Oswego

Oswe'go, the capital of Oswego county, New York, is situated at the mouth of Oswego River (here crossed by three bridges), on Lake Ontario, at the extremity of the Oswego Canal (to Syracuse), 326 miles by rail NW. of New York City. It has a United States government building, court-house, city-hall, state armoury, etc, and is the principal port on the lake, with a breakwater, large elevators, and 4 miles of wharves. The river falls here 34 feet, and the water-power is utilised in flour-mills, knitting-mills, etc. Oswego starch and corn-flour are household words. Pop. (1880) 21,116; (1900) 22,200.

Oswestry

Os'westry, a thriving market-town and municipal borough (1397) of Shropshire, 18 miles NW. of Shrewsbury. It has an old parish church, restored in 1872 at a cost of £10,000; a fragment of the Norman castle of Walter Fitzalan, progenitor of the royal Stewarts; and a 15th-century grammar-school, rebuilt in 1810 and enlarged in 1863-78. Railway workshops were established in 1865, and sewerage and water works in 1866. Oswestry derives its name from St Oswald, slain here in 642. In 1644 it was captured by the parliamentarians. Pop. (1851) 4817; (1901) 9579. See works by Price (1815) and Cathrall (1855).

Otago

Otago (Otah'go; prob. from Maori Otakon, ' red earth'), the most southern provincial district of New Zealand, in the South Island, till 1876 one of the original six provinces in the colony. It was colonised in 1848 by the Otago Association. It has a coast-line of 400 miles, and an area of over 15,000,000 acres. Pop. (1891) 153,005; (1901) 173,145. Gold was discovered here in 1861. Dunedin (q.v.) is the capital.

Otaheite

Otaheite. See Tahiti.

Otaru

Otaru, a large seaport of Yezo (Hokkaido), Japan, on the west coast, 22 miles W. of Sapporo. It has important herring-fisheries and a well-protected harbour, and has railway connection with Sapporo. Pop. 57,000.

Otchakoff

Otchakoff, a Russian seaport, on the north shore of the Dnieper's estuary, 38 miles ENE. of Odessa. After it had been bombarded by the Allied fleet in 1855, the Russians demolished the fortifications. In 1887 a ship-canal was opened here, which makes the estuary of the Bug and Dnieper accessible to large ships. Pop. 10,800.

Otley

Otley, a market-town in the West Riding of Yorkshire, on the Wharfe's right bank, and at the north base of Otley Chevin (925 feet), 10 miles NW. of Leeds. It has an interesting church, a court-house (1875), a mechanics' institute (1869), and a grammar-school (1602). Machine-making is the principal industry, with worsted and leather manufactures. Pop. 9500.

Otranto

Otranto (anc. Hydruntum), a decayed seaport in the extreme south-east of Italy, 29 miles by rail SE. of Lecce, and on the Strait of Otranto, 45 miles from the opposite coast of Albania. Long the chief port for Greece, it has a ruined castle, which gave title to Horace Walpole's story, and an archiepiscopal cathedral, restored since the capture of Otranto in 1480 by the Turks. Pop. 2400.