CALABRIA, Italy, division of the kingdom, comprising the southwest peninsula or toe of Italy, from about 40° N. lat. to the Strait of Messina; area estimated at 5,819 square miles. It was formerly divided into three provinces — Calabria Citeriore, the most northerly; Calabria Ulteriore I, the most southerly; and Calabria Ulteriore II, between the two former ; but these have been renamed respectively Cosenza, Reggio di Calabria and Catanzaro. The central region is occupied by the great Apennine ridge, wild and bleak, to which, however, whole colonies with their cattle migrate in the summer. The flats near the coast are marshy and unhealthy, and inhabited by herds of buffaloes; but the valleys at the foot of the mountains are well watered and produce most luxuriant vegetation. The vine, the orange and lemon trees, the fig, the olive and all the fruits of southern climes, grow there to perfection. The climate was reckoned salubrious in ancient times; but in some places the accumulation of stagnant water produces disease in the hot season. Corn, rice, saffron, anise, licorice, madder, flax, hemp, olives, almonds, cotton and sugar-cane are raised in abundance. Sheep, horned cattle and horses are numerous. Near Reggio a kind of mussel is found, called Pinna manna, from whose silky byssus or beard a beautiful fabric is manufac tured, remarkable for its extreme lightness and warmth. Coral is also obtained. The quarries
and pits afford alabaster, marble, gypsum, alum, chalk, rock-salt, lapis lazuli and the fine copper renowned in ancient times.
Calabria corresponds with the ancient Brut tium and part df Lucania, while the ancient Calabria corresponds to the heel of Italy. It early received numerous Greek colonies, and formed part of Magna Grmcia. In 268 B.C. it was conquered by the Romans. The Saracens had occupied the greater part of it when it was conquered by the Normans in the 11th century. Since then it has constantly followed the fate of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, with which it was united to the kingdom of Italy in 1860. It was visited by continuous earthquakes from 1783-87 and suffered severely in the disastrous earthquakes of 8 Sept. 1905 and 28 Dec. 1908. The greater part of the inhabitants are poor. Formerly the country was much infested by brigands and brigandage is not yet entirely extinct. The language of the people is a corruption of the Italian. There are somewhere about 40,000 Albanians settled in Calabria, who continue to preserve their lan guage and racial identity. Pop. (1911) 1,402,151.