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 pack ice
mer Severnaya
um Franz Josef
t of s Zemlya
mi Land
Li
Spitsbergen
New Siberian
Greenl a nd Limit of Novaya
Islands
winter
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ar Sea
m it

a
Yenis

Kh
a
avi
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Sea West Siberian Plateau he

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Sc
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S i b e r i a

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ai

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Isles Nor
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Carpat

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Bay of lps ts s Manchurian
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G Plain
Hokkaido
I be ri a n Sea Tien Sea of

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ra oun

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Desert s as ng
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Va

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Ad ghl Maldive Nicobar
Malay
ft

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Gulf of
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at

Basin Borneo
Gre

Guinea Con go Lake Victoria Celebes

Su
idge

ma
B asin
GreatR

Kilimanjaro
East Indies
o

New
ong

19,340ft Somali

tra
Lake (5895m)
ATLANTIC C
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Seychelles
va Java
Java Sea Guinea
Ja

Basin
iftV

Ninetyeast R

Ascension Island Tr Arafura

enc
all

Great B
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l

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ey

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Lake
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I N D I A N
C ha

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St Helena Za
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B a sin G
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Nam

biqu

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Great

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Mauritius Sandy Desert

a
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ib D
idge

AU S T R A L I A
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ese

Great

ng Range
rt

Ca p e Victoria Desert
ge
rg
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be or Plain
g
ns

n
id llarb

rli
B as in e
rak Nu

Da
D R
Cape of
Good Hope an
Tristan da Cunha di
Gough Island In S Bass Strait
-Atl

t o
es u
t h Tasmania
h w
ut e a
Mid

So s t
I n
Kerguelen d i a
n R i d g e

Limit of winter pack ice

South Indian Basin

S O U T H E R N O C E A N ANTARCTICA
Limit of summer pack ice

(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.

 Ellesmere Island
A R C T I C O C E A N
lands
zab eth Is
Eli Greenland
en
East Siberian Sea
Limit of summer pack ice
Beau f o rt Sea Q ue Baffin
Baffi Bay
nI
Chukchi Sea sla
Brooks Range M
nd
ac

t
ke Arctic Circle

rai

nz
gSt Great Bear

ie
rin Mount McKinley Lake
Be (Denali)
20,321ft Great Slave
C
Limi
t of w (6194m) o a R Lake Hudson

Ca
inter Péninsule Labrador
pack
t ka

st
ice Bay d'Ungava

na
o
ia Sea

M
cha

Bering Sea

d
n

ou
s Gulf of Sh

k
d
Kam

Aleu t ian Bas in lan ield

nt

y
Is Lake
ian Alaska

ai
Aleut ch Winnipeg Laurentian
ren

ns

M
T Mountains
N O RT H A M E R I C A
h

an
nc

Aleuti Vancouver
re

Empero

ou
eT

Island
Great Lakes
ril
Ku

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ts

nt

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Coast
Grand Banks
r Seam

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ss
at

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of Newfoundland

n
a i

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o Fracture Zone

ch
Ra

Pl
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ounts

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pa
ai
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Ap
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Northwest North

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acture Zon

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Pacific ray Fr
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rr

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adr
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Tropic of Cancer

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Peninsula r An

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tai c C e n t r a l Hawai‘i al tilles
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Mid Caribbean Lesser

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P A C I F I C Am Sea An ti l l e s OCEAN
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Marshall Tr
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Islands en
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Islands ch
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o

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an

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s

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i

SOUTH

s
a
Physical key

nd
nd
i

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a

a
s

AMERICA
d

Hig
a Samoa Elevation
e
Co

Pe

Brazil

lian
k
o

Coral
ru

Is Planalto de
la 19,686ft/6000m Peru

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Vanuatu Fiji Tonga Basin
- Ch

Sea nd Mato Grosso

Br
s 13,124ft/4000m Basin
New Caledonia
ile Trench

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9843ft/3000m Tropic of Capricorn

Trench

Cha

6562ft/2000m
Gran
d e s

3281ft/1000m
ec

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1640ft/500m Cerro Aconcagua

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820ft/250m Juan Fernandez 22,831ft

A n

(6959m)
Pa

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Southwest s
North 0
Sea Island
-820ft/-250m
a

Ar g e n ti n e
ni

South Pacific
Island New -1640ft/-500m
go

Zealand Basin
-3281ft/-1000m
ta

Basin
Pa

Campbell
Plateau Mountain Falkland Islands
South Georgia
Permanent ice cap/ice shelf Tierra del Fuego
Cape Horn South Sandwich
Limit of winter pack ice
Winter limit of pack ice ss age Islands
Drake Pa
Summer limit of pack ice
Antarctic
Peninsula
(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved. Antarctic Circle
 Severnaya Zemlya
Franz Josef Land
SVALBARD New Siberian Islands
(to Norway)

Novaya Zemlya
JAN MAYEN
(to Norway)

ICELAND N

DE
FAEROE ISLANDS

SWE
(to Denmark)
FINLAND
NORWAY R U S S I A N F E D E R A T I O N
ESTONIA E u r o p e a n
ISLE OF MAN RUSS.
FED. LATVIA A s i a t i c R u s s i a
(to U.K.) DENMARK R u s s i a
UNITED LITHUANIA
Y

IRELAND KINGDOM
AN

NETH. POLAND BELARUS

M

SLOVAKIA
BELG. ER CZ.REP.
G LIECH. UKR AIN E
CHANNEL ISLANDS LUX.
(to U.K.) MOLDOVA K A Z A K H S T A N
FRANCE SWITZ. AUSTRIA HUNGARY M O N G O L I A
SLOVENIA ROMANIA
MONACO CROATIA SERBIA
S.M. KOSOVO
ANDORRA B.&H. BULGARIA GEORGIA UZBEKISTAN
VATICAN
Azores CITY MONT. KYRGYZSTAN
(to Portugal)
SPAIN ALB. MACEDONIA ARMENIA AZERBAIJAN
PORTUGAL I TA LY TURKMENISTAN NORTH KOREA
GREECE TURKEY TAJIKISTAN
AZERBAIJAN JAPAN
GIBRALTAR (to U.K.) SOUTH
Madeira TUNISIA
SYRIA
LEBANON
C H I N A KOREA
O MALTA CYPRUS I R A N AFGHANISTAN
(to Portugal)
CC ISRAEL IRAQ
RO NEPAL BHUTAN

N
Canary Islands A
O

KUWAIT ST
M

(to Spain) ALGERIA JORDAN K I Ryukyu Islands

L I B Y A BAHRAIN PA (to Japan)
EGYPT
A

WESTERN SAHARA LAOS

QATAR BANGLADESH TAIWAN
NI

(disputed) U.A.E.
MYANMAR
TA

SAUDI I N D I A NORTHERN
AN
RI

ARABIA (BURMA) MARIANA

V
AU
CAPE
M

IE
VERDE O Paracel ISLANDS
M MALI

TN
NIGER ERITREA (to U.S.) Islands
YEMEN THAILAND

AM
SENEGAL CHAD Socotra
(disputed)
N A Laccadive GUAM
GAMBIA KI S U DA N (to Yemen) Andaman
GUINEA- UR SO Islands Islands
CAMBODIA (to U.S.)
GUINEA B FA NIGERIA
DJIBOUTI (to India)
(to India) PHILIPPIN E S
N

BISSAU Spratly
OO

CENTRAL Islands
IA

SIERRA LEONE BENIN ETHIOPIA Nicobar (disputed) MICRONESIA

ER

AFRICAN
AL

LIBERIA SRI LANKA Islands BRUNEI

M

EQ REPUBLIC M PALAU
CA

MALDIVES (to India)

CÔTE D’IVOIRE .G
UIN
E UGANDA SO M A L AYSIA
O

(IVORY COAST) A SINGAPORE

GHANA KENYA
NG

TOGO GABON RWANDA

DEMOCRATIC BURUNDI
O

SAO TOME & PRINCIPE C I N D O N E S I A

R EP UB L IC PAPUA
TA

Cabinda OF C ONG O ZA NEW

N

BRITISH INDIAN
(to Angola) NI SEYCHELLES
OCEAN TERRITORY CHRISTMAS ISLAND GUINEA
ASCENSION ISLAND
A (to U.K.) (to Australia) EAST TIMOR
(to St. Helena) COMOROS Agalega Islands
ANGOLA MALAWI (to Mauritius) COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS ASHMORE &
MAYOTTE (to France) (to Australia) CARTIER ISLANDS
ZAMBIA E
AR

ST. HELENA U (to Australia)

Q

(to U.K.)
AS C
BI

ZIMBABWE
AM

DAG

NAMIBIA MAURITIUS
A T L A N T I C
MO Z

BOTSWANA REUNION (to France)

MA

O C E A N SWAZILAND I N D I A N A U S T R A L I A
LESOTHO
S OU T H
A F RIC A O C E A N

Abbreviations key
ALB. ALBANIA
BELG. BELGIUM Tasmania
B. & H. BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA
FRENCH SOUTHERN
CZ. REP. CZECH REPUBLIC Prince Edward Islands & ANTARCTIC TERRITORIES
EQ. GUINEA EQUATORIAL GUINEA (to South Africa) (to France)
LIECH. LIECHTENSTEIN
LUX. LUXEMBOURG
NETH. NETHERLANDS HEARD & MCDONALD ISLANDS
(to Australia)
NETH. ANT. NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
RUSS. FED. RUSSIAN FEDERATION
S. M. SAN MARINO
MONT. MONTENEGRO
SWITZ. SWITZERLAND S O U T H E R N O C E A N
U.A.E. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

A N T A R C T I C A
(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.
 A R C T I C
Queen Elizabeth Islands
O C E A N GREENLAND
(to Denmark)

Baffin Island

ALASKA
(to U.S.)

C A N A D A
.S.)
Aleutian Islands (to U
Kurile Islands
(to Russ. Fed.)

ST. PIERRE
& MIQUELON
(to France)
P A C I F I C
U N I T E D S T A T E S A T L A N T I C
O C E A N
O F A M E R I C A O C E A N
BERMUDA
(to U.K.)
PUERTO RICO (to U.S.)
MIDWAY ISLANDS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS (to U.K.)
(to U.S.)
Guadelupe

M
(to Mexico) TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS (to U.K.) VIRGIN ISLANDS (to U.S.)
CAYMAN ISLANDS ANGUILLA (to U.K.)
E (to U.K.) BAHAMAS ST. KITTS & NEVIS
X HONDURAS ANTIGUA & BARBUDA
Hawaii
I BELIZE CUBA MONTSERRAT (to U.K.)
Revillagigedo C
WAKE ISLAND (to U.S.) Islands O JAMAICA GUADELOUPE (to France)
(to U.S.) (to Mexico) HAITI DOMINICA
NAVASSA I.
JOHNSTON ATOLL (to U.S.) (to U.S.) CURAÇAO MARTINIQUE (to France)
GUATEMALA (to Neth.)
ARUBA ST. LUCIA
MARSHALL EL SALVADOR (to Neth.) BARBADOS
ISLANDS CLIPPERTON ISLAND NICARAGUA
WALLIS & FUTUNA (to French Polynesia) ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES
(to France) KINGMAN REEF (to U.S.) COSTA RICA GRENADA
VENEZUELA
A PALMYRA ATOLL (to U.S.) TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
BAKER & PANAMA
HOWLAND FRENCH GUIANA
ISLANDS Galapagos Islands COLOMBIA (to France)
NAURU (to U.S.) JARVIS ISLAND (to Ecuador)
(to U.S.) GUYANA
ECUADOR SURINAME
K I R I B A T I
TUVALU
TOKELAU B R A Z I L
P E

SOLOMON
(to N.Z.)
ISLANDS P A C I F I C
R

SAMOA U
COOK
VANUATU
ISLANDS O C E A N
(to N.Z.)
B OL I V I A
NEW FRENCH POLYNESIA
FIJI TONGA (to France)
CALEDONIA PARAGUAY
(to France)
NIUE (to N.Z.) PITCAIRN San Felix Island
CORAL SEA ISLANDS ISLANDS (to Chile)
(to Australia) AMERICAN
SAMOA (to U.K.) San Ambrosia
NORFOLK ISLAND Easter Island Sala y Gomez
(to U.S.) Island
(to Chile) CHILE
A

(to Australia) (to Chile)

(to Chile)
Kermadec Island
I N

Lord Howe Island

(to Australia) (to N.Z.)
URUGUAY
Juan Fernandez Island
N T

(to Chile)
NEW
G E

ZEALAND
A R

Chatham Island
(to N.Z.)
Continental key
Bounty Island EUROPE
(to N.Z.)
NORTH AMERICA
Campbell Island pages 2-23 pages 46-73 FALKLAND ISLANDS
(to N.Z.) (to U.K.)
Macquarie Island (to Australia) SOUTH AMERICA ASIA CHILE
pages 24-33 pages 74-99
SOUTH GEORGIA &
AFRICA AUSTRALASIA SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS
(to U.K.)
pages 34-45 & OCEANIA
pages 100-109
ANTARCTICA

(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.

 CHILDREN’S
WORLD
ATLAS
Consultant
Dr. Kathleen Baker
Senior Lecturer in Geography, King’s College London (retired)
Senior Visiting Fellow, London South Bank University

Written by
Simon Adams • Mary Atkinson • Sarah Phillips • John Woodward

A Dorling Kindersley Book

(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.

 Contents
LONDON, NEW YORK,
MUNICH, MELBOURNE, AND DELHI
ACTIVE PLANET iv
Project editors Lucy Hurst, Sadie Smith, PLANET PEOPLE vi
Shaila Awan, Amber Tokeley
Art editors Joe Conneally, Sheila Collins, MAPPING THE WORLD 1
Rebecca Johns, Simon Oon, Andrew Nash
Senior editor Fran Jones
Senior art editor Floyd Sayers
Managing editor Andrew Macintyre
Managing art editor Jane Thomas
Picture research Carolyn Clerkin, Brenda Clynch
DK Pictures Sarah Mills
Production Jenny Jacoby
DTP designer Siu Yin Ho
Senior cartographic editor Simon Mumford
Cartographer Ed Merritt
Digital Cartography Encompass Graphics Limited
Satellite images Rob Stokes
3D globes Planetary Visions Ltd., London

THIS EDITION
Editor Jessamy Wood NORTH AMERICA 2
Art editors Mark Lloyd, Katie Knutton
Senior editor Rob Houston WESTERN CANADA AND ALASKA 4
Senior art editor Carol Davis EASTERN CANADA 6
Managing editor Linda Esposito
Managing art editor Jim Green
USA: NORTHEAST 8
Picture research Myriam Mégharbi USA: SOUTH 10
Production editor Marc Staples USA: MIDWEST 12
Print production Charlotte Oliver
Senior cartographic editor Simon Mumford
USA: WEST 14
Satellite images Ed Merritt USA: SOUTHWEST 16
3D Globes Planetary Visions Ltd., London MEXICO 18
US editor Stephanie Pliakas
CENTRAL AMERICA 20
First published in the United States in 2003. THE CARIBBEAN 22
This revised edition published in the United States in 2011 by
DK Publishing, 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
Copyright © 2003, 2008, 2011 Dorling Kindersley Limited

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
001 – 179338 – Jun/11

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American

Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photycopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: 978-0-7566-7584-4
SOUTH AMERICA 24
Colour reproduction by Colourscan, Singapore, and MDP, UK
Printed and bound by Star Standard Industries Ltd, Singapore NORTHWEST SOUTH AMERICA 26
BRAZIL 28
Discover more at SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA 30
www.dk.com ATLANTIC OCEAN 32

(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.

 ASIA 74
TURKEY AND THE CAUCASUS 76
RUSSIA AND KAZAKHSTAN 78
THE NEAR EAST 80
THE MIDDLE EAST 82
CENTRAL ASIA 84
INDIAN SUBCONTINENT 86
WESTERN CHINA AND MONGOLIA 88
EASTERN CHINA AND KOREA 90
JAPAN 92
AFRICA 34 MAINLAND SOUTHEAST ASIA 94
NORTHWEST AFRICA 36 MARITIME SOUTHEAST ASIA 96
NORTHEAST AFRICA 38 INDIAN OCEAN 98
WEST AFRICA 40
CENTRAL AFRICA 42
SOUTHERN AFRICA 44

AUSTRALASIA AND OCEANIA 100

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC 102
AUSTRALIA 104
EUROPE 46 NEW ZEALAND 106
SCANDINAVIA AND FINLAND 48 PACIFIC OCEAN 108
THE BRITISH ISLES 50
THE LOW COUNTRIES 52 ANTARCTICA 110
FRANCE 54 ARCTIC OCEAN 111
GERMANY AND THE ALPINE STATES 56
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 58 GAZETTEER 112
ITALY 60 INDEX 134
CENTRAL EUROPE 62 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 136
SOUTHEAST EUROPE 64
BULGARIA AND GREECE 66
UKRAINE, MOLDOVA, AND ROMANIA 68
BALTIC STATES AND BELARUS 70
EUROPEAN RUSSIA 72

(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.

ACTIVE PLANET

Active Planet DOWN TO THE CORE

Earth formed from iron-rich asteroids that
smashed together to build the planet.
Early in its history it, melted, allowing
Earth is a dynamic planet that is always the heavy iron to sink and create
a metallic core. The core is
changing its form. Heat generated by nuclear surrounded by lighter rock, with
reactions deep below the surface creates hugely the lightest forming Earth’s crust.
Most of the water on the planet
powerful currents that keep Earth’s rocks on lies in huge oceans, and above
them is the layer of air that
the move, triggering earthquakes and volcanic forms the atmosphere.
eruptions. Meanwhile, solar energy striking the
planet in different ways creates currents in the air, Lower atmosphere,
driving the atmospheric turmoil of the weather. 10 miles (16 km) thick

This changes with the seasons and from place to Crust, 5–45 miles
(8–70 km) thick
place, creating an enormous range of climates and Solid inner
Mantle, 1,800 miles core,
habitats for the most dynamic element of all—life. (2,900 km) thick Liquid outer 1,515 miles
core, 1,400 miles (2,440 km)
(2,250 km) thick across

North American Plate North THE PLATES OF EARTH’S CRUST

American Plate Heat generated deep within the planet creates currents
in the mobile mantle rock beneath the crust. These
Eurasian Plate currents drag some sections of the cool, brittle crust apart
while pushing other parts together, fracturing the crust
Caribbean into separate plates. The biggest of these span oceans
Plate and continents, but there are many smaller plates. At
their boundaries the plates may be diverging (pulling
Pacific
Cocos Plate apart), converging (pushing together), or sliding past
Plate
African Plate each other at transform faults.
Pacific
Plate South American Indo-Australian Key to map
Plate Plate
Transform Divergent
Nazca fault boundary
Plate Antarctic Plate
Uncertain Convergent
boundary boundary

WHERE MOVING PLATES MEET 1 Continental crust, much 5 Oceanic crust formed from Hot-spot volcano erupting
9
The boundaries between the plates are thicker than oceanic crust heavy basalt rock over mantle plume
volcanic earthquake zones. The plates
move very slowly, pulling apart at divergent 2 Broad basin formed near 6 Upper mantle, mostly solid 10 Ocean trench marking
boundaries. This allows hot rock below to uplifted area but very hot convergent plate boundary
melt, erupt, and cool to form new crust –
3 Ancient converging 7 Mantle, solid but mobile 11 Volcano erupting over
especially at the spreading rifts that form
mid-ocean ridges. Meanwhile, at boundary, now inactive owing to heat currents convergent boundary
convergent boundaries, one plate slides 4 Mountains created when 8 Spreading rift forming 12 Earthquake zone—one plate
beneath another, pushing up mountain plate boundary was active a mid-ocean ridge grinding under another
ranges and making volcanoes erupt. Other
volcanoes erupt over hot spots in the 13 Plates pulling apart, creating
mantle below the crust. a rift valley

10

9 11
2 8
4
5 13

iv 1 7
12
3
(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.
 ACTIVE PLANET

North Pole

THE SEASONS
Earth spins on a tilted axis, so as it orbits the Sun once a December is
year, the North Pole points toward the Sun in June and the southern
March is the
away from it in December. This means that in summer and
northern spring
regions north of the Tropics it is summer in June northern winter
but winter in December—and the opposite is
true to the south of the tropics. Near the
Equator it is always warm and there are
annual wet and dry seasons. Arctic Circle,
South Pole where Sun’s rays
are dispersed

Cold air (in blue) Earth’s axis

becomes chilled in
upper atmosphere

Warm air (in red)

heats up near
Earth’s surface June is the
northern The Sun
summer and
Equator, where
southern winter
Sun’s rays are
concentrated

Tropic of
Cancer

Tropic of
Capricorn

Descending cool, COLD POLE

dry air over The Tropics are the hottest parts of the
desert zone planet because the Sun’s rays directly
strike them, concentrating the heat
energy. Near the poles the same amount
JUNGLE AND DESERT of heat energy is spread out over a
Concentrated sunlight near the Equator heats broader area, so it does not have as much
Sahara Desert Earth’s surface, warming the air above. The warm heating effect, even in the summer. At
air rises, carrying moisture with it. This forms huge midwinter, the entire polar region is in
clouds that spill tropical rain, fueling the growth of permanent darkness, so it gets no solar
rainforests. The dry, cooling air then flows north energy at all and is bitterly cold.
and south and sinks over the subtropics, creating
deserts. Similar air-circulation patterns affect the
climate in the far north and south.
Rainforest,
Borneo

RAINFALL
Some parts of the world get much more rain than others. Key to map
The wettest regions are mostly rainforest zones, where
year-round rain and warmth promote lush plant growth. Less than 20 cm (50 in)
Rising Regions of moderate rainfall are naturally forests and
warm, grasslands, although most of this land is now used for 20–79 in (50–200 cm)
moist air farming. The driest regions may be too dry for many
near plants to grow, creating deserts—but they also include More than 79 in (200 cm)
Equator some northern forest zones and polar tundra.

Atacama Desert,
Chile

Cool, dry air sinks

over desert zone

v
(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.
PLANET PEOPLE

Planet People

POPULATION IN BILLIONS
10
In 2050, there are expected
8 to be almost 9 billion people

6
The number of people on the planet has quadrupled since 4
1900. A lot of this growth has taken place in the developing world,
which is now home to more than 80 percent of the population. 2

Many of these people are very poor and do not enjoy the living
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
conditions that most citizens of the developed world take for
YEAR
granted. This is changing, however, especially in nations such as
China, India, and Brazil. Here, new technology and international POPULATION INCREASE
For centuries, the number of people on the planet stayed
trade are fueling rapid economic growth that is transforming how the same, at roughly 300 million. But since the 1750s, better
living conditions and health care have allowed more babies to
people live. But as more of the planet’s people demand more of its survive, causing a population explosion. In only 60 years from
scarce resources, there may be some difficult challenges ahead. 1950, the population soared from 2.5 billion to 6.8 billion. It
will keep growing, but probably not quite so fast.

Russia
POPULATION DENSITY
On this map the area of each United Kingdom
part of the world is adjusted to
Canada China
reflect the number of people who
live there. For example, Japan’s EUROPE
Japan
population of 128 million is much ASIA
bigger than that of Australia, with NORTH
22 million, so it is shown much AMERICA United
larger here despite being a smaller States
country. More people live in
Nigeria—153 million—than in all Philippines
of Russia. But the nations with the India
biggest populations by far are
AFRICA
India and China, each with far SOUTH Pakistan
more than 1 billion citizens. AMERICA

Nigeria

Indonesia
AUSTRALASIA

FAMILY SIZE
All over the world, some women have more
children than others, but the average varies from AFRICA ASIA SOUTH AMERICA NORTH AMERICA AUSTRALASIA EUROPE
continent to continent. European women have
1.5 children on average, so two families may have
three children between them. This is much fewer
than in Africa, where the population is growing
faster despite higher death rates among children.
Worldwide, the average is 2.6—more than
enough to replace both parents. 4.6 children 2.3 children 2.2 children 2 children 1.8 children 1.5 children
per woman per woman per woman per woman per woman per woman

BIRTH AND DEATH RATES

If the birth rate is the same as the death rate, the population A country with few young people is
stays the same. But in most countries, the birth rate is higher. said to have an aging population.
In Niger, west Africa, there are 50.6 births but only 13.1 deaths But these school children in Burundi,
per 1,000 people, and the population is growing at 4 percent east Africa, are part of a youthful
a year. Brazil’s population is also growing, with 14.2 births population, with fewer elder
compared to 6.5 deaths. By contrast, Lithuania has a shrinking people. Both situations can
population, with 9.9 births outweighed by 13.8 deaths. cause problems.

NIGER BRAZIL LITHUANIA

vi
(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.
 PLANET PEOPLE

34,000,000
CITY POPULATIONS
As populations grow, people
tend to move from the country
to a city to find work. Today
one third of the world’s people
live in cities, which grow bigger 23,400,000
every year. Some are colossal, 22,200,000
like Tokyo, Japan—the largest 20,900,000
city in Asia. The other cities
shown here are the most
populous on each continent. 15,200,000
They are vibrant centErs of 12,400,000
civilization, but some cities
are fringed by sprawling
shantytowns, where poor
people live in makeshift 4,475,000
shacks with no public health
services or clean water.

TOKYO MEXICO CITY NEW YORK CITY SÃO PAULO CAIRO LONDON SYDNEY

LANGUAGES
These are the 10 most common languages worldwide,
sized in proportion to the number of native speakers.
Chinese outstrips the others because China has such a
HINDI ARABIC SPANISH
CHINESE
huge population. But Spanish comes next because it is
the main language of many Latin American countries,
such as Mexico. English is almost as common, thanks
mostly to it being the language of the United States.
It is also used as an international language for trade.
Christianity
2.1 billion

Islam
ENGLISH PORTUGUESE
BENGALI JAPANESE GERMAN
RUSSIAN

1.5 billion

Others
Sikhism 23 million
Juche 19 million
Hinduism Spiritism 15 million
900 million Judaism 14 million
Baha’i 7 million
Jainism 4.2 million
Shinto 4 million
Cao Ðái 4 million
Chinese Zoroastrianism 2.6 million
traditional Buddhism Tenrikyo 2 million
394 million 376 million Neo-Paganism 1 million
Indigenous
Unitarian
300 million African traditional Others Universalism 800,000
100 million 97.7 million Rastafarianism 600,000
Scientology 500,000

RELIGIONS AND BELIEFS

Almost three fourths of the world’s population are followers of
Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism. But many people follow
other faiths, especially in China, where the traditional folk religion,
Shenism, is practiced by almost one third of the huge population. The
“indigenous” and “African traditional religions” data points are both
groupings of different, but similar, religions. Others are listed at the
far right, in order of popularity. AFRICA 10.9% EUROPE 58.4% SOUTH AMERICA 39.5% MIDDLE EAST 29.8%

% of population
using the
ONLINE ACCESS Internet
Over the 10 years, the Internet has become a vital tool ASIA 21.5% CENTRAL AMERICA 24.9%
for global business, education, and politics, so the more
people who can use it, the better. These charts show the
percentage of people with Internet access both worldwide % of population
and in particular regions. North America, Australia, and not using the
Europe lead the field, but the number of Internet users is Internet
growing fastest in the Middle East and Africa. AUSTRALIA 61.3% NORTH AMERICA 77.4% WORLDWIDE 28.7%

vii
(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.
PLANET PEOPLE

WEALTH
A country’s wealth is usually measured in terms of the
money it earns divided by the number of its citizens
living both at home and overseas. This is called its
gross national product (GNP) per capita. Qatar in the
Middle East has huge wealth generated by exports
of oil and natural gas, and since it has a small
population, its GNP per capita is very high. Burundi
in east Africa has only one thirtieth of the income of
Qatar divided between seven times as many people,
so its GNP per capita is very low.

Burundi Bolivia Lithuania Japan Canada Norway Qatar

$135 $1,457 $11,871 $38,207 $41,729 $87,068 $93,201

BUSIEST AIRPORTS
Air travel has expanded hugely since the
1950s, when international air travel was
a luxury enjoyed by a few wealthy people
known as the “jet set.” Today, flying is often
the most economical way to travel, as well
as the quickest. This is reflected in the vast
number of passengers who pass through the
world’s airports as they travel for business or
pleasure. The busiest airport is Hartsfield-
Jackson International Airport in Atlanta,
Georgia, with more than 90 million people
arriving and departing each year.

HARTSFIELD-JACKSON, AIRBUS A380

ATLANTA, GEORGIA The growth in air travel has led to the development of
giant airliners such as the Airbus A380. When it
HEATHROW,
entered service in 2007, this was the world’s
LONDON, U.K.
largest passenger plane, capable of carrying
90,039,280 up to 853 people. The first commercial
TOKYO,
jet airliner, the Comet 1, had seats
JAPAN
for only 44 passengers at the most.

KINGSFORD SMITH,
67,056,379
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
66,754,829
GUARULHOS, SÃO TAMBO,
PAULO, BRAZIL JO’BURG,
RSA
32,900,000
20,400,304
18,400,000

TRADE
Although air freight is an important part
of international trade, about 80 percent of
cargo by weight is transported by sea.
This adds up to around 8.8 billion tons
of freight. A lot of this is transported in
containers carried by more than 4,700
container ships. The busiest shipping
routes link Europe and North America
with the Middle East and Far East, with
ports such as Singapore, Shanghai
(China), Dubai (U.A.E.), and Rotterdam
(Netherlands) handling most of the trade.

Traffic in millions of tonnes

400+
300–400
200–300
100–200
20–100
10–20
5–10

viii
(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.
 MAPPING THE WORLD

Mapping the World

ABOUT THE ATLAS MAP LOCATER MAP COLORS
This atlas is divided into six This map shows, in red, the location The colors shown on the maps are built up
continental sections—North America, of each country, part of a country, or from numerous satellite photographs and reflect
South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, group of countries in relation to the the true colors of the land, averaged over the
and Australasia and Oceania. Each entire planet. There is a locater for seasons. Certain colors give clues to what the
country—or group of countries—then each map in the book. land is like—whether it is forested or farmland,
has its own map that shows cities, mountains or desert.
towns, and main geographical
features such as rivers, lakes, and Land appearing sandy tends to
mountain ranges. Photographs and be desert, semidesert, or scrub
text provide detailed information ASIA

about life in that country—its people, B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P

Mountainous desert looks like

traditions, politics, and economy. Each Central Asia Ustyurt Aral
KA
ZA
ARAL SEA
The vast inland Aral Sea, between Uzbekistan and
Kazakhstan, was once a thriving freshwater lake
full of fish. Over the years, the rivers flowing
1

this, with shadows on the

The five central asian nations rise up from hot deserts Sea K
into it were diverted or drained to provide
irrigation for crops. The sea has now

continental section has a different in the west and south to cold, high mountain ranges in the east.
The area has oil, gas, and mineral reserves, as well as other Mo’ynoq
l
Plateau
a
n d STA
H shrunk to half of its original size,
reducing the numbers of fish and
leaving former fishing villages
stranded inland.
A man in front of
his home, called
sandy background color
natural resources, but water is often scarce and agriculture

N
colored border to help you locate that
a yurt, in western
2 is limited. The four northern nations were w Pamir, Tajikistan 2
o Chimboy KAZAKHST A N
once part of the Soviet Union and are Taxtako’pir
Sarygamy∞
Pale green is usually grassland

L
now independent nations. Afghanistan is Nukus Kyzyl Ku The

section. There is also a gazetteer

Köli fishing BISHKEK
a landlocked country, and three fourths of Köneürgenà
Takhiatosh m village of
Aral Sea K i Kara-Balta
Tokmak
Tyup Dzhergalan
r
Talas g h i
Gubadag Muynoq is now Kemin Ozero Issyk- Karakol MOUNTAIN LIFE

n
its land is inaccessible terrain. It was Uchquduq

Ga
Gurbansoltan Eje more than 30 miles (48 km) Leninpol’ z R
ange Balykchy Kul’ Kyzyl-Suu
n
The two small eastern republics of

or cropland

pla
Urganch e Pik Pobedy
invaded by the Soviet Union in 1979, Da∞oguz UZBEKISTAN Gora Manas
ng
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are both

(place-name index) and an index

away from the Aral Sea

a
Kadzhi-Say
a 24,406ft

ngy
14,705ft a very mountainous and are subject
lR KYRGYZSTAN

Uà
(7439m)
prompting a civil war that has lasted To’rtko’l (4482m)
tka h to earthquakes and landslides. Only

r Pl
Xiva

tag
3 3
Cha

r
Zarafshon
for more than 20 years. In 2002, Türkmenba∞y Üngüz TASHKENT Chirchiq ebet M
oldo-Too S Kara-Say about six percent of Tajikistan can be

an

atosy
Lebap
Gazojak
(TOSHKENT) Tash-Kumyr Khr Naryn Karakol used for agriculture, whereas

u
Gum
American and other Western forces

u
to help you access information. Ta
Türkmenba∞y Angyrsyndaky Angren n Kyrgyzstan is more fertile.
Aydark Yangiyo’l Namangan Koksha a l -

Am
Aylagy o’l K Dzhalal-Abad
overthrew the fundamentalist Islamic o’li e

y
Balkanabat

T
Garagum

uD
Nurota Chatyr-Tash
Olmaliq
regime in Afghanistan because of its Derweze Andijon i

arya
Hazar Langar Qo’qon
Bereket Gazli Guliston

4
support for international terrorism.
The country, however, has been
destroyed by these years of Kopet
da
TURKMENISTAN
Serdar

Ga Seÿdi
G’ijduvon
Buxoro
Kogon
Navoiy
Oqtosh Jizzax
Kattaqo’rg’on
Samarqand
Bekobod
Khujand
Sulyukta
Ûroteppa
Farg’ona

Khaydarkan
Osh

Sary-Tash
T Këk-Art
LOCAL WEALTH
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and
Kyrgyzstan all grow considerable
4
Darker greens usually indicate
g G ra
woodland or pasture
Galkyny∞ Zeravshan Daroot-Korgon crops of cotton—Uzbekistan is the
continuous warfare, making it Caspian Magtymguly
e r Baharly g Türkmenabat Koson
Urgut
sh nge khob Qarokûl world’s fifth-largest producer—as
u

C
one of the poorest and most i m
Kitob r Ra Sur Qullai Ismoili Somoní well as fruit and vegetables. The
Sea Abadan Qarshi sa
Geok-Tepe Saÿat i s DUSHANBE 24,590ft (7495m) S three countries are also rich in

H
deprived nations on Earth. ASHGABAT G TAJIKISTAN ar
ik mineral deposits, such as gold,
Gora Chapan ol
9478ft (2889m) Denov Ghûdara mercury, sulfur, and uranium,

I N
Kelif Norak Qal’aikhum
Amyderÿa Murghob and have reserves of coal, oil,
Mary Gara Boysun Danghara P

Ra
gu m

g
n
One of the world’s largest Kaka
Tejen
Bayramaly
C a n al
Atamyrat Kûlob Ba
rt a
a
and natural gas.

ng
5 Murgab Qûrghonteppa 5
Uzboyy Moskva Dzhelandy m
gold mines is at Muruntau

A
Murgap

e
Jarqo’rg’on

White shows land under

Termiz Khorugh
Áqchah Dûstí Farkhor
m
ir i Qizilrabot
Harvesting cotton
in the Kyzyl Kum desert Sarahs Andkhvoy Fey∞ábád r

Pa
Balkh in Uzbekistan
Garabil Kondoz Ishkoshim s
Kholm Táloqán
in Uzbekistan. Belentligi Sheberghán Mazár-e
Baroghil Pass

permanent cover by snow

Khánábád 12,392ft (3777m)

Meymaneh
Sharíf
Baghlán K u s h TAJIKS

6
FESTIVALS IN AFGHANISTAN Bálá Morgháb Pol-e Khomrí d u The majority of people of Tajikistan are Iranian in
Torkestan n origin and speak Tajik, which is related to Farsi. 6

Da
Despite the horrors of recent years, Afghans still Serhetabat Moun i
and ice
The minority Uzbeks are mostly made up of

ry
á - y Morghá
celebrate important Islamic festivals, notably Eid al-Fitr, Towraghoudí e b tain
which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Sels
s ma
rd H Baríkow¢ descendents of Turkic-speaking (related to
Ka h Turkish) nomads. This division has led to ethnic
People visit friends and family and eat a festive meal eleh- á-ye Cháríkár Maímúd-e Ráqí
together. The art of storytelling still flourishes in ye Safí ary tension between the two groups. Civil war
d Kúh Harírúd
D
KABUL (KÁBOL) Asadábád between the government and Islamic rebels
Afghanistan, as does the attan, the national dance. -e Bábá
Ghúríán Herát Kúh Mehtar Lám in the east of the country during the 1990s
An Afghan refugee carries bread with Maydán Shahr led to an exodus of Uzbeks and Russians,
which to break the Ramadan fast. Jalálábád who had moved into the country when it

7 Children in Kabul,
AFGHAN ISTAN Khyber Pass
3543ft (1080m)
was part of the Soviet Union.
7
Gardíz
Afghanistan, made Shíndand Ghazní
homeless by war
LIFE EXPECTANCY N
As a result of war, drought, and poverty, people Khowst A Tajik horsemen
T in Pamir, Tajikistan

b
in Afghanistan can expect to live an average of

dá
Rú
d S

an
only 45 years, one of the lowest life expectancy h
rg

I
h

rates in the world. Infant mortality is extremely Faráh eA Zarghún

rá

K
Delárám -y
Fa

high. Health services have almost completely h ryá Shahr

PA
collapsed, and few trained doctors and h ás Da
-e K Gereshk Qalát
nurses are available to help the sick. Sadly, Dasht Tilla-Kari, a 17th-century
8 there are not enough orphanages to cope Lashkar Gáh Islamic religious school in 8
with the increasing number of Hámún-e Kandahár
Chakhánsúr Samarqand, Uzbekistan
children made homeless by war. fláberí Zaranj ow
rg
Má Spín Búldak
Dasht-e Kúchnay THE SILK ROAD
Darweyshán

0 km 100 200
Deh Shú The Silk Road is the ancient trade route that brought silks
Da
ryá n and other fine goods from China through central Asia and
- ye H el m and
g está the Middle East to Europe. Many cities were built along
Rí its route, including Buxoro (Bukhara, Uzbekistan),
0 km 100 200
an important place of pilgrimage for Muslims, and
Chágai Hills
FOREIGN NAMES 9

PAKISTAN
0 miles 100 200
Samarqand, which contains some of the finest Islamic
architecture in the world. Many of these cities are
now UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites.
9

84 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P 85 0 miles 100 200

Features on the maps are generally
labeled in the language of that country.
For example, you will see: USING THE GRID REFERENCES
Lake on English-speaking countries The letters and numbers around the outside of the page SCALE
Lago on Spanish-speaking countries form a grid to help you find places on the map. For Each map features a scale that shows
9
Lac on French-speaking countries example, to find Kabul, look up its name in the gazetteer how distances on the map relate to
However, if a feature is wellknown (pp. 112–133) and you’ll find the reference 85 J7. The first kilometers and miles. The scale guide
or mentioned in the main text on the number is the page and the letter and number refer to the can be used to see how big a country
84 A square made by following up or down from J and across is. Not all maps in the book are drawn
page, it will appear there in English
so that readers can easily find it. from 7 to form J7. to the same scale.

KEY TO MAP SYMBOLS

BORDERS PHYSICAL FEATURES COMMUNICATIONS LATITUDE & LONGITUDE NAMES continued

International border: Mountain Highway Equator PHYSICAL

Border between
countries which is Depression
Major road
Tropics/Circles Andes Landscape
mutually recognized.
Volcano features
Minor road NAMES Ardennes
State border: Pass/Tunnel REGIONS Balearic Islands Island group
Border used in some Rail
large countries to show
internal divisions. DRAINAGE FEATURES Airport
FRANCE Country Majorca Island

JERSEY Dependent Lake/River

Disputed border: Lake Baikal
Major river (to UK) territory /Canal
Border used in
practice, but not TOWNS & CITIES KANSAS Administrative
Minor river
mutually agreed region
between two More than 500,000
PAC I F I C
Seasonal river Dordogne Cultural region
countries. OC E A N
Dam 100,000 – 500,000
Claimed border: TOWNS & CITIES
Gulf of Sea features
Border which is not 50,000 – 100,000
mutually recognized – Canal PARIS National
Mexico
where territory capital
Less than 50,000
belonging to one Waterfall SAN JUAN Dependent Bay of Campeche
country is claimed by territory
another. Seasonal lake capital city Undersea
National capital Chile Rise
feature
Ceasefire line
MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES
Internal Seattle
administrative Other
Limón OTHER FEATURES
Undefined boundary capital towns
Tropic of Cancer Graticule text
Site of interest
Polar research Genk & cities
Ancient wall station San José

1
(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.
 NORTH AMERICA
The North American continent extends from the frozen wastes of Arctic Canada to
the Caribbean islands and the tropical jungles of Panama. It is politically dominated
by the United States, the richest nation on Earth, yet life in countries such as Mexico and
Nicaragua is still a struggle. The data below is arranged in order of each nation’s size.

Canada Mexico Honduras

3,855,103 sq miles 758,449 sq miles 43,278 sq miles

9,984,670 sq km 1,964,375 sq km 112,090 sq km
33,600,000 110,000,000 7,470,000
Ottawa Mexico City Tegucigalpa
English, French, Chinese, Spanish, Nahuatl, Mayan, Spanish, Garífuna (Carib),
Italian, German, Ukrainian, Zapotec, Mixtec, Otomi, Totonac, English Creole
Portuguese, Inuktitut, Cree Tzotzil, Tzeltal

United States
of America Nicaragua

3,794,100 sq miles 50,336 sq miles The warm waters and

9,826,675 sq km 130,370 sq km glorious beaches of
the Caribbean make
315,000,000 5,740,000 islands like St. Lucia
Washington, DC Managua magnets for tourists.
English, Spanish, Chinese, Spanish, English Creole,
The wealth they
French, German, Tagalog, Miskito
bring is vital to the
Vietnamese, Italian, Korean,
local economy.
Russian, Polish

Dominican
Cuba Panama Republic

42,803 sq miles 29,120 sq miles 18,792 sq miles

110,860 sq km 75,420 sq km 48,670 sq km
11,200,000 3,450,000 10,100,000
Havana Panama City Santo Domingo
Spanish English Creole, Spanish, Spanish, French Creole
Amerindian languages,
Chibchan languages

Guatemala Haiti

42,042 sq miles 10,714 sq miles

108,889 sq km 27,750 sq km
14,000,000 10,000,000
Guatemala City Port-au-Prince
Quiché, Mam, Kakchiquel, French Creole, French
Kekchí, Spanish

Costa Rica Belize

19,730 sq miles 8,867 sq miles

51,100 sq km 22,966 sq km
4,580,000 306,800
The Statue of Liberty
San José Belmopan
in New York Harbor
is a potent symbol of Spanish, English Creole, English Creole, Spanish,
freedom, especially for Bribri, Cabecar English, Mayan, Garifuna (Carib)
political refugees to
the United States who
arrived by ship.

2
(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
that it was known by in the seventh century. It is also interesting to
observe that Dorset has been Christian from the days of the
conversion of the Roman Empire, that no altars smoked on Dorset
soil to Woden, no temples were built in honour of Thunder, no
prayers were offered to Freya; but it is also worth notice that the
Celtic Christian Church was not ready to amalgamate with the
Wessex Church, which had derived its Christianity from Papal Rome.
However, the Church of the Conquerors prevailed, and Dorset
became not only part of the West Saxon kingdom, but also of the
West Saxon diocese, under the supervision of a bishop, who at first
had his bishop-stool at Dorchester, not the Dorset town, but one of
the same name on the Thames, not far from Abingdon. In 705, when
Ine was King, it received a bishop of its own in the person of St.
Ealdhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, who on his appointment placed his
bishop-stool at Sherborne: he did not live to hold this office long, for
he died in 709. But a line of twenty-five bishops ruled at Sherborne,
the last of whom—Herman, a Fleming brought over by Eadward the
Confessor—transferred his see in 1075 to Old Sarum, as it is now
called; whereupon the church of Sherborne lost its cathedral rank.
The southern part of Dorset, especially in the neighbourhood of
Poole Harbour, suffered much during the time that the Danes were
harrying the coast of England. There were fights at sea in Swanage
Bay, there were fights on land round the walls of Wareham, there
were burnings of religious houses at Wimborne and Wareham. Then
followed the victories of Ælfred, and for a time Dorset had rest. But
after Eadward was murdered at “Corfes-geat” by his stepmother
Ælfthryth’s order, and the weak King Æthelred was crowned, the
Danes gave trouble again. The King first bribed them to land alone;
and afterwards, when, trusting to a treaty he had made with them,
many Danes had settled peacefully in the country, he gave orders for
a general massacre—men, women and children—on St. Brice’s Day
(November 13th), 1002. Among those who perished was a sister of
Swegen, the Danish King, Christian though she was. This
treacherous and cruel deed brought the old Dane across the seas in
hot haste to take terrible vengeance on the perpetrator of the
dastardly outrage. All southern England, including Dorset, was soon
ablaze with burning towns. The walls of Dorchester were
demolished, the Abbey of Cerne was pillaged and destroyed,
Wareham was reduced to ashes. Swegen became King, but reigned
only a short time, and his greater son, Cnut, succeeded him. When
he had been recognised as King by the English, and had got rid of all
probable rivals, he governed well and justly, and the land had rest.
Dorset had peace until Harold had fallen on the hill of Battle, and the
south-eastern and southern parts of England had acknowledged
William as King. The men of the west still remained independent,
Exeter being the chief city to assert its independence. In 1088
William resolved to set about to subdue these western rebels, as he
called them. He demanded that they should accept him as King, take
oaths of allegiance to him, and receive him within their walls. To this
the men of Exeter made answer that they would pay tribute to him as
overlord of England as they had paid to the previous King, but that
they would not take oaths of allegiance, nor would they allow him to
enter the city. William’s answer was an immediate march westward.
Professor Freeman says that there is no record of the details of his
march; but naturally it would lie through Dorset, the towns of which
were in sympathy with Exeter. Knowing what harsh and cruel things
William could do when it suited his purpose, we cannot for a moment
doubt that he fearfully harried all the Dorset towns on the line of his
march, seeking by severity to them to overawe the city of Exeter.
In the wars between Stephen and Maud, Dorset was often the
battle-ground of the rival claimants for the throne. Wareham,
unfortunate then, as usual, was taken and re-taken more than once,
first by one party, then by the other; but lack of space prevents the
telling of this piece of local history.
King John evidently had a liking for Dorset. He often visited it,
having houses of his own at Bere Regis, Canford, Corfe, Cranborne,
Gillingham, and Dorchester. In the sixteenth year of his reign he put
strong garrisons into Corfe Castle and Wareham as a defence
against his discontented barons.
In the wars between his son, Henry III., and the Barons there was
fighting again in Dorset, especially at Corfe. Dorset, among other
sea-side counties, supplied ships and sailors to Edward III. and
Henry V. for their expeditions against France.
The Wars of the Roses seem hardly to have touched the county;
but one incident must be mentioned: On April 14th, 1471, Margaret,
wife of Henry VI., landed at Weymouth with her son Edward and a
small band of Frenchmen; but she soon heard that on the very day
of her landing her great supporter, though once he had been her
bitterest enemy, Warwick the King-maker, had been defeated and
slain at Barnet. This led her to seek sanctuary in the Abbey at Cerne,
about sixteen miles to the north of Weymouth; but her restless spirit
would not allow her long to stay in this secluded spot, and she
started with young Edward, gathering supporters as she went, till on
May 4th her army was defeated at Tewkesbury, and there her last
hopes were extinguished when King Edward IV. smote her son, who
had been taken prisoner, with gauntleted hand upon the mouth, and
the daggers of Clarence and Gloucester ended the poor boy’s life.
We hear nothing of resistance on the part of Dorset to the Earl of
Richmond when he came to overthrow Richard III. Probably, as the
Lancastrian family of the Beauforts were large landowners in Dorset,
Dorset sympathy was enlisted on the side of the son of the Lady
Margaret, great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt.
Like all the rest of England, Dorset had to see its religious houses
suppressed and despoiled; its abbots and abbesses, with all their
subordinate officers, as well as their monks and nuns, turned out of
their old homes, though let it in fairness be stated, not unprovided
for, for all those who surrendered their ecclesiastical property to the
King received pensions sufficient to keep them in moderate comfort,
if not in affluence. Dorset accepted the dissolution of the
monasteries and the new services without any manifest
dissatisfaction. There was no rioting or fighting as in the
neighbouring county of Devon.
Dorset did not escape so easily in the days of the Civil War. Lyme,
holden for the Parliament by Governor Creely and some 500 men,
held out from April 20th to June 16th, 1644, against Prince Maurice
with 4,000 men, when the Earl of Essex came to its relief. Corfe
Castle and Sherborne Castle were each besieged twice. Abbotsbury
was taken by Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper in September, 1644.
Wareham, also, was more than once the scene of fighting. In the
north of Dorset a band of about 5,000 rustics, known as “Clubmen,”
assembled. These men knew little and cared less for the rival causes
of King and Parliament which divided the rest of England; but one
thing they did know and greatly cared for: they found that ever and
again bands of armed horsemen came riding through the villages,
some singing rollicking songs and with oaths on their lips, others
chanting psalms and quoting the Bible, but all alike treading down
their crops, demanding food, and sometimes their horses, often
forgetting to pay for them; so they resolved to arm themselves and
keep off Cavaliers and Roundheads alike. At one time they
encamped at Shaftesbury, but could not keep the Roundheads from
occupying the Hill Town; so they, to the number of 4,000, betook
themselves to the old Celtic camp of Hambledon, some seven or
eight miles to the south. Cromwell himself, in a letter to Fairfax,
dated August 4th, 1645, tells what befell them there:
We marched on to Shaftesbury, when we heard a great
body of them was drawn up together about Hambledon
Hill. I sent up a forlorn hope of about 50 horse, who
coming very civilly to them, they fired upon them; and ours
desiring some of them to come to me were refused with
disdain. They were drawn into one of the old camps upon
a very high hill. They refused to submit, and fired at us. I
sent a second time to let them know that if they would lay
down their arms no wrong should be done them. They still
—through the animation of their leaders, and especially
two vile ministers[1]—refused. When we came near they
let fly at us, killed about two of our men, and at least four
horses. The passage not being for above three abreast
kept us out, whereupon Major Desborow wheeled about,
got in the rear of them, beat them from the work, and did
some small execution upon them, I believe killed not
twelve of them, but cut very many, and put them all to
 flight. We have taken about 300, many of whom are poor
silly creatures, whom, if you please to let me send home,
they promise to be very dutiful for time to come, and will
be hanged before they come out again.
From which we see that “Grim old Oliver,” who could be severe
enough when policy demanded it, yet could show mercy at times, for
throughout this episode his dealings with the Clubmen were marked
with much forbearance.
Charles II., after his defeat at Worcester, September 3rd, 1651,
during his romantic wanderings and hidings before he could get safe
to sea, spent nearly three weeks in what is now Dorset, though most
of the time he was in concealment at the Manor House at Trent,
which was then within the boundaries of Somerset, having only
recently been transferred to Dorset. This manor house belonged to
Colonel Francis Wyndham. Hither on Wednesday, September 17th,
came Jane Lane, sister of Colonel Lane, from whose house at
Bentley, Worcestershire, she had ridden on a pillion behind one who
passed as her groom, really Charles in disguise, with one attendant,
Cornet Lassels. Jane and the Cornet left Trent the next day on their
return journey, and Charles was stowed away in Lady Wyndham’s
room, from which there was access to a hiding-place between two
floors. His object was to effect his escape from one of the small
Dorset ports. Colonel Wyndham rode next day to Melbury Sampford,
where lived Sir John Strangways, to see if either of his sons could
manage to hire a boat at Lyme, Weymouth, or Poole, which would
take Charles to France. He failed in this, but brought back one
hundred pounds, the gift of Sir John Strangways. Colonel Wyndham
then went to Lyme to see one Captain Ellesdon, to whom he said
that Lord Wilmot wanted to be taken across to France.
Arrangements were then made with Stephen Limbrey, the skipper of
a coasting vessel, to take a party of three or four royalist gentlemen
to France from Charmouth. Lord Wilmot was described as a Mr.
Payne, a bankrupt merchant running away from his creditors, and
taking his servant (Charles) with him. It was agreed that Limbrey
should have a rowing-boat ready on Charmouth beach on the night
of September 22nd, when the tide was high, to convey the party to
his ship and carry them safe to France, for which service he was to
receive £60. September 22nd was “fair day” at Lyme, and as many
people would probably be about, it was necessary that the party
should find some safe lodging where they could wait quietly till the
tide was in, about midnight. Rooms were secured, as for a runaway
couple, at a small inn at Charmouth. At this inn on Monday morning
arrived Colonel Wyndham, who acted as guide, and his wife and
niece, a Mrs. Juliana Coningsby (the supposed eloping damsel),
riding behind her groom (Charles). Lord Wilmot, the supposed
bridegroom, with Colonel Wyndham’s confidential servant, Peters,
followed. Towards midnight Wyndham and Peters went down to the
beach, Wilmot and Charles waiting at the inn ready to be called as
soon as the boat should come. But no signs of the boat appeared
throughout the whole night. It seems that Mrs. Limbrey had seen
posted up at Lyme a notice about the heavy penalty that anyone
would incur who helped Charles Stuart to escape, and suspecting
that the mysterious enterprise on which her husband was engaged
might have something to do with helping in such an escape, she,
when he came back in the evening to get some things he had need
of for the voyage, locked him in his room and would not let him out;
and he dared not break out lest the noise and his wife’s violent
words might attract attention and the matter get noised abroad.
Charles, by Wyndham’s advice, rode off to Bridport the next morning
with Mistress Coningsby, as before, the Colonel going with them;
Wilmot stayed behind. His horse cast a shoe, and Peters took it to
the smith to have another put on; and the smith, examining the
horse’s feet, said: “These three remaining shoes were put on in three
different counties, and one looks like a Worcester shoe.” When the
shoe was fixed, the smith went to a Puritan minister, one
Bartholomew Wesley, and told him what he suspected. Wesley went
to the landlady of the inn: “Why, Margaret,” said he, “you are now a
maid of honour.” “What do you mean by that, Mr. Parson?” said she.
“Why, Charles Stuart lay at your house last night, and kissed you at
his departure, so that you cannot now but be a maid of honour.”
Whereupon the hostess waxed wroth, and told Wesley that he was
an ill-conditioned man to try and bring her and her house into
trouble; but, with a touch of female vanity, she added: “If I thought it
was the King, as you say it was, I should think the better of my lips
all the days of my life. So, Mr. Parson, get you out of my house, or I’ll
get those who shall kick you out.”
However, the matter soon got abroad, and a pursuit began.
Meanwhile, Charles and his party had pressed on into Bridport,
which happened to be full of soldiers mustering there before joining a
projected expedition to capture the Channel Islands for the
Parliament. Charles’s presence of mind saved him. He pushed
through the crowd into the inn yard, groomed the horse, chatted with
the soldiers, who had no suspicion that he was other than he
seemed, and then said that he must go and serve his mistress at
table. By this time Wilmot and Peters had arrived, and they told him
of the incident at the shoeing forge; so, losing no time, the party
started on the Dorchester road, but, turning off into a by-lane, got
safe to Broadwinsor, and thence once more to Trent, which they
reached on September 24th. On October 5th Wilmot and Charles left
Trent and made their way to Shoreham in Sussex. But they had not
quite done with Dorset yet; for it was a Dorset skipper, one Tattersal,
whose business it was to sail a collier brig, The Surprise, between
Poole and Shoreham, who carried Charles Stuart and Lord Wilmot
from Shoreham to Fécamp, and received the £60 that poor Limbrey
might have had save for his wife’s interference.
Dorset was the stage on which were acted the first and one of the
concluding scenes of the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion in 1685. On
June 11th the inhabitants of Lyme Regis were sorely perplexed when
they saw three foreign-looking ships, which bore no colours, at
anchor in the bay; and their anxiety was not lessened when they saw
the custom house officers, who had rowed out, as their habit was, to
overhaul the cargo of any vessel arriving at the port, reach the
vessels but return not again. Then from seven boats landed some
eighty armed men, whose leader knelt down on the shore to offer up
thanksgiving for his safe voyage, and to pray for God’s blessing on
his enterprise. When it was known that this leader was the Duke of
Monmouth the people welcomed him, his blue flag was set up in the
market place, and Monmouth’s undignified Declaration—the
composition of Ferguson—was read. That same evening the Mayor,
who approved of none of these things, set off to rouse the West in
the King’s favour, and from Honiton sent a letter giving information of
the landing. On June 14th, the first blood was shed in a skirmish
near Bridport (it was not a decisive engagement). Monmouth’s men,
however, came back to Lyme, the infantry in good order, the cavalry
helter-skelter; and little wonder, seeing that the horses, most of them
taken from the plough, had never before heard the sound of
firearms.
Then Monmouth and his men pass off our stage. It is not for the
local Dorset historian to trace his marches up and down Somerset,
or to describe the battle that was fought in the early hours of the
morning of July 6th under the light of the full moon, amid the sheet of
thick mist, which clung like a pall over the swampy surface of the
level stretch of Sedgemoor. Once again Dorset received Monmouth,
no longer at the head of an enthusiastic and brave, though a badly
armed and undisciplined multitude, but a lonely, hungry, haggard,
heartbroken fugitive. On the morning of July 8th he was found in a
field near Horton, which still bears the name of Monmouth’s Close,
hiding in a ditch. He was brought before Anthony Etricke of Holt, the
Recorder of Poole, and by him sent under escort to London, there to
meet his ghastly end on Tower Hill, and to be laid to rest in what
Macaulay calls the saddest spot on earth, St. Peter’s in the Tower,
the last resting-place of the unsuccessfully ambitious, of those guilty
of treason, and also of some whose only fault it was that they were
too near akin to a fallen dynasty, and so roused the fears and
jealousy of the reigning monarch.
Everyone has heard of the Bloody Assize which followed, but the
names and the number of those who perished were not accurately
known till a manuscript of forty-seven pages, of folio size, was
offered for sale among a mass of waste paper in an auction room at
Dorchester, December, 1875.[2] It was bought by Mr. W. B. Barrett,
and he found that it was a copy of the presentment of rebels at the
Autumn Assizes of 1685, probably made for the use of some official
of the Assize Court, as no doubt the list that Jeffreys had would have
been written on parchment, and this was on paper. It gives the
names of 2,611 persons presented at Dorchester, Exeter, and
Taunton, as having been implicated in the rebellion, the parishes
where they lived, and the nature of their callings. Of these, 312 were
charged at Dorchester, and only about one-sixth escaped
punishment. Seventy-four were executed, 175 were transported,
nine were whipped or fined, and 54 were acquitted or were not
captured. It is worth notice that the percentage of those punished at
Exeter and Taunton was far less than at Dorchester. Out of 488
charged at Exeter, 455 escaped; and at Taunton, out of 1,811, 1,378
did not suffer. It is possible that the Devon and Somerset rebels,
having heard of Jeffreys’ severity at Dorchester, found means of
escape. No doubt many of the country folk who had not sympathized
with the rebellion would yet help to conceal those who were
suspected, when they knew (from what had happened at
Dorchester) that if they were taken they would in all probability be
condemned to death or slavery—for those “transported” were really
handed over to Court favourites as slaves for work on their West
Indian plantations. It is gratifying to know that it has been discovered,
since Macaulay’s time, that such of the transported as were living
when William and Mary came to the throne were pardoned and set
at liberty on the application of Sir William Young.
Monmouth was the last invader to land in Dorset; but there was in
the early part of the nineteenth century very great fear among the
Dorset folk that a far more formidable enemy might choose some
spot, probably Weymouth, on the Dorset coast for landing his army.
Along the heights of the Dorset downs they built beacons of dry
stubs and furze, with guards in attendance, ready to flash the news
of Napoleon’s landing, should he land. The general excitement that
prevailed, the false rumours that from time to time made the
peaceable inhabitants, women and children, flee inland, and sent the
men capable of bearing arms flocking seaward, are well described in
Mr. Hardy’s Trumpet Major. But Napoleon never came, and the
dread of invasion passed away for ever in 1805.

In the wild October night time, when the wind raved round the
land,
And the back-sea met the front-sea, and our doors were
blocked with sand,
 And we heard the drub of Dead-man’s Bay, where bones of
thousands are,
(But) knew not what that day had done for us at Trafalgar.[3]

The isolation of Dorset, which has been before spoken of, has had
much to do with preserving from extinction the old dialect spoken in
the days of the Wessex kings. Within its boundaries, especially in
“outstep placen,” as the people call them, the old speech may be
heard in comparative purity. Let it not be supposed that Dorset is an
illiterate corruption of literary English. It is an older form of English; it
possesses many words that elsewhere have become obsolete, and
a grammar with rules as precise as those of any recognised
language. No one not to the manner born can successfully imitate
the speech of the rustics who, from father to son, through many
generations have lived in the same village. A stranger may pick up a
few Dorset words, only, in all probability, to use them incorrectly. For
instance, he may hear the expression “thic tree” for “that tree,” and
go away with the idea that “thic” is the Dorset equivalent of “that,”
and so say “thic grass”—an expression which no true son of the
Dorset soil would use; for, as the late William Barnes pointed out,
things in Dorset are of two classes: (1) The personal class of formed
things, as a man, a tree, a boot; (2) the impersonal class of
unformed quantities of things, as a quantity of hair, or wood, or
water. “He” is the personal pronoun for class (1); “it” for class (2).
Similarly, “thëase” and “thic” are the demonstratives of class (1);
“this” and “that” of class (2). A book is “he”; some water is “it.” We
say in Dorset: “Thëase tree by this water,” “Thic cow in that grass.”
Again, a curious distinction is made in the infinitive mood: when it is
not followed by an object, it ends in “y”; when an object follows, the
“y” is omitted:—“Can you mowy?” but “Can you mow this grass for
me?” The common use of “do” and “did” as auxiliary verbs, and not
only when emphasis is intended, is noteworthy (the “o” of the “do”
being faintly heard). “How do you manage about threading your
needles?” asked a lady of an old woman engaged in sewing, whose
sight was very dim from cataract. The answer came: “Oh, he” (her
husband) “dô dread ’em for me.” In Dorset we say not only “to-day”
and “to-morrow,” but also “to-week,” “to-year.” “Tar’ble” is often used
for “very,” in a good as well as a bad sense. There are many words
bearing no resemblance to English in Dorset speech. What modern
Englishman would recognise a “mole hill” in a “wont-heave,” or
“cantankerous” in “thirtover”? But too much space would be occupied
were this fascinating subject to be pursued further.
National schools, however, are corrupting Wessex speech, and
the niceties of Wessex grammar are often neglected by the children.
Probably the true Dorset will soon be a thing of the past. William
Barnes’ poems and Thomas Hardy’s Wessex novels, especially the
latter, will then become invaluable to the philologist. In some
instances Mr. Barnes’ spelling seems hardly to represent the sound
of words as they are uttered by Dorset, or, as they say here, “Darset”
lips.
 THE BARROWS OF DORSET
By C. S. Prideaux
HE County of Dorset is exceedingly rich in the
prehistoric burial-places commonly called barrows. At
the present time considerably over a thousand are
marked on the one-inch Ordnance Map, and,
considering the numbers which have been destroyed,
we may surely claim that Dorset was a populous centre in prehistoric
times, owing probably to its proximity to the Continent and its safe
harbours, as well as to its high and dry downs and wooded valleys.
The long barrow is the earliest form of sepulchral mound, being
the burial-place of the people of the Neolithic or Late Stone Age, a
period when men were quite ignorant of the use of metals, with the
possible exception of gold, using flint or stone weapons and
implements, but who cultivated cereals, domesticated animals, and
manufactured a rude kind of hand-made pottery. Previous to this,
stone implements and weapons were of a rather rude type; but now
not only were they more finely chipped, but often polished.
The round barrows are the burial-places of the Goidels, a branch
of the Celtic family, who were taller than the Neolithic men and had
rounder heads. They belong to the Bronze Age, a period when that
metal was first introduced into Britain; and although comparatively
little is found in the round barrows of Dorset, still less has been
discovered in the North of England, probably owing to the greater
distance from the Continent.
Hand-made pottery abounds, artistically decorated with diagonal
lines and dots, which are combined to form such a variety of patterns
that probably no two vessels are found alike. Stone and flint
implements were still in common use, and may be found almost
anywhere in Dorset, especially on ploughed uplands after a storm of
rain, when the freshly-turned-up flints have been washed clear of
earth.
In discussing different periods, we must never lose sight of the fact
that there is much overlapping; and although it is known that the
long-barrow men had long heads and were a short race, averaging 5
ft. 4 in. in height, and that the round-barrow men had round heads
and averaged 5 ft. 8 in.,[4] we sometimes find fairly long-shaped
skulls in the round barrows, showing that the physical peculiarities of
the two races became blended.
Long barrows are not common in Dorset, and little has been done
in examining their contents. This is probably due to their large size,
and the consequent difficulty in opening them. They are generally
found inland, and singly, with their long diameter east and west; and
the primary interments, at any rate in Dorset, are unburnt, and
usually placed nearer the east end. Some are chambered, especially
where large flat stones were easily obtainable, but more often they
are simply formed of mould and chalk rubble. Their great size cannot
fail to impress us, and we may well wonder how such huge mounds
were constructed with the primitive implements at the disposal of
Neolithic man. One near Pimperne, measured by Mr. Charles Warne,
is 110 yards long, and there are others near Bere Regis, Cranborne,
Gussage, and Kingston Russell; and within a couple of miles of the
latter place, besides the huge long barrow, are dozens of round
barrows, the remains of British villages, hut circles, stone circles, and
a monolith.
 PLATE I. Figs. 1 3 2 4 6 5
Bronze Age Objects from Dorset Round Barrows
(IN THE DORSET COUNTY MUSEUM).
⅕ Scale.
 PLATE II. Figs. 1 3 2 4
Bronze Age Objects from Dorset Round Barrows
(IN THE DORSET COUNTY MUSEUM).
⅕ Scale.

The late Lieut.-General Pitt-Rivers, in 1893, removed the whole of

Wor Barrow, on Handley Down,[5] and made a very exhaustive
examination of its contents, which presented many features of
peculiar interest. This barrow, with ditch, was about 175 feet long,
125 feet wide, and 13½ feet high; inside the mound on the ground
level was an oblong space, 93 ft. by 34 ft., surrounded by a trench
filled with flints. The earth above the trench bore traces of wooden
piles, which were, no doubt, originally stuck into the trench with the
flints packed around to keep them in place, thus forming a palisade;
the wooden piles in this case taking the place of the stone slabs
found in the stone-chambered long barrows of Gloucestershire and
elsewhere.
 Six primary interments by inhumation were discovered at the
south-east part of the enclosure, with a fragment of coarse British
pottery. Three of the bodies were in a crouched position. The
remaining three had been deposited as bones, not in sequence, the
long bones being laid out by the side of the skulls; and careful
measurement of these bones shows that their owners were the short
people of the long-headed or Neolithic race, which confirms the first
part of Dr. Thurnam’s axiom: “Long barrows long skulls, round
barrows round skulls.” Nineteen secondary interments of a later date
were found in the upper part of the barrow and in the surrounding
ditch, with numerous pieces of pottery, flint implements, fragments of
bronze and iron, and coins, proving that the barrow was used as a
place of burial down to Roman times.
In Dorset the round barrows are generally found on the summits of
the hills which run through the county, more particularly on the
Ridgeway, which roughly follows the coast line from near Bridport to
Swanage, where may be seen some hundreds of all sizes, from
huge barrows over 100 feet in diameter and 15 feet in height to small
mounds, so little raised above the surface that only the tell-tale
shadows cast by the rising or setting sun show where a former
inhabitant lies buried.
In the western part of the county they may be traced from Kingston
Russell to Agger-Dun, through Sydling and Cerne Abbas to
Bulbarrow, and in the east, from Swanage Bay to Bere Regis; and
also near Dorchester, Wimborne, Blandford, and other places.
In the Bronze Age cremation and inhumation were both practised;
but in Dorset burials by cremation are the more common. The
cremated remains were sometimes placed in a hole or on the
surface line, with nothing to protect them from the weight of the
barrow above; at other times they were covered by flat slabs of
stone, built in the form of a small closed chamber or cist. Often they
were placed on a flat piece of stone, and covered with an inverted
urn, or put in an urn, with a covering slab over them; and they have
been found wrapped in an animal’s skin, or in a bag of some woven
material, or even in a wooden coffin.
 The inhumed bodies are nearly always found in a contracted
posture, with the knees drawn up towards the chin; and a larger
number face either east, south or west, than north. In the case of an
inhumation, when the body was deposited below the old surface
level, the grave was often neatly hewn and sometimes lined with
slabs of stone, and it was the common custom to pile a heap of flints
over it, affording a protection from wild animals; above the flints was
heaped the main portion of the mound, which consisted of mould
and chalk rubble.

A ditch, with or without a causeway,[6] usually surrounds each

barrow, but is so often silted up that no trace of it can be seen on the
surface; it probably helped to supply the chalk rubble of the barrow.
Bronze Age sepulchral pottery, which is hand-made, often
imperfectly baked and unglazed, has been divided into four classes:
the beaker or drinking vessel, the food vessel, the incense cup, and
the cinerary urn. The two former are usually associated with
inhumations; the two latter with cremations.
As a type of prehistoric ceramic art in Britain, the Hon. J.
Abercromby says that the beaker is the earliest, and the cinerary urn
the latest.[7]
Plate II., fig. 2, is a typical drinking vessel or beaker which was
found in the hands of a skeleton during alterations to the Masonic
Hall at Dorchester. It is made of thin, reddish, well-baked pottery, and
from the stains inside it evidently contained food or liquid at some
time. The beaker is more often met with than the food vessel, being
found on the Continent as well as in England. The food vessel, on
the other hand, is a type unrepresented outside the British Isles, and
is entirely wanting in Wiltshire,[8] although common in the North of
England, Scotland, and Ireland. In the Dorset County Museum at
Dorchester there are several fine examples found in the county, and
Plate I., fig. 1, represents one taken from a barrow near
Martinstown.[9] It is of unusual interest, as one-handled food-vessels
are rare. In this inhumed primary interment the vessel was lying in
the arms of the skeleton, whilst close by was another and much
smaller vessel, with the remains of three infants.
The terms “drinking-vessel” and “food-vessel” may possibly be
accurate, as these vessels may have held liquids or food; but there
is no evidence to show that the so-called “incense cups” had
anything to do with incense. The more feasible idea seems to be that
they were used to hold embers with which to fire the funeral pile, and
the holes with which they are generally perforated would have been
most useful for admitting air to keep the embers alight.[10] These
small vessels are usually very much ornamented, even on their
bases, with horizontal lines, zigzags, chevrons, and the like, and
occasionally a grape-like pattern. They are seldom more than three
inches in height, but vary much in shape, and often are found
broken, with the fragments widely separated, as if they had been
smashed purposely at the time of the burial. Plate II., figs. 3 and 4,
are from specimens in the Dorset County Museum, which also
contains several other Dorset examples.
There can be no doubt as to the use of the cinerary urn, which
always either contains or covers cremated remains. The urn (Plate
II., fig. 1) is from the celebrated Deverel Barrow, which was opened
in 1825 by Mr. W. A. Miles. The shape of this urn is particularly
common in Dorset, as well as another variety which has handles, or,
rather, perforated projections or knobs. A third and prettier variety is
also met with, having a small base, and a thick overhanging rim or
band at the mouth, generally ornamented.
It is rare to find curved lines in the ornamentation of Bronze Age
pottery, but sometimes concentric circles and spiral ornaments are
met with on rock-surfaces and sculptured stones. Mr. Charles Warne
found in tumulus 12, Came Down, Dorchester, two flat stones
covering two cairns with incised concentric circles cut on their
surfaces.[11]
There is no clear evidence of iron having been found in the round
barrows of Dorset in connection with a Bronze Age interment; but of
gold several examples may be seen in the County Museum, and
one, which was found in Clandon Barrow, near Martinstown, with a
jet head of a sceptre with gold studs, is shown in Plate I., fig 2.
Others were discovered in Mayo’s Barrow and Culliford Tree.[12]
Bronze, which is an alloy of copper and tin, is the only other metal
found with primary interments in our Dorset round barrows.
The County Museum possesses some excellent celts and
palstaves; a set of six socketed celts came from a barrow near
Agger-Dun, and look as if they had just come from the mould. They
are ornamented with slender ridges, ending in tiny knobs, and have
never been sharpened (two of them are figured in Plate I., figs. 3 and
4); another celt, from a barrow in the Ridgeway, is interesting as
having a fragment of cloth adhering to it. Daggers are found,
generally, with cremated remains, and are usually ornamented with a
line or lines, which, beginning just below the point, run down the
blade parallel with the cutting edges. The rivets which fastened the
blade to the handle are often in position with fragments of the
original wooden handle and sheath.[13] These daggers seem to be
more common in Dorset than in the northern counties, and many
examples may be seen in the County Museum, and two are
illustrated in Plate I., figs. 5 and 6.
Bronze pins, glass beads, amber and Kimmeridge shell objects,
bone tweezers and pins, slingstones and whetstones, are
occasionally met with; but by far the most common objects are the
flint and stone implements, weapons, and flakes.

In making a trench through a barrow near Martinstown,[14] more

than 1,200 flakes or chips of flints were found, besides some
beautifully-formed scrapers, a fabricator, a flint saw, most skilfully
notched, and a borer with a gimlet-like point.
Arrow-heads are not common in Dorset, but six were found in a
barrow in Fordington Field, Dorchester. They are beautiful
specimens, barbed and tongued; the heaviest only weighs twenty-
five grains, and the lightest sixteen grains. Mr. Warne mentions the
finding of arrow-heads, and also (a rare find in Dorset) a stone
battle-axe, from a barrow on Steepleton Down.
 Charred wood is a conspicuous feature, and animal bones are
also met with in the county, and in such positions as to prove that
they were placed there at the time of the primary interment. Stags’
horns, often with the tips worn as though they had been used as
picks, are found, both in the barrows and in the ditches.
So far only objects belonging to the Bronze Age have been
mentioned; but as later races used these burial-places, objects of a
later date are common. Bronze and iron objects and pottery, and
coins of every period, are often found above the original interment
and in the ditches. This makes it difficult for an investigator to settle
with certainty the different positions in which the objects were
deposited; and unless he is most careful he will get the relics from
various periods mixed. Therefore, the practice of digging a hole into
one of these burial-mounds, for the sake of a possible find, cannot
be too heartily condemned. Anyone who is ambitious to open a
barrow should carefully read those wonderful books on Excavations
in Cranborne Chase, by the late Lieut.-General Pitt-Rivers, before he
puts a spade into the ground; for a careless dig means evidence
destroyed for those that come after.
Most Dorset people will remember the late curator of the County
Museum, Mr. Henry Moule, and perhaps some may have heard him
tell this story, but it will bear repeating. A labourer had brought a
piece of pottery to the Museum, and Mr. Moule explained to him that
it not only came from a barrow, but that it was most interesting, and
that he would like to keep it for the Museum. The man looked
surprised, and said, “Well, Meäster, I’ve a-knocked up scores o’
theäsem things. I used to level them there hipes (or heäps) an’
drawed awaÿ the vlints vor to mend the roads; an’ I must ha’ broke
up dozens o’ theäse here wold pots; but they niver had no cwoins
inzide ’em.” Those who knew Mr. Moule can imagine his horror.
Much more remains to be done by Dorset people in investigating
these most interesting relics of the past, for we know little of the
builders of these mounds; and, as Mr. Warne says in his introduction
to The Celtic Tumuli of Dorset:—
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