NAMES AND PLACES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 60, 16 August 1940, Page 2

NAMES AND PLACES

Sardinia’s History The intensive bombing of Cagliari, capital and chief port of the island of Sardinia, is the first serious attack on this Italian outpost since hostilities began. Sardinia lies off the coast of Italy and helps to form a basin of the Mediterranean which is known as the Tyrrhenian Sea, with Sicily forming the southern boundary. The island, once known for its evil climate, because of malaria, was the granary of Rome in ancient times. More recently it has been famous for its bandits and vendettas, though these have ceased to exist since the formation of roads, the first of which was constructed in 1828. Sardinia’s once magnificent forests of cork, oak, and ilex have been greatly depleted, but " the cleared land now produces breeding horses and many cattle and sheep. The island is also rich in minerals, and thousands of Italian workmen produce valuable quantities of lead and zinc, lignite, antimony and manganese, as well as some silver, copper, and iron. Granite, marble and pottery clay are also quarried there. The Sardinian people are less affected by foreign admixture thanany other race in Europe. They are possessed of a strong sense of honour and hospitality, and have great dignity and courage. The women still spin with the aid of old spinning wheels, and weave their cloth on certury-old looms. Tunny, sardine, and anchovy fisheries provide work for many Italians, as-the Sardinian men are not fond of the sea,

Many Masters The island belonged to Carthage until the third century, B.C. It was then conquered in turn by the Romans, the Vandals, the Byzantines, and the Saracens. The Aragonese took it in 1326. They were displaced by the Spaniards, and in 1713 it became an Austrian possession. Seven years later the Duke of Savoy exchanged it for Sicily and took the title

King of Sardinia. In 1861 Victor Emmanuel II. of Sardinia became King of United Italy. Cagliari lies in an excellent harbour in the south of the island. In recent years, since the intense fortification of naval and air bases in the Mediterranean, it has been greatly strengthened by Italy as part of a defensive scheme embracing the island of Pantellaria. Hills encircle the port and the town and lend grarideur to the basin from which the island’s products are exported and its only railway begins.