CHANGRA, or Kanghari (anc. Gangra; called also till the time of Caracalla, Germanicopolis, after the emperor Claudius), the chief town of a sanjak of the same name in the Kastamuni vilayet, Asia Minor, situated in a rich, well-watered valley; altitude 2500 ft. The ground is impregnated with salt, and the town is unhealthy. Pop. (1894) 15,632, of whom 1086 are Christians (Cuinet). Gangra, the capital of the Paphlagonian kingdom of Deiotarus Philadelphus, son of Castor, was taken into the Roman province of Galatia on his death in 6-5 B.C. The earlier town, the name of which signified “she-goat,” was built on the hill behind the modern city, on which are the ruins of a late fortress; while the Roman city occupied the site of the modern. In Christian times Gangra was the metropolitan see of Paphlagonia. In the 4th century the town was the scene of an important ecclesiastical synod.
Synod of Gangra.—Conjectures as to the date of this synod vary from 341 to 376. All that can be affirmed with certainty is that it was held about the middle of the 4th century. The synodal letter states that twenty-one bishops assembled to take action concerning Eustathius (of Sebaste?) and his followers, who contemned marriage, disparaged the offices of the church, held conventicles of their own, wore a peculiar dress, denounced riches, and affected especial sanctity. The synod condemned the Eustathian practices, declaring however, with remarkable moderation, that it was not virginity that was condemned, but the dishonouring of marriage; not poverty, but the disparagement of honest and benevolent wealth; not asceticism, but spiritual pride; not individual piety, but dishonouring the house of God. The twenty canons of Gangra were declared ecumenical by the council of Chalcedon, 451.
See Mansi ii. pp. 1095-1122; Hardouin i. pp. 530-540; Hefele 2nd ed., i. pp. 777 sqq. (English trans. ii. pp. 325 sqq.).
CHANNEL ISLANDS (French Îles Normandes), a group of islands in the English Channel, belonging (except the Îles Chausey) to Great Britain. (For map, see [England], Section VI.) They lie between 48° 50′ and 49° 45′ N., and 1° 50′ and 2° 45′ W., along the French coast of Cotentin (department of Manche), at a distance of 4 to 40 m. from it, within the great rectangular bay of which the northward horn is Cape La Hague. The greater part of this bay is shallow, and the currents among the numerous groups of islands and rocks are often dangerous to navigation. The nearest point of the English coast to the Channel Islands is Portland Bill, a little over 50 m. north of the northernmost outlier of the islands. The total land area of the islands is about 75 sq. m. (48,083 acres), and the population in 1901 was 95,618. The principal individual islands are four:—Jersey (area 45 sq. m., pop. 52,576), Guernsey (area 24.5 sq. m., pop. 40,446), Alderney (area 3.06 sq. m., pop. 2062), and Sark (area nearly 2 sq. m., pop. 504). Each of these islands is treated in a separate article. The chief town and port of Jersey is St Helier, and of Guernsey St Peter Port; a small town on Alderney is called St Anne. Regular communication by steamer with Guernsey and Jersey is provided on alternate days from Southampton and Weymouth, by steamers of the London & South-Western and Great Western railway companies of England. Railway communications within the islands are confined to Jersey. Regular steamship communications are kept up from certain French ports, and locally between the larger islands. In summer the islands, especially Jersey, Guernsey and Sark, are visited by numerous tourists, both from England and from France.
The islands fall physically into four divisions. The northernmost, lying due west of Cape La Hague, and separated therefrom by the narrow Race of Alderney, includes that island, Burhou and Ortach, and numerous other islets west of it, and west again the notorious Casquets, an angry group of jagged rocks, on the largest of which is a powerful lighthouse. Doubtful tradition places here the wreck of the “White Ship,” in which William, son of Henry I., perished in 1120; in 1744 the “Victory,” a British man-of-war, struck on one of the rocks, and among calamities of modern times the wreck of the “Stella,” a passenger vessel, in 1899, may be recalled. The second division of islands is also the most westerly; it includes Guernsey with a few islets to the west, and to the east, Sark, Herm, Jethou (inhabited islands) and others. The strait between Guernsey and Herm is called Little Russel, and that between Herm and Sark Great Russel. Sark is famous for its splendid cliffs and caves, while Herm possesses the remarkable phenomenon of a shell-beach, or shore, half-a-mile in length, formed wholly of small shells, which accumulate in a tidal eddy formed at the north of the island. To the south-east of these, across the channel called La Déroute, lies Jersey, forming, with a few attendant islets, of which the Ecréhou to the north-east are the chief, the third division. The fourth and southernmost division falls into two main subdivisions. The Minquiers, the more western, are a collection of abrupt rocks, the largest of which, Maîtresse Ile, affords a landing and shelter for fishermen. Then eastern subdivision, the Îles Chausey, lies about 9 m. west by north of Granville (to which commune they belong) on the French coast, and belongs to France. These rocks are close set, low and curiously regular in form. On Grande Ile, the only permanently inhabited island (pop. 100), some farming is carried on, and several of the islets are temporarily inhabited by fishermen. There is also a little granite-quarrying, and seaweed-burning employs many.
None of the islands is mountainous, and the fine scenery for which they are famous is almost wholly coastal. In this respect each main island has certain distinctive characteristics. Bold cliffs are found on the south of Alderney; in Guernsey they alternate with lovely bays; Sark is specially noted for its magnificent sea-caves, while the coast scenery of Jersey is on the whole more gentle than the rest.
Geology.—Geologically, the Channel Islands are closely related to the neighbouring mainland of Normandy. With a few exceptions, to be noted later, all the rocks are of pre-Cambrian, perhaps in part of Archean age. They consist of massive granites, gneisses, diorites, porphyrites, schists and phyllites, all of which are traversed by dykes and veins. In Jersey we find in the north-west corner a granitic tract extending from Grosnez to St Mary and St John, beyond which it passes into a small granulitic patch. South of the granites is a schistose area, by St Ouen and St Lawrence, and reaching to St Aubin’s Bay. Granitic masses again appear round St Brelade’s Bay. The eastern half of the island is largely occupied by porphyrites and similar rocks (hornstone porphyry) with rhyolites and denitrified obsidians; some of the latter contain large spherulites with a diameter of as much as 24 in.; these are well exposed in Bouley Bay; a complex igneous and intrusive series of rocks lies around St Helier. In the north-east corner of the island a conglomerate, possibly of Cambrian age, occurs between Bouley Bay and St Catherine’s Bay. Tracts of blown-sand cover the ground for some distance north of St Clement’s Bay and again east of St Ouen’s Bay. In the sea off the latter bay a submerged forest occurs. The northern half of Guernsey is mainly dioritic, the southern half, below St Peter, is occupied by gneisses. Several patches of granite and granulite fringe the western coast, the largest of these is a hornblende granite round Rocquaine Bay. Hornblende gneiss from St Sampson and quartz diorite from Capelles, Corvée and elsewhere are transported to England for road metal. Sark is composed almost wholly of hornblende-schists and gneisses with hornblendic granite at the north end of the island, in Little Sark and in the middle of Bréchou. Dykes of diabase and diorite are abundant. Alderney consists mainly of hornblende granite and granulite, which are covered on the east by two areas of sandstone which may be of Cambrian age. An enstatite-augite-diorite is sent from Alderney for road-making. Besides the submerged forest on the coast of Jersey already mentioned, there are similar occurrences near St Peter Port and St Sampson’s harbour, and in Vazon Bay in Guernsey. Raised beaches are to be seen at several points in the islands.
Climate.—The climate is mild and very pleasant. In Jersey the mean temperature for twenty years is found to be—in January (the coldest month) 42.1° F., in August (the hottest) 63°, mean annual 51.7°. In Guernsey the figures are, for January 42.5°, for August 59.7°, mean annual 49.5°. The mean annual rainfall for twenty-five years in Jersey is 34.21 in., and in Guernsey 38.64 in. The average amount of sunshine in Jersey is considerably greater than in the most favoured spots on the south coast of England; and in Guernsey it is only a little less than in Jersey. Snow and frost are rare, and the seasons of spring and autumn are protracted. Thick sea-fogs are not uncommon, especially in May and June.