel ridges on either side of the river Alcudia, and is continued
in the Sierra Madrona on the east. The river Guadiana drains
almost the entire province, which it traverses from east to west;
only the southernmost districts being watered by tributaries of
the Guadalquivir. Numerous smaller streams flow into the
Guadiana, which itself divides near Herencia into two branches,—the
northern known as the Giguela, the southern as the Zancara.
The eastern division of Ciudad Real forms part of the region
known as La Mancha, a flat, thinly-peopled plain, clothed with
meagre vegetation which is often ravaged by locusts. La Mancha
(q.v.) is sometimes regarded as coextensive with the whole province.
Severe drought is common here, although some of the
rivers, such as the Jabalon and Azuer, issue fully formed from
the chalky soil, and from their very sources give an abundant
supply of water to the numerous mills. Towards the west, where
the land is higher, there are considerable tracts of forest.
The climate is oppressively hot in summer, and in winter the plains are exposed to violent and bitterly cold winds; while the cultivation of grain, the vine and the olive is further impeded by the want of proper irrigation, and the general barrenness of the soil. Large flocks of sheep and goats find pasture in the plains; and the swine which are kept in the oak and beech forests furnish bacon and hams of excellent quality. Coal is mined chiefly at Puertollano, lead in various districts, mercury at Almadén. There are no great manufacturing towns. The roads are insufficient and ill-kept, especially in the north-east where they form the sole means of communication; and neither the Guadiana nor its tributaries are navigable. The main railway from Madrid to Lisbon passes through the capital, Ciudad Real, and through Puertollano; farther east, the Madrid-Lináres line passes through Manzanares and Valdepeñas. Branch railways also connect the capital with Manzanares, and Valdepeñas with the neighbouring town of La Calzada.
The principal towns, Alcázar de San Juan (11,499), Almadén (7375), Almodóvar del Campo (12,525), Ciudad Real (15,255), Manzanares (11,229) and Valdepeñas (21,015), are described in
