Charente

Charente (Sharongt), a river, rises in the dep. of Haute-Vienne, and winds 222 miles NW., S., and WNW., mainly through the deps. of Charente and Charente-Inferieure, to the Bay of Biscay, opposite the island of Oleron.

Charente

Charente, a French dep. formed chiefly out of the old province of Angoumois. Area, 2285 sq. m. Pop. (1866) 378,218; (1901) 344,376. Generally level, with granite offshoots of the Limousin range in the north, and chalk-hills in the south, it is divided into the five arrondissements of Angouleme, Cognac, Ruffec, Barbezieux, and Con-folens. Angouleme is the chief town.

Charento-Inferieure

Charento-Inferieure (Sharongt-Ongfayree-ehr'), a dep. of France, formed principally from the former provinces of Saihtonge, Aunis, and a small portion of Poitou. The Bay of Biscay washes its western boundary. Area, 2625 sq. m. Pop. (1866) 479,529; (1901) 446,294. It is watered on its boundaries by the Sevre-Niortaise and the Gironde, and in the centre by the navigable Charente. The chief harbours are those of Rochefort and Tonnay-Charente. La Rochelle is the chief town.

Charenton-le-Pont

Charenton-le-Pont (Sharongtong'-le-Pong), a town on the Marne, 4 m. SE. of Paris. Pop. 17,550.

Charjui

Charjui (Tchar-joo'ee), a Russian town of Central Asia, on the Amu-Daria, where the Trans-caspian railway from Merv to Bokhara crosses the river by a great bridge opened in 1888.

Charkov

Charkov'. See Kharkov.

Charlbury

Charlbury, an Oxfordshire market-town, 6 miles SE. of Chipping Norton. Pop. 1478.

Charlcote House

Charlcote House, Warwickshire, 4 1/2 miles ENE. of Stratford-on-Avon, the seat (1558) of the Lucy family.

Charleroi

Charleroi (Shahrl-rwah'), a Belgian town on the Sambre, 35 miles S. by E. of Brussels. It has manufactures of hardware, glass, yarn, etc, the huge ironworks of Couillet, and neighbouring collieries, smelting-furnaces, and nail-factories. Six times exchanged between France and Spain, it was assigned to Austria by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748). Pop. 25,000.

Charlestown

Charlestown, a Fife seaport village, on the Firth of Forth, 4 miles SSW. of Dunfermline. Pop. 750.

Charlestown

Charlestown, a Mayo village, 10 miles NW. of Ballaghaderreen. Pop. 640.

Charlestown

Charlestown (Massachusetts). See Boston and Bunker Hill.

Charleville

Charleville, a market-town, 34 miles N. of Cork. Pop. 2000.

Charleville

Charleville (Shahrl-veel'), a town in the French dep. of Ardennes, on the Meuse, opposite Mezieres. It has manufactures of hardware, leather, and beer. Pop. 17,900.

Charlotte

Charlotte, capital of Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, 265 miles ENE. of Atlanta, has manufactures of carriages, cotton goods, tobacco, etc., and is the seat of a Presbyterian university (1867). Pop. 18,200.

Charlotte Amalie

Charlotte Amalie (Amah'lee-eh), the capital of the West Indian island of St Thomas (q.v.).

Charlottenburg

Charlottenburg (Sharlot'tenboorg'), a Prussian town on the Spree, 3 miles W. of Berlin, with which it is connected by a road leading through the Thiergarten. It contains a royal palace, founded in 1696 for Sophie Charlotte, the second wife of Frederick I.; in its mausoleum here are the remains of Frederick William HI. and the Emperor William I. In the town are a famous technical high-school or university and military school; the manufactures include ironwares, machinery, porcelain, glass, paper, leather, chemicals, and beer. Pop. (1871) 19,518; (18S0) 30,483; (1890) 76,859; (1900) 189,290.