Cornwall

Cornwall,

county (1991 pop. 469,300), SW England, administratively (since 2009) a unitary authority. Bodmin was the county seat, but the local government is now based in Truro. Cornwall is a peninsula bounded seaward by the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean and landward by Devon. It terminates in the west with the rugged promontory of Land's End. The region is a low-lying plateau, rising to its greatest height at Brown Willy (1,375 ft/419 m) in Bodmin Moor. The principal rivers are the Tamar, which forms most of the border with Devon, the Fowey, the Fal, and the Camel.

In the lush river valleys are productive vegetable and dairy farms. The uplands are used for sheep and cattle pastures. The climate is mild and moist, with subtropical vegetation along the southern coast. Various types of fish are caught, including pilchard, that are not plentiful elsewhere in Britain. Engineering, ship repairing, rock quarrying, and tourism are major industries. Cornish tin and copper mines were known to ancient Greek traders, and during World War II the old mines were reworked. Cornwall's climate, coastal towns (Penzance, Falmouth, Land's End, and St. Ives), and the romance of its past, interwoven with Arthurian legend and tales of piracy, have made the region popular with tourists.

Cornwall's history has been somewhat distinct from that of the rest of England. The Cornish language, related to the Welsh and Breton tongues, continues to survive, but all Cornish speakers have been bilingual since the 18th cent. The county was organized in the 14th cent. as a duchy. (The monarch's eldest son is the Duke of Cornwall.) Cornwall was slow to accept the Reformation. In 1549 thousands of Cornishmen marched to defend the Roman Catholic Church service. In the 18th cent. the Wesleyan movement took a firm hold in Cornwall, which has remained a predominantly Methodist area.

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Cornwall,

industrial city (1991 pop. 47,137), SE Ont., Canada, on the St. Lawrence River. It manufactures cotton and rayon textiles, paper, chemicals, furniture, and electronic equipment. The Canadian headquarters of the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority and a campus of St. Lawrence College are in Cornwall. The Akwesasne (in the United States, St. Regis) Mohawk reservation lies across the river on the Quebec–New York boundary.

Cornwall

 

a peninsula in southwestern Great Britain. Bounded on the north by the Bristol Channel and on the south by the English Channel. Length, approximately 120 km; width, 72 km on the eastern part. The coasts are rocky and low and greatly indented by shallow bays, many of them rias. The Cornish Peninsula is composed of sandstone and shale, along with some granite. Plateaus (Dartmoor, altitude 621 m; and Exmoor) and hilly plains dominate the landscape. There are deposits of copper and tin. The climate is mild and oceanic, with warm winters. Annual precipitation, approximately 1,000 mm. A thick network of short, powerful rivers covers the peninsula. The prevailing forms of vegetation include broad-leaved forest (oak, beech), heath, and peat bog. Livestock is raised and early vegetables and flowers are grown. The Cornish Peninsula is also noted for its winter health resorts. The area’s main port is Plymouth.

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Cornwall

 

a major region of tin deposits, located mainly on the Cornwall peninsula (Great Britain).

Cornwall extends 150 km in a latitudinal direction and has a width of 80 km. The territory of the region where the depostis are located is composed of Lower Paleozoic sandy-shale rock and Middle Paleozoic basic igneous rock. The rock is crushed into folds, divided by faults, and cut by a series of Upper Paleozoic granite massifs, around which are found hydrothermal ore veins. The composition of the veins changes as they recede from the granite. Copper-tin ore veins with a latitudinal orientation, the first to be formed, are found among the granite and enclosing rock directly adjoining the granite. The veins consist primarily of such minerals as quartz, tourmaline, and cassiterite. They are 10–12 km long and have a thickness of 0.1 to 10 m. Depth of occurrence ranges up to 1 km. Longitudinal veins of sulfide lead-zinc ores, formed in a later period, are situated farther from the granite massifs. Even farther away, along the periphery of the ore field, there are veins of iron and manganese ores, formed during an even later period. They contain siderite and rhodochrosite, respectively. An analogous zonal shift is observed in a vertical direction; iron and manganese minerals give way first to lead and zinc compounds, then copper, and finally tin compounds.

The deposits of Cornwall are well known and have been worked since the Bronze Age. During the entire period of their exploitation more than 1 million tons of tin have been extracted. Remaining tin reserves are estimated at 80,000 tons (1971), with tin averaging approximately 1 percent of ore content. Annual tin output totals 1,500–1,800 tons (concentrate). Copper, zinc, lead, tungsten, silver, uranium, bismuth, nickel, and cobalt have been mined in small quantities.

REFERENCES

Magak’ian, I. G. Rudnye mestorozhdeniia, 2nd ed. Yerevan, 1961.
Park, C. F., and R. A. MacDiarmid. Rudnye mestorozhdeniia. Moscow, 1966. (Translated from English.)

V. I. SMIRNOV

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Cornwall

 

a city in southern Canada, in Ontario Province. A port on the St. Lawrence River. Population, 46,400 (1971). The city has textile, woodworking, and paper industries. Corn-wall was founded in 1784.

Cornwall

a county of SW England: hilly, with a deeply indented coastline. Administrative centre: Truro. Pop.: 513 500 (2003 est.). Area: 3564 sq. km (1376 sq. miles)