aar. Coal, iron, silver and other minerals are
found in the adjoining hills; and the city possesses a government tobacco
factory, a brewery, cloth-mills, gunpowder-mills, a model farm and many
corn-mills, worked by the two rapid rivers.
Banjaluka is probably the Roman fort, marked, in the _Tabula
Peutingeriana_, as _Castra_, on the river Urbanus and the road from Salona
on the Adriatic to Servitium in Pannonia. The origin of its later name,
meaning the "Baths of St Luke," is uncertain. In the 15th century, the fall
of Jajce, a rival stronghold 22 m. S., led to the rapid rise of Banjaluka,
which was thenceforward the scene of many encounters between Austrians and
Turks; notably in 1527, 1688 and 1737. No Bosnian city had greater
prosperity or importance in the last half of the 18th century. In 1831,
Hussein Aga Borberli, called the "Dragon of Bosnia," or _Zmaj Bosanski_,
set forth from Banjaluka on his holy war against the sultan Mahmud II. (See
BOSNIA.)
BANJERMASIN (Dutch _Bandjermasin_), the chief town in the Dutch portion of
the island of Borneo, East Indies, on the river Martapura, near its
junction with the Barito, 24 m. from the mouth of the Barito in a bay of
the south coast. The town is the seat of the Dutch resident of South and
East Borneo. Its buildings stand on either bank of the river, but many of
the inhabitants (who number nearly 50,000) occupy houses either floating
on, or built on piles in the river. As large vessels can sail up to the
town, it is a trade centre for the products of the districts along the
banks of the Barito and Martapura, such as benzoin, rattans, wax, gold,
diamonds, iron and weapons. In 1700 the East Indian Company established a
factory here; but the place was found to be unhealthy, and the Company's
servants were finally attacked by the natives, whom they repulsed with
great difficulty. The settlement was abandoned. The English again seized
Banjermasin in 1811, but restored it in 1817. Of the commercial community
the Chinese are a very important portion, and there is also a considerable
number of Arabs. The district of Banjermasin was incorporated by the Dutch
in consequence of the war of 1860, in regard to the succession in the
sultanate, which had been under their protection since 1787. The town of
Martapura was the seat of the sultan from 1771. The inland portion of the
district is covered with forest, while the flat and swampy seaboard is
largely occupied by rice-fields. The in
|