This section is from the book "Chambers's Concise Gazetteer Of The World", by David Patrick. Also available from Amazon: Chambers's Concise Gazetteer Of The World.
Plympton, a Devon market-town, near the Plym, 4 1/2 miles E. by N. of Plymouth. It returned two members till 1832. At its grammar-school (1658) were educated Sir Joshua Reynolds (a native) and Haydon. Pop. of parish, 1119.
Plynlimmon. See Plinlimmon.
Pnom Penh. See Cambodia.
Po (anc. Eridanus and Padus), the largest river of Italy, rises on Monte Viso, one of the Cottian Alps, at an altitude of 6405 feet, close to the French frontier, and flows 360 miles E. to the Adriatic. Over 55 miles from its mouth, above Ferrara, it begins to form its delta, 60 miles wide from north to south, and growing rapidly in area. Ravenna, once on the seashore, now stands 4 miles inland. The Po receives from the left the Ticino, Adda, Mincio, etc, and from the right the Trebbia. Below Piacenza its stream, now considerably above the level of the plain, has from ante-Roman days been embanked.
Pocklington, a market-town in the East Riding of Yorkshire, 16 miles ESE. of York. It has an Early English church (restored 1850) and a grammar-school (1514; reconstituted 1876), where Wilberforce was educated. Archbishop Ullathorne was son of a grocer here. Pop. 2557.
Podgoritza, a town of Montenegro, 16 miles E. of Cetinje, ceded by Turkey in 1879. Pop. 7200.
Podolia, or Kamenetz, a government of West or 'White' Russia, north of Bessarabia, and touching Austria. Area, 16,224 sq. m.; pop. 3,050,000, mostly Russniaks.
Point-a-Pitre. See Guadeloupe.
Point de Galle. See Galle.
Poitou (Pwahtoo'), a former province of southwestern France, coincident with the present deps. of Deux Sevres, Vendee, and Vienne.
Pokhurn (Pokcaran), a town of India, in the Rajput state of Jodhpur, 70 miles NW. of Jodh-pur. Pop. 15,000.
Polar Seas, the seas about the North and South Poles, are the Arctic and Antarctic oceans, and have been separately discussed in this work under these heads, where mention is made of the principal exploring expeditions to either, and references given to books.
Polesworth, a Warwickshire village, on the Anker, 4 miles ESE. of Tamworth. Pop. of parish, 4670.
Poligny (Pol-een-yee), a town of the French dep. of Jura, prettily situated at the foot of the Jura, 18 miles NE. of Lons-le-Saunier. Pop. 4186.
Pollanarrua, a ruined city of Ceylon, 60 miles ENE. of Kandy, with a massive dagoba, a rock-cut temple, and a wide area of ruined buildings that attest the size of the city, which became the capital about 770 a.d.
Pollokshaws, a manufacturing town of Renfrewshire, on the White Cart, 3 miles SSW. of Glasgow. It derives its name from the 'shaws' or woods of the estate of Pollok, held for more than six centuries by the Maxwells. It was made a burgh of barony in 1814; and its industries, started in 1742, comprise power-loom weaving, dyeing, tapestry and chenille manufacturing, bleaching, iron-founding, paper-making, etc. Pop. (1841) 4627; (1901) 11,369.
 
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