Chatham

, city, Canada

Chatham, city, S Ont., Canada, E of Detroit, Mich., on the Thames River. It is an industrial center in a rich mixed farming and fruit-raising region. It was a northern terminus for the Underground Railroad prior to the American Civil War.

Chatham

, town, England

Chatham, town, Kent, SE England, on the Medway River. Chatham, Rochester, and Gillingham form a contiguous urban area that is now the unitary borough of Medway. Chatham was a major naval station, with well-equipped dockyards, dry docks, and shipbuilding and repairing equipment; these were ultimately closed by 1984. Some facilities have been preserved for historical and tourist interest; others have been redeveloped for residential or business use. The first dockyard was established by Elizabeth I in 1588. The Roman Watling Street ran through Chatham.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Chatham

a city in Great Britain, in the county of Kent; situated on the Medway River, which empties into the Thames estuary. Population, 144,500 (1976). Together with the city of Rochester, Chatham forms the adminstrative district of Medway. Chatham is the site of a major naval base.

Chatham

a group of volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, east of New Zealand. The Chatham Islands—which include Pitt Island and Chatham Island—belong to New Zealand. The group has a total area of 963 sq km and a combined population of 500 (1968). The maximum elevation is 291 m. The islands have an oceanic climate, and there are vast swamps, meadows, and heaths. The economy is based on sheep raising. The Chatham Islands were discovered in 1791 by the British navigator W. R. Broughton.

Chatham

a strait in the Alexander Archipelago, in the northeastern part of the Pacific Ocean. Chatham Strait separates Baranof Island and Chichagof Island from Kuiu Island and Admiralty Island. The strait has a length of 203 km, a width of 7 to 25 km, and depths ranging from 530 to 691 m. The coasts are steep and occasionally precipitous, with elevations of as much as 1,000 m above sea level. The velocity of the tidal currents reaches 2 km per hr. Chatham Strait was discovered in 1741 by the Russian navigator A. I. Chirikov.

Chatham

1st Earl of title of the elder (William) Pitt

Chatham

1. a town in SE England, in N Kent on the River Medway: formerly royal naval dockyard. Pop.: 73 468 (2001)

2. a city in SE Canada, in SE Ontario on the Thames River. Pop.: 44 156 (2001)

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

References in classic literature ?

The Beagle sailed round Chatham Island, and anchored in several bays.

In the first part of the road we passed through leafless thickets, as in Chatham Island.

Of terrestrial mammals, there is only one which must be considered as indigenous, namely, a mouse (Mus Galapagoensis), and this is confined, as far as I could ascertain, to Chatham Island, the most easterly island of the group.

When I landed at Chatham Island, I could not imagine what animal travelled so methodically along well-chosen tracks.

View in context

Opinions which might have been received with doubt, if expressed only by a native American, were set down as true, beyond dispute, when they came from the lips of Chatham, Burke, Barre, or Fox"

View in context

At the same time, the gate of the garden is a hundred yards from the main London to Chatham road.

There's a train from Charing Cross to Chatham at six in the morning, and we should be at Yoxley Old Place between eight and nine."

After a long and weary journey, we alighted at a small station some miles from Chatham. While a horse was being put into a trap at the local inn, we snatched a hurried breakfast, and so we were all ready for business when we at last arrived at Yoxley Old Place.

"Well, it's only a reasonable walk to Chatham. Anyone might stay there or take a train without being observed.

Stanley Hopkins had gone down to the village to look into some rumours of a strange woman who had been seen by some children on the Chatham Road the previous morning.

View in context

"His house strikes me as being a typical old money Chatham kind of house." Sarah Shmenkus, a local reporter who has covered the Drumm story, said wealth brings privacy on the Cape.

Drumm's secret life of luxury; ANGLO SCANDAL EX BOSS'S HIDEAWAY

The presidential election may be over for most of us, but for Taft Chatham the Barack Obama fun is just beginning.

The presidential election may be over for most of us, but for Taft Chatham the Barack Obama fun is just beginning