Rio Grande do Sul

Rio Grande do Sul (Ree'o Gran'deh do Sool; 'Great River of the South'), sometimes called San Pedro, the southernmost province of Brazil, is bounded N. and W. by the river Uruguay, S. by the republic of Uruguay, and E. by the Atlantic. Area, 91,310 sq. m.; population, 970,000, of whom 100,000 are Germans and 52,000 Italians. The principal towns are Porto Alegre (q.v.), the capital, Rio Grande, and Pelotas. - The town of Rio Grande stands on the south side of the strait leading into the southern end of the Lagoa dos Patos; pop. 18,000.

Rioja

Rioja (Ree-o'ha), a western province of the Argentine Republic, with an area of 34,365 sq. m. and a pop. of 86,000. - Rioja, the capital, founded in 1591, lies at the foot of the Sierra Velasco, 350 miles by rail NW. of Cordoba. Pop. 6000.

Riom

Riom (Ree-ong), a town of France (dep. Puy-de-Dome), on a hill, 8 miles by rail N. of Clermont Ferrand. Pop. 9700.

Rion

Rion. See Phasis.

Rio Negro

Rio Negro (Ree'o Nay'gro), a principal affluent of the Amazon, rises as the Guainia in SE. Colombia, and flows 1350 miles E., S., E., and SE. through Venezuela and Brazil, to the Maranon. - (2) A river of Argentina, which rises in the Andean lake of Nahuel-Huapi, and flows over 500 miles NE., E., and SE. to the Atlantic. It bounds and gives name to a national territory, formerly part of Patagonia, with an area of 81,895 sq. m. of mostly level but barren soil.

Rionegro

Rionegro, a town of Colombia, in Antioquia, 15 miles SE. of Medellin. Pop. 9000.

Rionero

Rionero (Ree'o-nay'ro), a town of southern Italy, 12 miles N. of Potenza. Pop. 11,383.

Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto (Ree'o), a river in southern Spain, in the province of Huelva, near whose sources are very rich copper-mines, worked by the Romans, and bought in 1872 by the Rio Tinto (London-Bremen) Syndicate for £4,000,000.

Riouw

Riouw (Ree-ow'), capital of Bintang (q.v.).

Ripley

Ripley, (1) a town of Derbyshire, 10 miles NNE. of Derby, with silk-lace manufactures and large neighbouring collieries and ironworks. Pop. (1851) 3071; (1901) 10,111. - (2) A pretty village in the West Riding of Yorkshire, on the Nidd, 3 1/2 miles NNW. of Harrogate. Rebuilt in 1829-30, it has an hotel-de-ville (1854), an interesting church, and Ripley Castle (1555), where Cromwell slept the night before Marston Moor. Pop. 291.

Risca

Risca, a town of Monmouthshire, on the Ebbw, 5 1/2 miles WNW. of Newport. Pop. 9670.

Risingham

Ri'singham, a Roman camp in Northumberland, on the Reed, 4 1/4 miles NE. of Bellingham.

Ristigouche

Ristigouche. See Restigouche.

Rivas

Rivas (Ree-vas), a decayed town of Nicaragua, 6 miles from Lake Nicaragua. Pop. 8000.

Rivaulx Abbey

Rivaulx Abbey. See Rievaulx.

Rive-de-Gier

Rive-de-Gier (Reev-deh-Zhe-ay'), a town of France (dep. Loire), on the Gier, in the middle of the best coalfield in France, 13 miles NE. of St Etienne by rail. In 1815 it had less than 4000 inhabitants; now it has about 16,000.