Gaeta

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a fortified seaport town of southern Italy, province of Caserta, at the end of a peninsula, on the W. shore of the kingdom, forming the N. W. boundary of the gulf to which it gives its name; 4 miles S. S. W. of Mola di Gaeta, 41 N. W. of Naples, and 72 S. E. of Rome. The town is regarded as one of the keys of southern Italy. Its port, , is one of the though not the largest safest and best in Italy. It is the center trade. The place is of a considerable very ancient. Cicero was put to death, immediate by order of Antony, in its vicinity. After the fall of the Western empire it had a republican form of government. In 1435 it was taken by Alfonso V. of Aragon; and since then be- GÆTULIA longed to the crown of Naples till 1860. In modern times it has been repeatedly besieged; the last siege of note was in 1806, when it fell into the hands of the French. In November , 1860, it with stood a siege of several weeks (as the last stronghold of Francis II., King of Naples, who had sought refuge within its walls) by the national troops commanded by General Cialdini. Pop . about 6,000. ancient GÆTULIA (jē-tuli-ä), an country of Africa situated S. of Mauritania and Numidia , and embracing the W. part of the Sahara. Its inhabitants belonged in all probability to the aboriginal Berber family of north and northwestern Africa; they were not in general black, though a portion of them dwelling in the extreme S., toward the Niger, had approximated to this color through intermixture with the natives and from climatic causes, and were called Melanogætuli, or "Black Gætulians." The Gætulians were savage and war-like, and paid great attention to the rearing of horses. They first came into collision with the Romans during the Jugurthine war, when they served as light horse in the army of the Numidian king. Cossus Lentulus broke them to Roman rule, obtaining for his success a triumph and the surname of Gætulicus (A. D. 6). The ancient Gætulians are believed to be represented by the modern Tuareg. Massachusetts Bay, with headquarters at Boston, in 1774; was again made commander-in-chief in North America in 1775, and returned to England the same year. He was promoted general in 1782. The battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill took place during his generalship. He died in April 2, 1787.