OF MODERN GEOGRAPHY; OR A VIEW OF THE PRESENT STATE OF THE WORLD. SIMPLIFIED AND ADAPTED TO THE CAPACITY OF YOUTH. CONTAINING NUMEROUS TABLES, EXHIBITING THE DIVISIONS, SETTLEMENT, POPULATION, EXTENT, LAKES, CANALS, AND THE VARIOUS INSTITUTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, &c. REVISED AND ILLUSTRATED By J. OLNEY, A. M. Forty-sixth Edition. NEW YORK. PRATT, WOODFORD & CO., 63 WALL STREET. UNIVERSITY ADVERTISEMENT. THE publishers of this work, grateful for the immense patronage it has received, now present to the public a new edition, which has been thoroughly revised. During the past ten years, great changes have occurred upon the earth's surface. By the enterprise of individuals, either from motives of curiosity, or for the purposes of commerce, and by the efforts of enlightened governments, the most distant parts of the world have been explored and laid open to view, and their natural productions, climate and soil, made known. The manners and customs of savage nations have become well understood; and the boundaries and extent of the various portions of land and water which compose the face of the earth, have been accurately defined. It has become necessary, therefore, to make some changes in the book, that it may conform to the improved state of geographical science, but the outline and general plan of the work remain the same, so that teachers will still find it familiar, and the author has taken scrupulous care to have the facts agree with the best authorities, and to make it correct in all particulars. The Atlas has been entirely redrawn by Mr. Smith, an eminent geographer in New York, and newly engraved in the best manner on steel. Several important divisions of the world are given upon an enlarged scale; the United States have been more conveniently classified so as to present each state entire. Maps of the West Indies, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the British Isles, Central Europe, Michigan, and the newly settled portions of our own country, have, among others, been added, making it more full than any other School Atlas; and the whole has been done without regard to expense. The utmost care has been taken to make the Atlas progressive and clear, so that it shall lead on the minds of young persons without confusion; by means of appropriate symbols and numerals, the extent of the various countries in square miles; the Population, Government, Religion, and the State of Society, are exhibited on the different maps; and on the Map of the World, the animals peculiar to any portion of the earth's surface. It is confidently believed, that it will be found to surpass every other School Atlas hitherto published. The price of the work is low, and every thing which experience and care could do, has been done to merit the continued confidence of the great body of teachers who have always preferred it for its simplicity and adaptation to the school room, and to recommend it to the favor of all persons who desire to promote good education. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by D. F. Robinson, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut. CASE, TIFFANY & CO.-PRINTERS, PEARL STREET, HARTFORD. PREFACE. For THE introduction of Geography into common schools, as a regular branch of education, has of late years become nearly universal. merly this science was taught only to the higher classes, it being thought by most teachers that the pupil must be well advanced in other branches before he could study this with advantage. Experience has however taught, that children can learn Geography at a very early age, and hence its introduction into the younger classes at the present time. But among the books which have been published on this subject, although many of them are works of great merit, there are none suited to the capacities of young beginners. Most of them begin with definitions, which, to be understood, require a degree of knowledge on the subject, never possessed by the new beginner. Children, instead of being made to commit definitions to memory, should, as much as possible, at the beginning, be taught by means of the eye; and hence the use of maps, pictures, and diagrams, in teaching infants. The map is to Geography, what orthography is to the art of reading. The scholar must not only understand its use, but must have an intimate knowledge of all its parts, before he can undertake the study of descriptive geography with advantage. When he has acquired a practical and thorough knowledge of the map of a country, he has then laid the ground work for understanding its description, and not before. Suppose a child should learn by heart every thing about the climate, scenery, and productions of Switzerland, for instance, and suppose him to be intimate with the names of all its mountains, lakes, and forests, how much knowledge of the geography of that country would he possess? It is obvious that without knowing also the relative situation of these mountains, lakes, and forests, in respect to each other, together with their distances and bearings, such knowledge never could be applied to any practical use. The map, then, ought to be the first lesson in geography, for by its means, the child can locate his ideas, and can see, at a single glance, the situation of the places, the names of which he learns. Having been for a number of years occupied in the instruction of youth, and principally in the science of Geography, I have, in common with others, long regretted that no work well adapted to the instruction of youth on this subject could be obtained, and my excuse for offering the present volume to the public is founded on that fact. practical knowledge of geography, instead of requiring years, I am taught by experience to believe, may be obtained in a few months; and I cannot but hope that others will find this opinion well founded. A In preparing this work, I have endeavored to adapt it to the natural progress of the youthful mind. Instead of introducing the beginner at once into Astronomical Geography, and requiring him to spend weeks in learning definitions, and the description of the heavenly bodies, I have commenced with the town in which he lives. From the town, the sphere of his observation is extended to the county, from the county |