Monaco
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Monaco. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
mon'a-ko, an independent principality on the Mediterranean, inclosed landward by France. It lies about nine miles east of Nice. It is a rocky bit of hilly coast with an area of but eight square miles. The population is 15,180, residing chiefly in three cities of which Monaco and Monte Carlo are best known. Olive oil, citrons, oranges, and perfumes are exported, but the principal business of this diminutive kingdom is that connected with hotels and gambling. The climate is considered delightful. Winter resorts are maintained on a magnificent scale. A syndicate of gamblers with a capital of $6,000,000 pays the petty prince of the realm for a monopoly of gambling privileges. In 1904 the sum of these payments had reached a total of $1,130,000. The concession runs to 1937, at which date the annual payments are to have risen to half a million a year. Far from being confined to shady, disreputable characters who gamble in private, the hotels and the gambling palace, the Casino, of Monte Carlo are frequented by a brilliant throng, at times a crush, of the most fashionable people in Europe. Many stake and lose or win entirely within their means. Others in their desperation stake family jewels and mortgage their all in hope of winning back what they have lost. Suicides are of frequent occurrence. For one form of play, see ROULETTE.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a principality lying between the French department of Alpes Maritimes (Nice) and the Mediterranean. In 1861 the Prince of Monaco sold the departments of Mentone and Roccabruna to France for $800,000; and the principality has since been confined to an area of 8 square miles. A constitution was granted in 1911. Pop. about 25,000. The prince (a scion of the house of Grimaldi) exercises both legislative and executive functions, while the people are exempt from taxation, as the revenue is almost entirely derived from the rents of the gaming establishment. The capital, Monaco, pop. about 2,300, is a renowned watering-place. About a mile to the E. is MONTE CARLO (q. v.), a collection of hotels and villas which have sprung up near the luxurious gardens of the handsome gambling casino, established here in 1860.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 note that "the principal business of this diminutive kingdom is that connected with hotels and gambling" no longer holds: the casino now supplies only a small fraction of state revenue, which comes mainly from banking, tourism, real estate and a value-added tax, and Monegasque citizens are still barred from the gaming rooms. The Grimaldi line Collier's mentions in 1921 continues — Rainier III reigned from 1949 to 2005, marrying the film actress Grace Kelly in 1956, and his son Albert II reigns today — but the 1911 constitution Collier's records was replaced by a new one in 1962, and Monaco joined the United Nations as a full member in 1993. Both accounts give the area as eight square miles; the true figure is under one, and even that has grown by land reclaimed from the sea, notably the Fontvieille district built out in the 1970s. Population is now around 39,000, of whom only a minority hold Monegasque nationality.
Written for this edition, 2026.