Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

266 8 A N ■
SANHEDRIN. See Synedrium.
SANITATION. See Hygiene and Sewage.
SAN JOSE, the capital of Costa Rica, Central America,
stands 3900 feet above the sea, in a beautiful valley sur¬
rounded by mountains, on the west side of the main range
about 15 miles north-west of Cartago (the ancient capital),
with which it is connected by a railway (1884). Since
1870 the cathedral has been restored, a handsome market¬
place with offices for the municipality erected, the barracks
rebuilt and fortified, and several of the streets macadam¬
ized. San Jose is the seat of the national bank (founded
in 1873) and of a university, to which a medical school
and a museum are attached. The population is estimated
at from 20,000 to 25,000. As a city it dates from the
latter half of the 18th century; it became the capital after
the destruction of Cartago by earthquake in 1841.
SAN JOSE, a city of the United States, capital of
Santa Clara county, California, lies 40 miles south-east of
San Francisco and 8 miles from the southern end of San
Francisco Bay, in the heart of the beautiful Santa Clara
Valley. It is at this point that the railways from the two
sides of the bay meet. The main part of the city occupies
a gently rising plateau between the Coyote and Guadalupe
rivers. Among the principal buildings are a fine court¬
house, a theatre, a city-hall, two markets, a music-hall,
the State normal school, the Methodist “ university of the
Pacific,” and a number of large colleges and schools.
Besides three public parks in the city San Jose possesses
a tract of 400 acres in Penitencia Canon, 7 miles east,
reserved for a similar purpose. The Lick Observatory
(founded in 1884 on the top of Mount Hamilton) is 12
miles distant, and the Almaden quicksilver mines about
14 miles. The population of the city was 9089 in 1870,
and 12,567 (township 18,103) in 1880.
Founded by the Spanish missionaries in 1777, San Jose remained
a small village of adobe huts till the annexation of the country to
the United States. The first session of the legislature of California
was held in the town in 1849-50.
SAN JUAN BAUTISTA. See Porto Rico.
SAN JUAN DE LA FRONTERA, the capital of a
province of the Argentine Republic, is situated 2310 feet
above the sea in a great bend of the Rio de San Juan, 95
miles north of Mendoza and 730 miles from Buenos Ayres,
with which it is about to be connected by rail (1886). It
is mostly built of sun-dried bricks, has a cathedral, several
churches and schools, two banks, and a botanical garden,
and carries on a considerable trade with Chili by the Patos
and Uspallata passes. Population estimated at 20 000
(1881).
San Juan was founded in 1561 by Captain Castillo on a site 4
miles to the north, which had to be abandoned owing to inundations
and is now called Pueblo Viejo. From 1776 to 1820 the city was
in the government of Mendoza. President Sarmiento bestowed
special attention on this his native town and gave his name to its
principal school, famous throughout the republic for its excellent
equipment.
SAN JUAN DEL NORTE. See Greytown.
SAN JUAN (or HARO) ISLANDS, an archipelago
(San Juan, Orcas, Shaw, Lopez, Blakely, Cypress, &c.) lying
between Vancouver Island and the mainland of North
America, which were-for many years the subject of dispute
between the British and the United States Governments,
and were finally assigned to the latter country by the
arbitration of the emperor of Germany (21st October
1872). Geographically the cluster certainly belougs to the
mainland, from which it is separated by Rosario Channel,
generally much under 50 fathoms in depth, while Haro
Strait, separating it from Vancouver Island, has depths
ranging from 100 to 190 fathoms. In 1873 the islands,
formerly considered part of Whatcom county, Washington
ierritory, were made the separate county of San Juan. Of
the total area of 200 square miles, about 60 are in San
-SAN
Juan, 60 in Orcas, and 30 in Lopez. The population was
554 in 1870 and 948 in 1880.
See Papers relating to the Treaty of Washington, vol. v., 1872,
and the map in Petermann’s Mittheilungen, 1873.
SANKT JOHANN. See Saarbrucken.
SANKT POLTEN, a small town, and the seat of a
bishop, in Lower Austria, is situated on the Treisen, a
tributary of the Danube, 61 miles west of Vienna by rail.
It contains an interesting old abbey church, founded in
1030 and restored in 1266 and again at the beginning of
the 18th century. There are several religious educational
institutions in the town, and a military academy for
engineers. The inhabitants, 10,015 in number, carry on
some trade, and the manufacture of iron • wire, paper,
weapons, &c. The name is said to be a corruption of
Traisma ad S. Hippolytum, from a convent that formerly
stood here. The history of the bishopric has been written
in two volumes by Kerschbaumer (Vienna, 1875-6).
SAN LUCAR DE BARRAMEDA, a town of Spain, in
the province of Cadiz, and 27 miles by sea from that city,
in a bare, sandy, and undulating country, on the left bank
of the Guadalquivir, not far from its mouth. It stands
partly on the flat bank of the river and partly on the
rising ground behind, the summit of which is crowned by
an old Moorish castle. There is an old parish church
dating from the 14th century. The other buildings have
no special interest, and the place as a whole is dull and
lifeless, having lost much of the commercial importance it
formerly possessed. It is now chiefly dependent on the
trade in its wines, which is still considerable. Many of
the inhabitants are employed in agriculture and fishing.
The population within the municipal boundaries was
21,918 in 1877.
SAN LUIS POTOSI, a city of Mexico, capital of the
state of the same name, is situated at a height of 6200
feet on the eastern edge of the great plain of Anahuac, in
a valley running north and south, 160 miles north-west of
Queretaro. It is a great centre for the “ diligence ” traffic,
and in 1885 was connected by rail with Tampico, a pro¬
mising harbour on the Gulf of Mexico. The city proper,
which has a rather imposing Oriental appearance, is laid
out with great regularity; the streets are well-paved, and
the houses, usually two stories in height, are frequently
fine specimens of old Spanish architecture. But suburbs
of wretched hovels spread over a considerable area.
Among the conspicuous buildings are the cathedral, the
Government house, with a front in rose-coloured stone, the
city-hall, the mint, the churches of El Carmen, San Fran¬
cisco, &c., and the recently erected “ American ” hotel,
which, with tramways, telephones, and electric light, is a
symptom of the Occidentalizing that is rapidly taking place
in the inland cities of Mexico. The Institute Cientifico is
a kind of university for the teaching of law, medicine, and
the exact sciences. Plaza Hidalgo takes its name from
the statue to the martyr of Mexican independence. A
considerable trade is carried on in cattle, hides, and
tallow. The population is stated at 30,000, or with the
suburbs 60,000.
Founded in 1586, San Luis Potosi has played an important part
in the Mexican civil wars. In 1863 it was the seat of the national
government under Juarez, and after being occupied by Bazaine was
recovered by Juarez in 1867.
SAN MARINO, the smallest independent republic in
Europe, has an area of 33 square miles (Strelbitsky), lies
between the provinces of Forli and Pesaro-Urbino, and
consists of part of the eastern spurs of the Apennines.
Monte Titano, the central and culminating summit, has
three peaks (M. Guaita, Cucco, and Gista), the three Penne
of San Marino—a name evidently identical with the Celtic
Penn or Benn, but translated by the canting heraldry of
the republic’s coat of arms as three “ feathers.” The two