HAMILTON

large burgh (town), South Lanarkshire council area, historic county of Lanarkshire, west-central Scotland, situated near the junction of Avon Water and the River Clyde, just southeast of the metropolitan complex of Glasgow. The area has been settled since prehistoric times. Cadzow Castle, 2 miles (3 km) southeast, was a royal residence from the 10th century. The town took its name in 1445 from the Hamilton family, to whom it was given by Robert I (the Bruce) after the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. It became a royal burgh in 1548 but surrendered its title in 1670. The discovery of coal caused great expansion of the town in the 19th century, and iron foundries and engineering works were established. By 1947, however, all the pits had stopped production. Hamilton is now mainly a commercial, residential, and administrative centre with some light engineering, textile, and food-processing plants. It is the centre for a considerable area of orchards, market gardens, and dairy farms. Pop. (1991) 49,991. district, Strathclyde region, southwestern Scotland. It was created by the reorganization of 1975 from part of the northwestern area of the former county of Lanark. It is bordered by the city of Glasgow on the northwest and is centred on the burgh of Hamilton (q.v.). During the 19th century Hamilton developed as an industrial town based initially on lace and textiles, and later coal mining and engineering, but it now functions primarily as a commercial and administrative centre, the seat of the district authority. The River Clyde valley, forming the northeastern margin of the district, and the higher land to the south are mainly farmland with an emphasis on dairy farming and the intensive production of tomatoes and soft fruit for the jam-making industry of the nearby town of Carluke in Clydesdale district. Area 51 square miles (131 square km). Pop. (1991 prelim.) 103,139. city, Waikato local government region, north-central North Island, New Zealand. It lies 80 miles (130 km) above the mouth of the Waikato River. Hamilton originated as a military settlement on the site of a deserted Maori village. Declared a borough in 1877 and a city in 1945, it was named after Captain John Hamilton, a Royal Navy officer killed fighting Maoris. The city is now the most important inland centre of New Zealand and is linked to Auckland (70 miles northwest) and Wellington (343 miles south) by rail and road. It serves as a pastoral and lumbering area; industries include dairy and meat processing, brewing, brickmaking, sawmilling, engineering, and the production of stock food, farm machinery, clothing, cardboard cartons, plastics, prefabricated buildings, and coal gas. Hamilton lies on the natural-gas pipelines from the Kapuni and Maui fields. Its prominent institutions include the University of Waikato (1964), a teachers' training college, an Anglican cathedral, and the Hamilton Art Gallery. Pop. (1991) city, 101,448; (1992 est.) urban area, 124,500. city, seat (1853) of the regional municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth, southeastern Ontario, Canada. It lies at the extreme western end of Lake Ontario, on the southern shore of landlocked Hamilton Harbour (Burlington Bay). The site was visited by the French explorer Ren-Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, in 1669. Settlement began with the arrival of United Empire Loyalists from the rebellious 13 American colonies in 1778. The city was named for George Hamilton, who laid out the original town in 1813 on a sloping plain between the waterfront (north) and the Niagara Escarpment (south), which there rises abruptly to a point (250 feet ), locally known as the Mountain. During its early growth, Hamilton was overshadowed by nearby Dundas, but the opening of the Burlington Canal (1830), linking Hamilton Harbour to Lake Ontario, led to its rapid development as an important port and rail centre. Hamilton is now one of Canada's leading industrial centres. Its iron and steel industry, which began in 1893, has grown to become Canada's largest, accounting for a major part of the national steel output. Other industries include the manufacture of automobiles, tires, railroad equipment, electrical apparatus, clothing, cotton duck, chemicals, and farm implements. The city is also a financial hub and the centre of an extensive fruit-growing district; it is the site of one of Canada's largest open-air markets. Hamilton is well served with rail and freeway connections to Toronto (35 miles northeast) and Buffalo, N.Y. (55 miles southeast). Its excellent harbour, 10 square miles (25 square km) in area, is protected from Lake Ontario by a sandbar 4 miles (6 km) long. McMaster University (founded in Toronto in 1887 and moved to Hamilton in 1930), noted for nuclear research, is on the western edge of the city. Hamilton Place (1973) is an impressive performing arts centre. The Canadian Football Hall of Fame is in City Hall Plaza. Also in the vicinity are Dundurn Castle (1832; site of a summer light and sound spectacle), the Royal Botanical Gardens (1941), and Stoney Creek Historic Monument, the site of a decisive battle of the War of 1812. Inc. village, 1816; town, 1833; city, 1846. Pop. (1991) city, 318,499; metropolitan area, 599,760. capital of the British colony of Bermuda. It lies on Great Bermuda island in the western Atlantic, along the northern shore of a deepwater harbour. The name also applies to one of the nine parishes on the island. Founded in 1790 and incorporated in 1793, Hamilton succeeded historic St. George as capital in 1815 and in 1897 was raised to city status. To encourage business and employment, it was made a free port in 1956. Tourism is the economic mainstay; visitors arrive by oceangoing vessels, which dock alongside the main street, and by air at the terminal 8 miles (13 km) northeast. Buildings in the city are commonly painted in pastel shades and have white roofs formed of the native coral. An imposing neo-Gothic cathedral is on Church Street. Nearby are the Sessions House (accommodating the House of Assembly, the Supreme Court, and the judicial offices) and other government buildings. The Bermuda Library and the Historical Society Museum stand in the Par-la-Ville Gardens, and there is an art gallery in the city hall. Pop. (1991) 1,100. city in the fertile western region of Victoria, Australia, on the Grange Burn River. The original village (founded in 1850) grew around an inn on the north bank of the river and was called The Grange. It became an important way station for coach traffic in the 1850s between Portland and the goldfields. Renamed Hamilton, it became a municipality in 1859, a town in 1928, and a city in 1949. Situated on the Henty and Glenelg highways, Hamilton is linked to Melbourne, 165 miles (266 km) to the east, by rail. Its industries include knitting mills and sawmills, dairy plants, and wallboard manufacturing. Pop. (1991 prelim.) 9,756. county, northeastern New York state, U.S., consisting of a mountainous region located in the centre of Adirondack Park (1892), which is one of the largest parks in the United States and the nation's first forest preserve. The area is heavily wooded with spruce and balsam fir trees. Notable peaks of the Adirondack Mountains include Dun Brook, Wakely, Snowy, and Pillsbury mountains. The Adirondack Museum is located near Blue Mountain Lake. The principal waterways are the Cedar, Moose, Jessup, Miami, and Sacandaga rivers and Long, Raquette, Indian, Piseco, and Little Tupper lakes. Iroquoian-speaking Mohawk Indians may have hunted in the region. The county was formed in 1816 and named for statesman Alexander Hamilton. Its seat is Lake Pleasant. In the late 19th century millionaires constructed rustic but elaborate summer homes there that they referred to as camps. Hamilton county is the least populous county in New York, and its economy is based primarily on tourism. Area 1,721 square miles (4,457 square km). Pop. (1990) 5,279; (1996 est.) 5,232. city, seat (1803) of Butler county, southwestern Ohio, U.S., on the Great Miami River, 25 mi (40 km) north of Cincinnati. With nearby Middletown it forms a standard metropolitan statistical area. In 1794 a town called Fairfield was laid out adjoining Ft. Hamilton, which was used in 179196 by Gen. Arthur St. Clair and Gen. Mad Anthony Wayne against the Indians. Fairfield was later renamed for Alexander Hamilton, the U.S. statesman. Rossville, across the river, merged with Hamilton in 1854, by which time the Miami and Erie Canal, with connections to Dayton and Cincinnati, had been built. This and the construction of a hydraulic power plant assured the city's industrial future. It is now an agricultural trading centre with diversified manufactures, including safes, auto parts, paper, textiles, and mechanical and hydraulic presses. The Soldiers, Sailors, and Pioneers Monument and the Butler County Historical Society display local relics. A campus (1968) of Miami University is in the city. Inc. village, 1810; city, 1857. Pop. (1990) city, 61,368; Hamilton-Middleton PMSA, 291,479.