CAPODISTRIA

capodistria, a town and seaport of austria, in istria, 15 m. s.w. of trieste by rail. pop. (1900) 10,711, mostly italians. it is situated on a small island, which occupies the end of a large bay in the gulf of trieste, and which is connected with the mainland by a causeway half a mile in length. capodistria is an old town with small streets, and has preserved remarkably well its italian, almost its venetian character. the most noteworthy buildings are the cathedral, the town-hall and the _loggia_ or the old law-court, all situated in the principal square. in addition to the extraction of salt from the sea in the extensive salt works near the town, fishing and shipbuilding are the other principal occupations of the population. trade is chiefly in sea-salt, wine and oil. capodistria is usually identified with the town of aegida, mentioned by pliny, which appears by an inscription to have afterwards received (in the 6th century) the name of justinopolis from justin ii. when at the beginning of the 13th century istria fell into the hands of the patriarchs of aquileia, they made this town the capital of the whole province. thence it acquired its actual name, which means the capital of istria. it was captured by the venetians in 1279, and passed into austrian possession in 1797. caponier (from the fr. _caponniere_, properly a capon-cote or house), in fortification, a work constructed in the ditch of a fort. its fire (musketry, machine-guns, case shot, &c.) sweeps the bottom of the ditch and prevents an enemy from establishing himself in it. the term is used in a military sense as early as in the late 17th century. in various bastioned systems of fortification a caponier served merely as a covered means of access to outworks, the bastion trace providing for the defence of the ditch by fire from the main parapet.