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- 1. The light, waterproof, outer layers of the
- bark of the stems and roots of almost all
- trees and shrubs. The cork oak Quercus suber,
- a native of Southern Europe and North Africa,
- is cultivated in Spain and Portugal; the
- outer layers of its bark provide the cork
- that is used commercially.
-
- 2. Largest county of the Republic of Ireland,
- in the province of Munster; county town Cork;
- area 7,460 sq km/2,880 sq mi; population
- (1986) 413,000. It is
- agricultural, but there is also some copper
- and manganese mining, marble quarrying, and
- river and sea fishing. Natural gas and oil
- fields are found off the south coast at
- Kinsale. It includes Bantry Bay and the
- village of Blarney. There is a series of
- ridges and vales running NE-SW across the
- county. The Nagles and Boggeraph mountains
- run across the centre, separating the two
- main rivers, the Blackwater and the Lee.
- Towns are Cobh, Bantry, Youghal, Fermoy, and
- Mallow.
-
- 3. City and seaport of county Cork, on the
- river Lee, at the head of the long inlet of
- Cork Harbour; population (1996) 175,000.
- Cork is the second port of the Republic of
- Ireland. The lower section of the harbour can
- berth liners, and the town has distilleries,
- shipyards, and iron foundries. St Finbarr's
- 7th-century monastery was the original
- foundation of Cork. It was eventually settled
- by Danes who were dispossessed by the English
- 1172.
-