Caliano. A town of the Tyrol, Austria, on the left bank of the Adige. Here the Venetians were defeated by the Austrians in 1487.
Caliber, or Calibre. From the Latin qua librâ, “what pound,” applied first to the weight of a bullet, then to the diameter, which determined the diameter of the gun, now signifies the diameter of the bore of a cannon or any fire-arm, and is expressed in inches or fractional parts of an inch, as a 15-inch gun; a Springfield rifle, caliber .45. Cannon are sometimes also designated by the weight of metal which they throw, as a 24-pounder.
Caliber-rule. A gunner’s calipers; having two scales, to determine the weight of a ball from its diameter, and conversely.
Calicut (now Kolikod). A town in Southwestern India; the first Indian port visited by Vasco de Gama, May 20, 1498. It was seized by Hyder Ali, 1766, and taken by the English, 1790.
California (from the Spanish Caliente Fornalla, “hot furnace,” in allusion to the climate). Was discovered by Cortez in 1537; others say Cabrillo in 1542; and visited by Sir Francis Drake, who named it New Albion in 1579. The Spaniards established missionary and military stations in California, 1698; it became subject to Mexico in 1823; became independent in 1836; occupied by the army of the United States in 1846; ceded to the United States, 1848; admitted into the Union as a sovereign State, 1850.
Caligæ. A kind of half-boots worn by the Roman soldiers. These soldiers were sometimes called Caligati.
Caliper-compass. An instrument by which the bore of cannon, small-arms, etc., is measured; said to have been invented by an artificer of Nuremberg, 1540.
Caliver. A hand-gun or arquebuse; probably the old name for the match-lock or carabine.
Call. A military musical term, signifies a signal given by a trumpet, bugle, or drum.
Callao. A fortified seaport of Peru. Lord Cochrane gallantly cut out the “Esmeralda,” a Spanish ship-of-war, from under the guns of the fort in 1821. Its roadstead (the best on the Peruvian coast) was the scene of a combat between the Spaniards and the Independents; the Colombians took it in 1826. The attempt of the Spanish admiral Nuñez to bombard Callao on May 2, 1866, was defeated by the Peruvians.