Chilka Lake Lake, eastern India. Located in Orissa state, and separated from the Bay of Bengal by a narrow spit, it is one of India’s largest lakes, at 40 mi (65 km) long and 5-13 mi (8-20 km) wide. It was once a bay of the ocean until it was silted up by monsoon tides. Dotted with islands, it offers good hunting, boating, and fishing.
Chiloe \,che-lo-'a\ Island, southwestern Chile. Lying some 30 mi (50 km) off the mainland, it has an area of 3,241 sq mi (8,394 sq km). Spaniards captured it from Indians in 1567 and controlled it until 1826, making it a last foothold in Chile of royalist forces during the wars for independence. Heavily forested, the island is little developed. The island’s inhabitants make their living by agriculture, fishing, and forestry.
Chilpancingo \,chel-pan-'seq-go\ in full Chilpancingo de los Bravos City (pop., 2000: 142,746 136,000), capital of Guerrero state, southern Mexico. Located in the Sierra Madre del Sur, it was founded in 1591 and gained prominence as the site of the first Mexican congress, convoked in 1813. Battles were fought there in both the war for indepen¬ dence from Spain and in the Mexican Revolution. It is an agricultural cen¬ tre for the surrounding region.
Chilperic Vchil-p3-rik\ I (b. c. 539—d. September or October 584, Chelles, France) Merovingian king of Soissons. On the death of his father, Chlotar I, he and his three half brothers divided the kingdom. Chilperic received Soissons, the poorest share, but gained more land when one of his brothers died. Thus Chilperic became the ruler of most of the king¬ dom later known as Neustria. Ambitious, brutal, and debauched, he was called the Nero and Herod of his age by a contemporary writer. Chilperic murdered his own wife in order to marry his mistress, Fredegund. The murder led to years of intrigue by family members seeking revenge and civil war. He was finally killed, possibly at Fredegund’s orders, by an unknown assassin. He was survived by his wife and an infant son.
Chilwa \'chil-wa. Lake Lake, southeastern Malawi. It lies in a depres¬ sion southeast of Lake Malawi between the Shire Highlands and the
Mozambique border. Today it covers about 1,000 sq mi (2,600 sq km); it was much larger when David Livingstone arrived there in 1859, and origi¬ nally it filled the entire depression.
Chimborazo \,chem-bo-'ra-zo\ Mountain peak, Ecuador. The highest peak in Ecuador, elevation 20,702 ft (6,310 m), it was once thought to be the highest in the Andes Mountains (see Mount Aconcagua). An inactive volcano, it is heavily glaciated. Many attempted to climb it in the 18th and 19th centuries, but the summit was not reached until 1880, by the English mountaineer Edward Whymper.
Chimera Vkl-'mir-oN In Greek mythology, a fire-breathing female mon¬ ster. Its foreparts resembled a lion, its middle a goat, and its hindquarters a dragon. It devastated the land around Caria and Lycia until it was killed by Bellerophon. The word is now often used to denote a fantasy or a fig¬ ment of the imagination.
chimera or chimaera \kI-'mir-3\ Any of the 28 species of ancient fishes constituting the subclass Holocephali (class Chondrichthyes), found in temperate to cold waters of all oceans. Like sharks and rays, chimeras have a skeleton of cartilage rather than bone, and the males possess exter¬ nal reproductive organs (claspers). They have a single external gill open¬ ing, covered by a flap as in the bony fishes, on each side of the body. Males have a supplemental clasping organ that is unique among fishes. Chimeras have large pectoral and pelvic fins and two dorsal fins, the first preceded by a sharp spine. They range in length from 24 to 80 in. (60 to 200 cm) and in colour from silvery to blackish. They inhabit rivers, estu¬ aries, coastal waters, and open ocean to depths of 8,000 ft (2,500 m) or more. They eat small fishes and invertebrates.
Chimkent See Shymkent
chimpanzee Species (Pan troglodytes) of great ape that inhabits the rain forests and woodland savannas of equatorial Africa, the closest liv¬ ing relative to humans. Chimps are 3-5.5 ft (1-1.7 m) tall when stand¬ ing upright, weigh 70-130 lbs (32-60 kg), and have a brown or black coat and a bare face. They do most of their feeding in the trees, swinging from branch to branch; to move any distance they walk, usu¬ ally on all fours, on the ground. They eat mostly fruits, berries, leaves, and seeds, some termites and ants, and occasionally a young baboon or bush pig. They are capable of problem solving, tool use, and deceit. Chim¬ panzees are highly social and live in flexible groups (15-100 or more members) known as communities. In the wild they live about 45 years, in captivity more than 50. See also bonobo.
Chimu \che-'mu\ South American Indians who maintained the largest and most important political system in Peru before the advent of the Inca. The Chimu state took shape in the early 14th century. It was a highly stratified society, with a mass of peasants labouring under a ruling nobil¬ ity. Its capital, Chan Chan, on the northern coast of present-day Peru, is now a major archaeological site. The Chimu produced fine textiles and gold, silver, and copper objects. In the 15th century they were conquered by the Inca, who absorbed much of Chimu high culture into their own imperial organization.
Chin dynasty See Jin dynasty, Juchen dynasty Ch'in dynasty See Qin dynasty
Chin Hills Mountainous region, northwestern Myanmar (Burma). Extending along the Indian border, it forms the central part of an arc that stretches from the Arakan Mountains to the Patkai Range. The Chin Hills vary from 7,000 to 10,000 ft (2,000 to 3,000 m) high. They and the arc are part of the north-south-trending mountain belt of Southeast Asia, which has hindered east-west movement; the region was populated by the Chin peoples from the north. It is a frontier zone between Myanmar and Indian cultures.
Ch'in Kuei See Qin Gui Chin-sha River See Jinsha River
West African, or masked, chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus ).
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Ch'in tomb ► China Sea I 393
China officially People's Republic of China Country, eastern Asia. Area:
3,696,100 sq mi (9,572,900 sq km). Popu¬ lation (2005 est.): 1,304,369,000. Capitaclass="underline" Beijing. It is the world’s most populous country, the Han (ethnic Chinese) forming more than nine-tenths of the population. Languages: dialects of Han Chinese, Mandarin being the most important. Religions: traditional beliefs, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Daoism (all legally sanctioned). Currency: renminbi (of which the unit is the yuan). China has several topographic regions. The southwest¬ ern area contains the Plateau of Tibet, which averages more than 13,000 ft (4,000 m) above sea level; its core area, averaging more than 16,000 ft (5,000 m) in elevation, is called “the Roof of the World” and provides the headwaters for many of Asia’s major rivers. Higher yet are the border ranges, the Kunlun Mountains to the north and the Himalayas to the south. China’s northwestern region stretches from Afghanistan to the Northeast (Manchurian) Plain. The Tien Shan (“Celestial Mountains”) separate Chi¬ na’s two major interior basins, the Tarim Basin (containing the Takla Makan Desert) and the Junggar Basin. The Mongolian Plateau contains the southernmost part of the Gobi Desert. The lowlands of the eastern region include the Sichuan Basin, which runs along the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang); the Yangtze divides the eastern region into northern and southern parts. The Tarim is the major river in the northwest. China’s numerous other rivers include the Huang He (Yellow River), Xi, Sungari (Songhua), Zhu (Pearl), and Lancang, which becomes the Mekong in Southeast Asia. The country is a single-party people’s republic with one legislative house. The chief of state is the president, and the head of gov¬ ernment is the premier.