=BELGIUM= (Fr. _Belgique_), one of the smaller European states, consists
of the southern portion of the former kingdom of the Netherlands (as
created by the Congress of Vienna), lying between France and Holland,
the North Sea and Rhenish Prussia. Its greatest length from northwest to
southeast is one hundred and seventy-three miles; and its greatest
breadth from north to south one hundred and five miles.
=Surface.=--Belgium is, on the whole, a level, and even low lying,
country; diversified, however, by hilly districts. The north and west of
the country is low and level plain, like Holland, but the undulating
forest plateaus of the Ardennes cover all the south and east, rising
near the frontier in that direction to a height of two thousand feet
above the sea. The Campine, composed of marshes, coal-bearing heaths,
and irrigated lands, extends along the Dutch frontier. In Flanders dykes
have been raised to check the encroachments of the sea.
=Rivers.=--The land slopes generally northward, and this is the
direction of the numerous rivers and streams which water it. The great
river of the country is the Meuse, which enters from France and passes
out into Holland, being navigable all through Belgium. Its tributary,
the Sambre, from France, which joins it on the left near the center of
the country, is also a navigable stream; and the Ourthe, from the
frontier of Luxemburg, which joins it lower down on the right, is
navigable for half its course. The Escaut or Scheldt is the main river
of the lowland in the west, and with its chief tributaries, the Lys on
the left and the Rupel on the right, forms the waterway of the plain.
These rivers and important tributaries, with canals make up one thousand
four hundred miles of waterways.
=Climate and Landscape.=--Belgium has a climate which resembles that of
England, opposite to it in the same latitude, but which is more
excessive. The lowland of the north is foggy and damp, like Holland; the
higher country south and east has clearer skies.
=People.=--Belgium is one of the most densely peopled countries of the
world, only equaled in this respect by some parts of the plain of China,
or of the valley of the Ganges in India, a result which is no doubt due
to the combination of natural facilities for agriculture, manufactures,
and trade, within its limits. The Flemings (of Teutonic stock) and
Walloons (Celtic in origin) speak each their own dialects of Dutch and
French; there are also numbers of Germans, Dutch, and French. East and
West Flanders, Antwerp, and Limburg are almost wholly Flemish, and
Brabant mainly so. The line between the Flemish and Walloon districts is
sharply defined, the Flemish part being the richest and most cultivated.
The French language has gained the ascendancy in educated society and in
the offices of government, but the Flemish dialect prevails numerically
in the proportion of nine to eight.
[Illustration: =PALACE OF JUSTICE, OR PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS, AT
BRUSSELS=]
=Religion and Education.=--Almost all the inhabitants of Belgium are
Roman Catholics, though complete liberty and social equality is allowed
to all religious confessions. Education is not yet generally diffused
through the population, and was, until recently, almost entirely in the
hands of the Roman Catholic clergy. There are state universities at
Ghent and Liège, an independent liberal university at Brussels, and a
Catholic university at Louvain.
=Products and Industries.=--About a fourth of all the inhabitants of
Belgium are occupied in agriculture. Besides wheat, rye, and oats, hops
are cultivated on a large scale, for export chiefly to France and
England. Beetroot for the sugar factories, of which there are over a
hundred in the country, is also a large crop, and flax is largely grown
in the Flemish lowlands.
Two great coalfields extend across the central part of the country from
west to east, along the valleys of the Meuse, but Belgium is essentially
a manufacturing country, and it is largely dependent upon foreign
supplies for its food. The mineral kingdom yields, beside coal, iron,
zinc, lead and copper. The leading industries are collieries, quarries,
and metal, glass, textiles, lace, flour and starch mills, sugar,
distilleries, breweries, etc.
=Government.=--On the re-arrangement of European affairs, after the fall
of Napoleon, Holland and Belgium were formed into the ill-assorted
kingdom of the Netherlands under the family of Orange. The differences
between the northern and southern divisions in race and language, in
history, religion, and customs, proved too great.
In 1830 Belgium separated from Holland, and her neutrality was
guaranteed by a conference of the European Powers, and by a further
treaty, in 1839, signed by Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia, the
Netherlands, and Russia.
The Belgium constitution of 1831 jointly vests the legislative power in
the king, the Senate, and the Chamber of Representatives. The one
hundred and ten senators (with the exception of twenty-seven elected by
the provincial councils) and one hundred and sixty-six representatives
are elected by the people, the former for eight, the latter for four
years. Universal male suffrage, with plural voting up to three votes by
property and educational qualifications, was introduced by the electoral
law of 1894, proportional representation being secured by an act of
1900. There are in addition representative Provincial and Communal
Councils.
=Cities.=--Brussels, population, 1910, with suburbs, 720,347
inhabitants, is the capital. Other towns with over 100,000 inhabitants
are Antwerp, the chief port (320,650 exclusive of suburbs); Ghent
(165,149), the center of the iron industry, which has also large cotton
and flax spinning mills, and is the second port of importance after
Antwerp, while its flower shows are famous; and Liège (174,768).
Its great harbor and commercial city is Antwerp, a strongly fortified
city on the Scheldt. The other harbors are Ghent, Bruges, Ostend,
Nieuport, Blankenberg, and Zeebrugge.
Antwerp, the principal fortress, and Liège and Namur, also fortified,
were designed to afford military protection on the line of the Meuse
against a violation of neutrality by either France or Germany.
=Brussels= (Fr. _Bruxelles_), the capital of Belgium, is situated in a
fertile plain on the ditch-like Senne, twenty-seven miles south of
Antwerp, and one hundred and ninety-three miles northeast of Paris. It
has a circumference of about five miles, and is built partly on the side
of a hill. Though some of the streets are so steep that they can be
ascended only by means of stairs, Brussels may on the whole be
pronounced one of the finest cities in Europe.
The fashionable Upper Town, in which are the royal palace, public
offices, and chief hotels, is much more healthy than the older Lower
Town, which is greatly subject to fogs, owing to its intersection by
canals and the Senne, although the stream now passes under an arched
covering, which supports a boulevard. But the closely built old streets,
with their numerous handsome buildings, formerly belonging to the
Brabant nobility, and now occupied by successful merchants and traders,
have a fine picturesque appearance, while some of the public edifices
are unrivaled as specimens of Gothic architecture.
[Illustration: =THE TOWN HALL, OR=
Hôtel de Ville, in Grande Place, near the center of the city, 1402, is
regarded as architecturally one of the finest structures in Europe. Its
tower rises to the height of three hundred and seventy feet, and is
placed somewhat to one side of the center of the building.]
French is spoken in the upper division; but in the lower Flemish is the
current language prevalent, and by many the Walloon dialect is spoken.
The walls which formerly surrounded Brussels have been removed, and
their place is now occupied by pleasant boulevards extending all around
the old town, and shaded by alleys of limes. The _Allée Verte_--a double
avenue along the Scheldt Canal--forms a splendid promenade, and leads
toward the country palace of Laeken, three miles north of the city.
Besides the fine park of thirty-two acres, in the Upper Town, ornamented
with fountains and statues, and surrounded by the palace and other state
buildings, Brussels has several other squares or places, among which
are: the _Place Royale_, with its colossal monument of Godfrey of
Bouillon; the _Grande Place_, in which is the hôtel-de-ville, a splendid
Gothic structure of the fifteenth century, with a spire of open
stonework three hundred and sixty-four feet high; and the _Place des
Martyrs_, where a memorial has been erected to those who fell here in
the revolution of 1830. The statue group of the Counts Egmont and Horn
is notable. The cathedral of St. Gudule, dating from the thirteenth
century, has many richly painted windows, and a pulpit considered to be
the masterpiece of Verbruggen. The _Palais des Beaux Arts_ contains the
finest specimens of the Flemish school of painting and a sculpture
gallery. The Royal Library adjoining has half a million volumes.
The _Palais de Justice_, built in 1866-1883 at a cost of more than ten
million dollars, is one of the most magnificent buildings in Europe,
dominating the lower town from the terraced slope of the upper town. The
Royal Palace and the National Palace (for the chambers) are important
buildings. Besides the University, there are schools of painting and
sculpture, and a conservatory of music.
Brussels lace is particularly famous. Of the so-called Brussels carpets
only a few are manufactured here, most of those of Belgian make being
produced at Tournai. There are also manufactures of damask, linen,
ribbons, embroidery, paper, jewelry, hats, soap, porcelain, carriages,
etc.
=History.=--The history of Belgium as a kingdom can be said to date only
from the time of the Congress of Vienna, in 1830, but its history as
part of the Netherlands goes back to the time of the Romans.
The province of Belgica under the Romans passed under the sway of the
Franks, and fell later to the Burgundian princes. On the death of
Charles the Bold in 1477 it passed by marriage to the House of Hapsburg.
The Spanish Netherlands remained (unlike the northern provinces which
rebelled against Spain and became a Protestant republic) under the
Spanish branch of the Hapsburgs, till in 1713 they were transferred to
Austria. From 1794 Belgium was under French sway, but on the fall of
Napoleon was united with the kingdom of the Netherlands. It rebelled in
1830, and since then, as above stated, has had a separate career as a
limited constitutional monarchy. Again, in 1838, Holland and Belgium
seemed on the brink of war, the cause being that Belgium had treated
Lembourg and Luxembourg, which by the convention had been given to
Holland, as if they were in reality a part of its territory. The crisis
was terminated by the action of the Great Powers, who reduced Belgium’s
share of the national debt of the Netherlands, and partitioned the
territories again in dispute. The tranquillity of the country was again
disturbed by the revolutionary spirit of 1848, but after 1850 the
constitutional party began that series of reforms which gained for
Belgium the position of one of the freest countries in Europe.
The question of Luxembourg threatened in 1861 the peace of Europe, and
Belgium took part in the congress which prevented war breaking out. In
1870, on the outbreak of hostilities between France and Germany,
Belgium, fearing invasion, mobilized her troops, but her neutrality was
recognized and left inviolate by both parties. In 1885 the Congo Free
State was acknowledged to be under the presidency of the king of
Belgium, Leopold II., who had succeeded his father in 1865. The
management of the colony gave cause for much bitterness, and led to a
number of scandals. Leopold II. died in 1910, and was succeeded by his
nephew, King Albert.
On August 2, 1914, the neutrality of Belgium was violated by the
invasion of the German army at Visé, on the ground of _military
necessity_. The German forces met with the most stubborn resistance from
the valiant though numerically inferior Belgians at Liège and Namur. The
country was subsequently completely overrun by German armies and
subjected to military control. The Germans are at present (1917) in
occupation of practically the whole country, where they are exercising
civil government. The Belgian government has withdrawn temporarily to
Havre, in France.
[Illustration: =COLUMN OF THE CONGRESS, BRUSSELS=
It is in Place du Congrès, two squares north from the Cathedral, was
erected, 1850, in honor of the adoption, in 1831, of the present
Constitution of Belgium. This is surmounted by a statue of the king. At
the corners are allegorical figures of Liberty.]
=BULGARIA=, a monarchy in the northeast part of the Balkan Peninsula
between the Danube and the Balkans, was created a principality by the
treaty of Berlin in 1878, greatly extended by the incorporation of East
Rumelia in 1885, and declared an independent kingdom in 1908.
The net result of the wars of 1912-1913 was the increase of Bulgarian
territory from 33,600 square miles to about 45,000. The population
increased by about 500,000, was in 1910 4,337,513--over three-fourths
Bulgarians, 465,000 Turks, 121,000 Gypsies, 80,000 Roumanians, 43,000
Greeks, and 40,000 Jews. The Bulgarians now extend into Macedonia,
Bessarabia, etc., their total number being about 8,000,000.
=Surface.=--The north of Bulgaria is fertile plain and hilly country;
the south is wooded and mountainous. The country has a fine waterway on
the northern boundary, a Black Sea and Ægean seaboard, a mild climate,
an agricultural country capable of much, an abundance of iron and some
coal, free institutions, a peasantry possessing the solid qualities and
persevering industry of northern races, and an assured economic
development.
=Productions.=--The chief occupation of the people is agriculture, which
engages about seventy per cent of the population. Cereals (wheat, maize,
rye, barley, oats) are the principal crops, and rank first among the
exports. Wine is produced everywhere, especially near the Black Sea.
Roses are cultivated to a large extent, especially round Kazanlik and
Karlavo and on the north side of the Rhodope Mountains for attar of
roses, which is largely exported. Silkworms are bred in Philippopolis
and Haskaro. Tobacco is carefully cultivated. There is little industry
apart from domestic branches such as native cloth, carpets, trimmings
and ribbons; but there is some brewing and distilling, leather work at
Sumen, copper work, and pottery-making. The chief exports are grain,
live stock, butter, eggs, hides, and attar of roses, sent chiefly to
Turkey, France, Great Britain, and Austria-Hungary.
=People.=--Education has been very zealously and steadily promoted.
Elementary education is compulsory. There are few technical schools.
Sofia has a university.
The old Bulgarian Slavonic tongue is closely allied to the great
Russian, but some Servian, Greek, Romanic, Albanian, and Turkish
elements have found their way into the language.
The Orthodox Greek Church counts seventy-seven per cent as its
adherents, Islam twenty-one and one-half per cent, and the others are
Jews.
=Government.=--Bulgaria possesses one of the freest and most democratic
constitutions in Europe, largely modeled on the lines of the Belgian
constitution, except that there is no second chamber; and election of
the _Sobranje_ or National Assembly is by universal manhood suffrage,
in the proportion of one member to every twenty thousand of the
population. The executive power is vested in eight ministers nominated
by the king. The monarchy, independent since 1908, is hereditary.
[Illustration: =STREET SCENE IN SOFIA CAPITAL OF BULGARIA=
This modern city is quite American in its appearance. It typifies to
Bulgarians the progress of their nation, and is substantial and
practical rather than pleasing. The streets are broad, straight,
electrically lighted, and well paved, while the houses in the newer
sections are modern structures of dignified architecture. While Sofia
may not impress the visitor with its beauty, it does impress him with
the fact that there is a good deal of common sense and business
efficiency in this part of the Balkans.]
=Cities.=--The chief towns of Bulgaria are Sofia, Philippopolis,
Rustchuk and Varna. Varna and Burgas are ports on the Black Sea,
Dedeagatch on the Ægean.
=Sofia= (_sofee´a_), the capital since 1878 of Bulgaria, stands in a
broad valley of the Balkans, on the railway from Constantinople to
Belgrade and Vienna. It lies two hundred and six miles northwest of
Belgrade, while Constantinople lies three hundred miles southeast. The
valley at Sofia is an upland plateau, seventeen hundred feet above sea
level, and near the heart of the peninsula, between the Vitosha
Mountains and the main Balkan chain. At the end of almost every vista in
the city are the distant hill masses, and fringing mountains.
The city early became important as a trade center, and probably would
have developed into one of the great cities of Europe had not periodical
destruction, almost continual dangers of war, and centuries of misrule
held it back.
The rebuilding of Sofia began around 1880. It now has many creditable
public buildings, electric lighting, an electric street railway and good
sewerage and water systems.
It possesses the largest theater in southeastern Europe. The Bulgarian
National Theater, with a competent corps of actors and singers, and
offering the best in opera and drama, is a revelation of the strides
that have been made in the Balkans since the Turks were driven back a
brief generation ago. The theater is a handsome modern structure,
planned with greater luxury of detail than most buildings in Sofia, and
it cost four hundred thousand dollars.
Sofia has a public bathhouse which is one of the finest buildings of its
kind in the world. It was built over a hot mineral spring, famed since
the days of the Romans. This building, in Byzantine style, including in
its interior appointments all of the most modern luxuries, cost the
Bulgarians six hundred thousand dollars.
Their capital city is one of the peculiar prides of the hard-working,
long-enduring, persistent Bulgarians. It typifies to them the promise of
a great Bulgarian future, and they also look upon it as an earnest of
their right to a respected place among the civilized nations of the
West.
=History.=--The country now known as Bulgaria was originally inhabited
by Thracians, and under the Romans formed the province of Mœsia. The
Bulgars originally came from the banks of the Volga and crossed the
Danube in the sixth century, and occupied the East. They overcame the
Slavs, adopted their language and customs, and thus became a great Slav
power; but by 1186 they had split up into three principalities, and from
1393 fell under the domination of the Turks. For close upon five hundred
years the Bulgars were subject to the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
The first national awakening dates from the year 1762, when the monk
Paysios, then at Mt. Athos, wrote the national chronicles, and revived
memories of ancient glory. A new national literature began; the first
Bulgarian school was opened in 1835, and was followed by others. A
newspaper appeared in 1844. The Crimean war stirred up Slavonic
sympathies which Russia sedulously and naturally cherished. In 1872 the
Bulgarian Church and archbishop became again independent of the
supremacy of the Greek patriarch.
In 1877 Russia, as guardian of the Slav races of Turkey, declared war.
As a result of the war, Bulgaria was created by the treaty of Berlin.
July 13, 1878, and in 1885 Eastern Rumelia was added to the newly
created principality. In 1908 the country was declared to be an
independent kingdom. In 1912-1913 a successful war of the Balkan League
against Turkey increased the size of the kingdom, but in August, 1913, a
short campaign against the remaining members of the League reduced the
acquired area, and led to the surrender of about two thousand square
miles to Roumania. In October, 1915, Bulgaria decided to participate in
the European conflict, and sided with Germany, Austria-Hungary, and
Turkey, and attacked Servia.
[Illustration: =NEW QUARTERS OF COPENHAGEN, CAPITAL OF DENMARK=]
=DENMARK,= the smallest of the three Scandinavian kingdoms, consists of
the peninsula of Jutland and a group of islands in the Baltic, and is
bounded by the Skager-Rak, the Cattegat, the Sound, the Baltic, the
Little Belt, Sleswick, and the North Sea.
=Surface.=--Except in Bornholm, the surface of Denmark is very similar
in every part of the kingdom, and is uniformly low, its highest point
(in southeast Jutland) being only five hundred and sixty-four feet above
sea-level. The coast is generally flat, skirted by sand-dunes and
shallow lagoons, especially along the west side. Both the continental
portion and the islands are penetrated deeply; by numerous fiords, the
largest being Limfiord, which intersects Jutland, and has isolated the
northern extremity of the peninsula since 1825, when it broke through
the narrow isthmus which had separated it from the North Sea.
=Rivers.=--Denmark has numerous streams but no large rivers; the
principal is the Guden, which flows northeast through Jutland into the
Cattegat. It is navigable for part of its course. Less important streams
are the Holm, the Lonborg, and the Stor Aa. All the others are
insignificant brooks and streamlets.
The lakes are very numerous but not large, none exceeding five and
one-half miles in length by about one and one-half miles broad. There
are numerous winding inlets of the sea that penetrate far into the land.
The largest of these, the Limfiord in Jutland, entering from the
Cattegat by a narrow channel, winds its way through to the North Sea,
thus making northern Jutland really an island. In this fiord, which
widens out greatly in the interior and gives off various minor fiords,
there are one large and various small islands.
=Climate.=--The climate is milder, and the air more humid than in the
more southern but continental Germany; it is not unhealthy, except in
the low lying islands, such as Laaland, where the short and sudden heat
of the summer occasions fevers.
=Production and Industry.=--The common products are wheat, rye, oats,
barley, potatoes, cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, and butter. Its
manufactures are, for the most part, for home consumption. Its chief
exports are agricultural produce, including wheat and barley, bacon,
hams, flour, butter, eggs, hides, skins, corn meal and oil cake, horses
and cattle.
=People.=--The population of Denmark is composed almost exclusively of
Danes, with a few thousand Jews and others. The Danes have regular
features, fair or brownish hair, and blue eyes. They still maintain
their reputation for seafaring skill and hospitable customs. They
belong to the Scandinavian branch of the Teutonic peoples, and speak the
Danish form of the old Norse, which was fixed in writing about the time
of the Reformation.
Since the Reformation the Danes have been adherents of the Lutheran
Church. Education is well advanced, and there are very few people in the
country who can neither read nor write.
=Government.=--The present constitution of Denmark dates from 1866. The
executive power is vested in the king and his ministers, the legislative
in the _Rigsdag_ or Diet, comprising the _Landsthing_ or Upper House,
and the _Folkething_ or House of Commons, partly nominated by the Crown,
partly elected, indirectly, by the people.
=Cities.=--Copenhagen is the capital, population, 560,000; other chief
towns are Odense, Aarhuus, Aalborg, Randers and Horsens.
[Illustration: =FREDERICK’S CHURCH, COPENHAGEN=]
=Copenhagen= (_kō-pen-hāgen;_ Dan. _Kjöbenhavn_, “Merchants Haven”), the
capital of Denmark, is situated on the low-lying eastern shore of the
island of Zealand, in the Sound, which is here about twelve miles broad.
The channel forms a fine and capacious harbor, which is bridged over so
as to connect the isolated suburb of Christianshavn and the main part of
the city at two points. Copenhagen is still defended by the old citadel
of Frederikshavn and by forts on the seaward side.
Among its buildings of historical interest or intrinsic beauty, the
Cathedral, rebuilt after the bombardment of 1807, possesses statues of
Christ and the Apostles, and a baptismal font, designed and in part
executed by Thorwaldsen. Frederick’s Church, or Trinitatiskirke, is
remarkable for its round tower, which is ascended by a spiral incline
instead of steps.
The Royal Palace, called Christiansborg, was rebuilt between 1794 and
1828, but suffered greatly from fire in 1884. In the castle of Rosenborg
are kept the regalia; the palace of Charlottenborg, is now used as an
Academy of Arts. The University, founded by Christian I. in 1479, has a
library of three hundred and fifty thousand volumes; the royal library
contains six hundred thousand volumes.
Copenhagen is the center, not only of Danish, but of northern literature
and art, and is the seat of the unrivaled Museum of Northern
Antiquities, and the Thorwaldsen Museum.
The exports include grain, rape-seed, butter, cheese, beef, cattle,
wool, etc.; and porcelain, pianos, clocks, watches, mathematical
instruments, chemicals, sugar, beer, and tobacco are manufactured.
=History.=--The early history of Denmark is lost in the twilight of the
Vikings and their valiant deeds. The Danes coming from the islands
occupied the lands deserted by the Jutes and Angles who had in the fifth
century migrated to England. The Danish monarchy was founded in 936 by
Gorm the Old, whose son became a Christian. Waldemar I. (1157-1182)
ruled Norway also, and conquered Mecklenburg and Pomerania; under his
son Waldemar II. further conquests were made in German and Wendish
lands, so that the Baltic became a Danish sea.
By the treaty of Calmar in 1397, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, already
under one monarch, Margaret, were formally united into one state. In
1448 the Danes elected as king Christian of Oldenburg, a descendant of
their royal family, who was also Duke of Sleswick and Holstein; and his
line continued on the throne till 1863.
Sweden became independent in 1523. Lutheranism was introduced into
Denmark in 1527. In 1815 Denmark had to cede Norway to Sweden; and in
1848 the Germanic peoples of the duchies Sleswick and Holstein rebelled
against Denmark. For the time the Danes succeeded in retaining the
duchies, but the controversy, renewed in 1863, led to the defeat of the
Danes by Austria and Prussia (1864), followed by the incorporation of
the duchies in the Germanic Confederation, and, after the
Austro-Prussian war of 1866, in Prussia.
Denmark although reduced to the narrow limits of the islands and
Jutland, has greatly prospered, in spite of the spread of socialistic
opinions, and political dissensions. Christian IX. died January 29,
1906, and was succeeded by his son, Frederick VIII.
=GREECE= is a maritime kingdom in the southeast of Europe. The country
is composed of a continental portion, almost separated into two parts by
the gulfs of Patras and Lepanto on the west, and the gulf of Ægina on
the east, the archipelago of the Ægean Sea and the Ionian Islands, and
is divided into twenty-six provinces, called nomarchies.
=Surface.=--The mountain range which cuts off the peninsula from the
continent of Europe is an extension of the Balkans. From it run chains
from north-northwest to south-southeast, which form the skeleton of
Greece. The western boundary of Thessaly is formed by Pindus, the main
offshoot of the Balkans. The eastern boundary is also marked not only by
the sea but by important mountains derived from the Balkan system. These
are Olympus, Ossa, Mavrovuni, and Pelion. Othrys, a branch of Pindus,
forms the south boundary of Thessaly. This branch is continued in the
celebrated mountains Parnassus and Helicon, forms the land of Attica,
and reappears as the islands of Ceos, Cythnos, Seriphos, and Siphnos.
The Peloponnese, “the island of Pelops,” or by its modern name the
Morea, is connected with northern Greece merely by the narrow isthmus of
Corinth, now pierced by a canal; its highest point is Taygetus.
=Rivers.=--The rivers of Greece are unimportant. The chief in the
Peloponnesus are the Eurotas (Basilipotamo), the Alpheus (Ruphia),
draining Arcadia and Elis; and the Peneus draining Elis.
=Climate.=--The climate is generally mild, in the parts exposed to the
sea equable and genial, but in the mountainous regions of the interior
sometimes very cold. None of the mountains attain the limit of perpetual
snow; but several retain it far into the summer. During summer rain
scarcely ever falls, and the channels of the minor streams become dry.
Toward the end of harvest rain becomes frequent and copious, and fevers
become common.
=Production and Industry.=--The most important of the fruit trees are
the olive, the vine, orange, lemon, fig, almond, citron, pomegranate,
and currant grape. Its exports consist of currants, figs, olive oil,
wine, cognac, tobacco, hides, lead, iron ore, magnesium, emery, marble,
and sponges.
=People.=--The Greeks called themselves _Hellenes_, and the inhabitants
of Italy called them _Graeci_. The modern Greeks are by no means
pure-bred descendants of the ancient Greeks. Indeed, it has been
maintained that from the seventh century A. D. there have been no pure
Greeks in the country, but only Slavs. It is, however, pretty certain
that the two and one-quarter million of modern inhabitants are
descendants of the three races that occupied the soil at the time of the
Roman conquest. They speak the modern Greek tongue, which is a greatly
modified form of the old.
Education is free and compulsory, maintained by local taxation
supplemented by State grants. Secondary education is somewhat backward,
particularly in the country districts. There is a university of some
repute at Athens, which is largely attended by Turks.
=Government.=--According to the constitution, which was framed by an
assembly in 1864, the executive power is vested in the king and his
responsible ministry; the legislature is a single chamber of deputies
called the _Boulé_, elected by the people, and meets at Athens.
=Cities.=--Athens is the capital, population 167,500; the towns next in
size are Patras, Piræus, and Trikhala, all above 20,000; and there are
eight others between 20,000 and 10,000.
=Athens=, in the southeast of Attica, occupies an extensive area round
the site and remains of the classical city, four and one-half miles from
its harbor of Piræus, on the Gulf of Ægina. The city, which takes its
name from Athena, “goddess of science, arts, and arms,” and its own
patron divinity, was originally built on the Acropolis, a conspicuous
limestone rock rising three hundred and twenty feet above the Attic
plain, and afterwards spread out on the plain below. The Acropolis
became the citadel and subsequently the site of a group of beautiful
temples of the time of Pericles (fifth century, B. C.).
The ruins of the Parthenon, the Erechtheum, the temple of Nike Apteros
(“Wingless Victory”), and the Propylæa, still remain to testify to the
former glory of the Acropolis. Of the other ancient buildings the most
notable are the Theseum (also of the Periclean period, and still almost
perfect), and the fragments of the vast temple of Zeus (begun in 530 B.
C. and finished by the Roman Emperor Hadrian), with the theater of
Dionysus and other structures.
Not far from the Acropolis rose the hill Lycabettus (nine hundred and
eleven feet), and the hillocks or ridges of the Pnyx and the Areopagus
or Mars Hill. At a greater distance the plain is bounded by Hymettus
(three thousand three hundred and sixty-eight feet), Pentelicus (three
thousand six hundred and forty-one feet), and other ranges.
Athens was fabled to have been founded by the hero Cecrops. The most
brilliant period of its history was when, after the Persian wars (fifth
century, B. C.), Athens took the lead among the Greek states, became
powerful by land and sea, was adorned by Pericles with most glorious
buildings, and brought Greek literature and Greek philosophy to their
highest development. Its decline dates from the disastrous conclusion of
the Peloponnesian war (403 B. C.). It was plundered and ruined by Sulla
in 87 B. C.; and neither under Byzantine nor Turkish rule ever attained
any prosperity. In the days of its glory Athens had some one hundred
thousand free inhabitants and twice as many slaves; when after the
liberation of Greece Athens was made the capital of the new kingdom
(1834), it was a wretched village of a few hundred houses. Since then it
has had a prosperous growth, looks like a well built German town, with a
fine royal palace, a marble stadium (restored), a university with over
one hundred and fifty professors and lecturers and two thousand five
hundred students, and a good deal of miscellaneous trade by the way of
the Piræus. It is connected by rail also with Corinth, and the
Athens-Larissa line brings Greece into railway communication with the
rest of Europe. (See also under ancient Greece.)
=History.=--Modern Greece threw off the Turkish yoke in 1830 and was
declared an independent kingdom and the boundaries were defined. The
liberated state was at first governed by a national assembly, but the
president, Count Capo D’Istrias, assumed autocratic powers, and sedition
culminated in his assassination. Subsequently the Powers offered the
throne to Prince Leopold (afterwards king of Belgium), but the offer
was refused. The crown was then given to Otho, son of Louis I. of
Bavaria. Throughout his reign discontent was rife, and an insurrection
in 1862 resulted in the deposal of the king. George, second son of the
king of Denmark, was then chosen king, and the Ionian Islands, at that
time under British protection, were ceded unconditionally to the
kingdom.
By the Berlin Congress of 1878, Greece was promised a modification of
her frontier, and in 1881 a readjustment was accepted. The adjustment
proved distasteful to the Hellenes, who demanded Crete, and hostilities
commenced with Turkey in 1897. The war was short-lived, and was
disastrous to the Greeks, and on the intervention of the Powers an
armistice was concluded. By the Treaty of Constantinople Greece was
compelled to pay an indemnity to submit to the readjustment of her
frontier, and to accept the control of the Powers in financial affairs.
In October, 1912, war broke out in the Balkan states, known as the
Balkan war. The permanent effects on the Greek frontier, owing to the
Hellenic participation in the victory over the Turks, are not yet
determinable, but all deeply affect Greek interests, and depend on the
decision of the Great Powers. George, King of the Hellenes, was
assassinated in Salonica by a maniac named Schinas in March, 1913. The
perpetrator of the crime subsequently committed suicide. The present
ruler is the late king’s eldest son, who was proclaimed King Constantine
XII.
=HOLLAND=, the popular name of a country officially described as
“Netherland,” or “The Netherlands,” is bounded by the North Sea,
Prussia, and Belgium. Its greatest length, north to south, is one
hundred and ninety-five miles, and its greatest breadth one hundred and
ten miles. Luxemburg was, till 1890, connected with Holland.
=Surface.=--Almost the whole country is flat and low; the parts of it
nearest the coasts are even below the sea level, the waters being kept
out by dykes, which are maintained at a great annual cost. One stretch
of fifty miles of the coast is guarded by a triple wall of piles driven
into the soil, filled up between, and buttressed by huge granite blocks
brought from Norway. If it were not for these dykes controlling the
rivers and keeping out the sea, nearly half the country would be under
water.
All the southern part of Holland belongs to the alluvial delta lands
formed at the mouths of the Rhine (the chief branch of which is named
the Waal), the Meuse or Maas, and Scheldt. Opening out into broad,
shallow estuaries these river mouths form a number of islands, of which
Walcheren and Beveland, Schouwen and Tholen, Over Flakkee, Voorne and
Beyerland, are the largest.
Toward the north appears the great shallow gulf called the Zuider Zee
(or South Sea, in distinction from the North Sea outside), which was
formed in the thirteenth century by the bursting of the sea into a
former inland lake called “Flevo” by the Roman geographers. Outside of
it a chain of islands marks the line of the former coast of the
mainland.
=Rivers and Canals.=--Besides the natural channels formed by the
estuaries of the Scheldt, the Maas, and the delta branches of the Rhine
(the Waal, Lek, Old Rhine, Vecht, Amstel, and Yssel) the country is
intersected in all directions by _Grachts_ or larger canals, lined with
rows of trees, joining river to river. No country in the world has such
a network of waterways; ships’ masts, and windmills with large sails,
pumping the water from the smaller drainage canals, are seen everywhere.
=Climate.=--The general climate of Holland resembles that of England,
opposite to it, in its rapid variations; but it is more humid. Dense sea
fogs from the North Sea drive over it. In most winters the rivers and
canals are frozen over for two or three months, when even women skate to
market; in summer the thermometer rises to eighty or ninety degrees in
the shade.
=Production and Industry.=--Cattle rearing, butter and cheese making,
are the most general industries of the country, for the grazing meadows
are far more extensive than the corn lands. In the latter, rye, barley,
wheat, and potatoes, are the chief crops. Flax, and beet-root for sugar,
chicory, and tobacco, are grown also to a considerable extent.
The principal manufactures are shipping, bricks, margarine, cocoa,
chocolate, linen, rich damasks, cottons, woolens, cigars and other
manufactured tobacco, candles, confectionery, earthenware and pottery,
glass bottles and ware, chemical and pharmaceutical products, matches,
perfumery, sugar, bicycles and automobiles, boots and shoes, starch,
potato flour, engines, metal substances, works of art in gold and
silver, incandescent lamps, machinery, motors, paper, printing, oils,
beer, “geneva” and other liqueurs. Diamond cutting employs numerous
hands in Amsterdam.
=People.=--Of the population, the greater part (seventy per cent) is
formed by the Dutch or Batavians, the descendants of the Germanic tribe
of the Batavi who occupied the delta of the Rhine in the time of the
Roman conquest of the land. Frieslanders (fourteen per cent),
descendants of the ancient Frisii, occupy the northern borders of the
country, where the peasantry still speak a language closely allied to
Anglo-Saxon; the Flemings (thirteen per cent) occupy the southeastern
borders of the country. Their language differs little from the Dutch;
but the dialects throughout the country are very numerous.
The majority, about three-fifths, belong to the several Reformed
Churches; and the remainder are Roman Catholics, with about one hundred
and seven thousand Jews.
Private state-aided primary instruction is encouraged rather than
public, though the latter is provided, if required, by local taxation.
Secondary schools for working classes are numerous, well equipped and
attended. The principal universities are at Amsterdam, Groningen,
Leiden, Utrecht.
=Government.=--The government of Holland is a limited constitutional
monarchy. The crown is the executive power; legislation is vested in the
States-general of two chambers, called the First Chamber and the Second
Chamber. A State Council of fourteen members appointed by the Sovereign
is consulted on all legislative and on most executive matters.
There is no state religion, but the state gives financial support to the
different churches.
=Cities.=--The capital is The Hague with a population of 300,000; other
cities exceeding 50,000 in 1913 were as follows: Amsterdam, 591,053;
Rotterdam, 454,135; Utrecht, 123,457; Groningen, 78,670; Haarlem,
70,907; Arnhem, 64,760; Leiden, 59,297; Nymegen, 58,679; Tilburg,
54,216.
=The Hague= (Dutch _Gravenhagen_, “the count’s hedge”), the capital of
the Netherlands is two miles from the North Sea and fifteen miles
northwest of Rotterdam. It is intersected by canals and shady avenues of
lime-trees, and has many fine public buildings and private houses.
In the center of it is the Vijver, or Fish-pond, to the south of which
stands the old castle of the Counts of Holland, where the Dutch
parliament sits. In its gatetower the brothers De Witt were confined
till dragged thence and torn to pieces by the populace (1672). The
picture-gallery has a splendid collection of works by native painters
(Paul Potter’s “Bull” and Rembrandt’s “Lesson in Anatomy”); and there
are the royal library with five hundred thousand volumes; the municipal
and other museums; the Town-House, and the royal palaces.
Among the numerous statues are those of William I. (two in number),
William II., Spinoza, Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, and the monument which
commemorates the deliverance from the French. Close to the town is the
beautiful pleasure-park called “The Wood” (_Bosch_), in which stands a
royal residence with the magnificent so-called “Orange Hall.”
[Illustration: =PALACE IN THE WOOD,=
or Dutch “White House,” is situated in a fine old plantation of beeches
and oaks, round ornamental lakes and islands, is a plain building with a
grand interior; and has Jordaen’s masterpiece, the Apotheosis of Prince
Fred. Henry.]
The great Peace Conference was held here in 1899; The Hague is the seat
of the resulting arbitration courts, for which Mr. Carnegie provided
permanent buildings of great architectural beauty. Industries are
iron-founding, copper and lead smelting, cannon-founding, printing,
furniture and carriage making, and the manufacture of gold and silver
lace.
[Illustration: =NATIONAL MONUMENT IN THE WILLEMS-PARK, THE HAGUE=]
=History.=--The ancient inhabitants of the country, the Batavians and
the Frisians, became subjects or allies of the Romans in the first
century A. D., and so remained till in the fourth century their
territories were overrun by the Saxons and Salian Franks.
At the end of the eighth century the Low Countries submitted to
Charlemagne, and various feudal dukedoms, counties, and lordships were
gradually established (the countship of Holland in the eleventh
century). In 1384 the earldom of Flanders passed to the Dukes of
Burgundy, and Philip the Good (_c._ 1450) made the Low Countries as
prosperous as any part of his Burgundian state.
The Emperor Charles V. inherited the Burgundian dominions; and under his
son, Philip II. of Spain, broke out the bitter quarrel between Holland
and Spain, between Dutch Protestantism and persistence and Spanish
tyranny and persecution, which ended in 1581 in the establishment of the
Dutch Republic as an independent state under William the Silent (of
Orange), though the war continued with intervals till 1648, and the
Belgian provinces abode by their allegiance to the kings of Spain.
In the seventeenth century Dutch commerce, especially at sea, Dutch
science, Dutch classical scholarship, Dutch literature and Dutch art
attained an eminence hardly afterwards equalled. The rivalry of Holland
and England at sea led to the unfortunate wars of 1652-1654 and
1664-1667. The accession of William III. of Orange to the
Stadtholdership of the United Provinces (1672) proved the salvation of
the republic from France; in 1678 Louis XIV. signed the peace of
Nymegen.
Ten years later William was hailed as the savior of English liberties,
and became king of Great Britain and Ireland. On William’s death, the
United Provinces became a pure republic once more, the stadtholdership
was re-established in 1747 but it made no difference in the downward
course.
The National Convention of France having declared war against Great
Britain and the stadtholder of Holland in 1793, French armies overran
Belgium (1794); they were welcomed by the so-called patriots of the
United Provinces and William V. and his family (January 1795) were
obliged to escape from Scheveningen to England in a fishing-smack and
the French rule began. After several changes Louis Bonaparte, June 5,
1806, was appointed king of Holland, but, four years later, was obliged
to resign because he refused to be a mere tool in the hands of the
French emperor. Holland was then added to the empire.
The fall of Napoleon I. and the dismemberment of the French empire led
to the recall of the Orange family and the formation of the southern and
northern provinces into the ill-managed kingdom of the Netherlands,
which in 1830 was broken up by the secession of Belgium. In 1839 peace
was finally concluded with Belgium; but almost immediately after
national discontent with the government showed itself, and William I. in
1840 abdicated in favor of his son.
Holland, being moved by the revolutionary fever of 1848, King William
II. granted a new constitution, according to which new chambers were
chosen, but they had scarcely met when he died, March, 1849, and William
III. (born 1817) ascended the throne.
William III. having no living male issue, the succession to the crown
was vested in the princess of Orange, Wilhelmina, the only child of the
king’s second marriage, born in 1880. For many years the great question
of internal politics was the new constitution, which, promulgated
November 30, 1887, increased the electorate of Holland by no less than
two hundred thousand voters. On the death of the king (November 23,
1890), when Luxemburg ceased to be connected with the crown of Holland,
the Princess Wilhelmina became queen.
Queen Wilhelmina married Prince Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in 1901,
and in 1909 a daughter (the Princess Juliana) was born to them.
=NORWAY= (Norweg. _Norge_), the western division of the Scandinavian
peninsula, is one thousand one hundred and sixty miles in length
(coast-line three thousand miles) and varies in width from twenty to one
hundred miles north of 63° N. lat.; below that line it swells out to two
hundred and sixty miles. The coast-line is extensive, deeply indented
with numerous fiords, and fringed with an immense number of rocky
islands. The surface is mountainous, consisting of elevated and barren
tablelands, separated by deep and narrow valleys. The finest of the
valleys stretching inland from the fiords is Romsdal, where the rounded
pure gneiss mountains tower up to six thousand feet with almost
perpendicular walls. The cultivated area is about one-thirtieth part of
the country; forests cover nearly one-fourth; the rest consists of
highland pastures or mountains.
Norway is separated from Sweden by the Kjolen Mountains (three thousand
to six thousand feet), the backbone of the peninsula, which divide south
of 63°; the western branch widens out into a broad plateau, undulating
between two thousand and four thousand feet and embossed with
mountain-knots--Dovre, Jotun, Lang, Fille, Hardanger Fjelde
(_fells_)--the separate peaks of which shoot up to six thousand feet and
higher.
=Rivers.=--The few important rivers that Norway can claim as exclusively
her own have a southerly direction, and discharge themselves into the
Skager-Rack; of these the chief are the Glommen (four hundred miles),
and its affluent, the Lougen. The most important river in the north is
the Tana, which forms part of the boundary between Russia and Norway,
and falls into the Arctic Ocean. Lofty waterfalls are numerous. Lakes
are extremely numerous but generally small. The principal is the Miösen
Vand. The streams are turned to account in floating down the valuable
timber of the forests, and their rapids give abundant mill power.
=Production and Industry.=--Agriculture, though pursued with some vigor
of late, is unable to furnish sufficient products for home consumption;
hence it has been necessary to import considerable quantities of corn,
meat, and pork. The fisheries give employment to a large part of the
population throughout the year. The most important are cod and herring.
The mineral products are of late increasing.
The purely industrial establishments are grouped mainly around
Christiania, and include textile factories, machine shops, chemical
works, flour mills, breweries, etc. The use of water power for
electrical enterprises is growing. The Norwegians rank among the busiest
sea carriers of the world, the Norwegian mercantile marine ranking third
among maritime nations, or first in proportion to population.
The chief exports consist of timber, matches, fish, oil, and other
products of the fisheries, pulp, paper, skins and furs, nails, minerals,
stone, ice, calcium carbide, condensed milk, butter, margarine, tinned
goods, etc.
=People.=--The people of the peninsula are of Germanic race, with the
exception of the small number of Finns and the Lapps in the north. The
Norsemen of Norway, of middle stature, strong, generally blonde haired
and blue eyed, seamen by choice, have adopted the Danish as the language
of the towns and of literature, the modernized Old Norse being banished
to the outlying country districts and unfrequented fiords.
Education is compulsory and free between the ages of seven and fourteen,
schools being maintained by local taxation with state grants in aid.
The attendance is high. Secondary schools are provided by the state, by
local authorities, and privately. There are a number of special schools
and industrial and technical institutes. The University of Christiania
is an important institution for higher education.
Except 52,700 persons (including Methodists, Baptists, Roman Catholics,
Jews, Mormons), the entire population belong to the Lutheran Church.
=Government.=--After the crisis of European affairs brought about by
Napoleon’s wars, Denmark lost her hold over Norway, which had been
united to it for more than four centuries, and that country was united
to Sweden in exchange for Finland, which then passed under Russian sway.
Norway, however, was again separated from Sweden as an independent
kingdom under King Haakon VII. in 1905.
The _Storthing_ or Parliament consists of one hundred and twenty-three
members, women being eligible and electors (since 1907); and divides for
legislative purposes into two chambers called “_Odelsting_” and
“_Lagting_.”
The Norwegians share with the Swiss the distinction of being the most
democratic people in Europe; all titles of nobility were abolished in
1821. In 1912 practically all offices except in the cabinet, diplomatic
service, army, navy, and church, were thrown open to women.
=Cities.=--The chief cities are the capital, Christiania, and Bergen.
Other important towns are Trondhjem, Stavanger, and Drammen.
=Christiania=, the modern capital and chief commercial town of Norway
(the ancient capital is Trondhjem, “home of the throne,” where the kings
are still crowned), is built on the northern end of the Christiania
Fiord. Population, in 1910, 241,834. It is named after Christian IV.,
who commenced building it in 1624 after the destruction of the ancient
city of Oslo by fire. It is the seat of Parliament, of the High Court of
Judicature, and of the National University. Connected with this are the
students’ garden, a library of four hundred and fifty thousand volumes,
a botanical garden, zoological and other museums, laboratories, and
observatory. The Meteorological Institute was established in 1866. There
are two national and historical palaces here, one in the city quite near
the university, and one, Oscarshall, beautifully situated two miles from
the city on an eminence overlooking the fiord. There is a national
picture-gallery, and a very interesting museum of northern antiquities.
The _Dom_ or Cathedral and Trinity Church are the principal
ecclesiastical buildings. The old fortress _Akershus Faestning_ still
remains, but has little military value.
The staple industry of Christiania is its shipping trade; its chief
export is timber. A considerable industry is the brewing of _Christiania
öl_, a sort of lager beer, with resinous flavor, largely consumed
throughout Norway, and exported. The minor manufactures are cotton,
canvas, engine-works, nailworks, paper-mills, and cariole-making. The
harbor is closed by ice for three or four months most winters.
=History.=--It is not until the ninth century that the story of Norway
begins to emerge from the obscurities of myth and legend. At first it
was occupied by Lapps and by several Gothic tribes, then became an
independent kingdom, founded in 872, and was united to Denmark in 1380.
The Napoleonic crisis in Europe may be said to have severed the union,
which had existed for more than four hundred years between Norway and
Denmark. The latter country after having given unequivocal proofs of
adhesion to the cause of Bonaparte, was compelled, after the war of
1813, to sign the treaty of Kiel in 1814, in which it was stipulated by
the allied powers that she should resign Norway to Sweden. Charles XIII.
was declared joint king of Sweden and Norway in 1818. From that time
down to 1905 Norway remained in union with Sweden. In June of that year
Norway declared the union dissolved, and the repeal of the union was
signed in October of the same year. The throne was offered to and
declined by a prince of the reigning house of Sweden, but was afterwards
accepted by Prince Carl of Sweden, who was thereupon elected as King
Haakon VII. In 1908 a treaty was signed by Great Britain, Germany,
France, Russia, and Norway guaranteeing the integrity of the Norwegian
kingdom.
=Poland= (called by the natives _Polska_, a word of the same root as
_Pole_, “a plain”), a kingdom of Europe, proclaimed, in 1916, by the
governments of Austria-Hungary and the German Empire as the result of
conquests by the Central Powers, comprises substantially what is
geographically known as Russian Poland (the kingdom of Poland formed in
1815) and Austrian Poland (or the Austrian province of Galicia). The
former has an area of about 49,000 square miles, with a population of
more than 12,000,000; the latter, an area of 30,300 square miles, and a
population of 8,000,000.
=Surface.=--This extensive tract forms part of the great European
central plain, and is crossed by only one range of hills, which run
northeast from the Carpathians, forming the watershed between the Baltic
and Black Seas.
Its principal streams are the Vistula, the Niemen, and the Dwina, all
belonging to the basin of the Baltic; and the Dniester, South Bug, and
Dnieper, with its tributary, Pripet, belonging to the basin of the Black
Sea.
The physical configuration of the country makes it admirably adapted for
agriculture. Next to grain and cattle its most important product is
timber.
The soil is mostly a light fertile loam, though there are large barren
tracts of sand, heath, and swamp, especially in the east. Much of the
fertile soil is rich pasture land, and much is occupied with forests of
pine, birch, oak, etc. Rye, wheat, barley, and other cereals, hemp,
timber, honey, and wax, cattle, sheep, and horses, vast mines of salt
and coal, some silver, iron, copper, and lead constitute the natural
riches of the country.
=People.=--The present population of the provinces, included in the
Poland of former days, consists chiefly of Poles, Lithuanians, Germans,
Jews, Malo-Russians, Roumanians and Gypsies. The Poles, who number
10,000,000, form the bulk of the population; the Lithuanians, 2,100,000
in number, inhabit the northeast of the country; the Germans, of whom
there are 2,000,000, live mostly in the towns; the Jews are very
numerous being estimated, at 2,200,000.
Roman Catholics preponderate; then come in order the Greek Church,
Protestants, Jews, and Armenians.
=Cities.=--The following are the populations of the chief cities:
Capital, Warsaw, 800,000; Lodz, 400,000; Lemberg, 225,000; Cracow,
160,000; Przemysl, 60,000.
=Warsaw= (Polish _Warszawa_), the capital of Poland, stands on the
Vistula’s left bank, three hundred and thirty miles east of Berlin by
rail and seven hundred miles southwest of Petrograd. Two iron bridges
lead to the suburb of Prague, on the opposite bank. Standing on a
navigable river, with great railway lines to Moscow, Petrograd, Vienna,
Danzig, and Berlin, Warsaw is one of the most important cities of
eastern Europe, being smaller only than Petrograd and Moscow. Corn and
flax are largely exported, and coal and manufactured goods imported.
Warsaw itself manufactures electroplate, machinery, boots, woolens,
pianos, carriages, tobacco, sugar, chemicals, beer, and spirits.
Of over one hundred Catholic churches the cathedral of St. John is the
most notable; there are also several Greek churches, two Lutheran ones,
and many synagogues. The castle is an imposing building, and there are
many fine private palaces. The university, suppressed at various times,
was reopened in 1915, and has seventy-five professors who now teach in
Polish.
=History.=--The early history of Poland is legendary and obscure. The
Poles, like the Russians, are a Slavonic race, and are first spoken of
as the Polani, a tribe or people between the Vistula and Oder. The
country was divided into small communities until the reign of Mieczyslaw
I. (962-992) of the Piast dynasty, who renounced paganism in favor of
Christianity, and was a vassal of the German emperor.
He was succeeded by Boleslaw the Great (992-1025), who raised Poland
into an independent kingdom and increased its territories. In succeeding
reigns the country was involved in war with Germany, the Prussians, the
Teutonic knights, and with Russia. The last of the Piast dynasty was
Casimir the Great (1364-1370), during whose reign the material
prosperity of Poland greatly increased. He was succeeded by his nephew,
Louis of Anjou, king of Hungary, whose daughter, Hedwig, was recognized
as “king” in 1384, and having married Jagello, prince of Lithuania, thus
established the dynasty of the Jagellons, which lasted from 1386 to
1572.
During this period Poland attained its most powerful and flourishing
condition. In 1572 the Jagellon dynasty became extinct in the male line,
and the monarchy, hitherto elective in theory, now became so in fact.
The more important of the elective kings were Sigismund III.
(1587-1637), Wladislaw or Ladislaus IV. (1632-1648), John Casimir,
(1648-1669), and the Polish general Sobieski, who became king under the
title of John III. (1674-1696). He was succeeded by Augustus II.,
Elector of Saxony, who got entangled in the war of Russia with Charles
XII., and had as a rival in the kingdom Stanislaus Lesczynski. Augustus
III. (1733-1763) followed, and by the end of his reign internal
dissensions and other causes had brought the country into a state of
helplessness.
In 1772 under the last feeble king Stanislaus Augustus (1764-1795), the
first actual partition of Poland took place, when about a third of her
territories were seized by Prussia, Austria, and Russia, the respective
shares of the spoil being Prussia 13,415 square miles, Austria 27,000
square miles, Russia 42,000 square miles.
A second division between Russia and Prussia took place in 1793. Prussia
received nearly all the present province of Posen, and the western part
of what is now Russian Poland; Russia received all the territory east of
about long. 44°. A third division between Russia, Prussia, and Austria
occurred in 1795. Prussia took a large part of the present Russian
Poland, including Warsaw; Austria received part of the present Russian
Poland between the Bug, Vistula, and Pilica; and Russia received all the
remainder, situated east of the Niemen and Bug.
An insurrection under Koszciusko had taken place in 1794, but he was
defeated at the battle of Maciejowice and taken prisoner. Suvorov
(Suwarrow), the Russian general, took Warsaw, and the Polish monarchy
was at an end. King Stanislaus resigned his crown, and died at Petrograd
in 1798.
Part of Poland was formed by Napoleon into the duchy of Warsaw. The
Congress of Vienna in 1815 made a resettlement of the territory,
creating a kingdom of Poland, under Russian rule, with a constitution.
An insurrection which began in November, 1830, was suppressed in
September, 1831; the constitution was abolished in 1832. From this time
the independence of Poland was suppressed, and in 1832 it was declared
an integral part of the Russian empire, with a separate administration,
headed by a viceroy chosen by the Czar. On November 6, 1848, the
republic of Cracow became Austrian; and the subsequent rebellion against
Russian rule in 1863 only brought further humiliation on Polish hopes
and aspirations.
During the European war Poland, in 1914, first suffered invasion and
devastation by the Russian armies, and during the two following years
was completely overrun by the Austro-German armies, and placed under the
military rule of the latter. The proclamation of Poland as a new
independent kingdom took effect in 1916.
=PORTUGAL= (named from Portus Cale, the Roman name of Oporto), a
republic of Europe, lying between Spain and the Atlantic, on the west
side of the Iberian Peninsula, is three hundred and fifty miles in
length and varies in width from seventy to one hundred and forty miles.
The area is 36,038 square miles--a little larger than Ireland.
=Surface and Climate.=--The coast is mostly low and flat, except
immediately north and south of the mouth of the Tagus, and at Cape St.
Vincent. The north of Portugal is diversified by spurs (five thousand
feet) of the mountains of Spanish Galicia. The Sierra da Estrella (six
thousand five hundred and forty feet) is a westward continuation of the
Spanish Sierra Guadarrama system. The Sierra Morena is continued
westwards in southern Portugal.
The principal rivers of the country--the Guadiana in the south, the
Tagus in the center, and the Douro and Minho in the north--are simply
the lower courses of Spanish rivers; but the Mondego has its sources in
the country.
The vicinity to the ocean tempers the climate and exempts it from the
dry heat of Spain. The inequalities of the surface produce, however,
diversities of climate; for, while snow falls abundantly on the
mountains in the northern provinces, it is never seen in the southern
lowlands. Rain falls abundantly throughout the year.
=Production and Industry.=--The chief products are wheat, barley, oats,
maize, flax, hemp, and the vine in elevated tracts; in the lowlands,
rice, olives, oranges, lemons, citrons, figs, and almonds. There are
extensive forests of oak, chestnut, sea pine, and cork, the cultivation
of the vine and the olive being among the chief branches of industry;
the rich red wine known to us as “port” is shipped from Oporto. Its
mineral products are important--copper, lead, tin, antimony, coal,
manganese, iron, slate, and bay salt, which last, from its hardness and
purity, is in demand. Its manufactures consist of gloves, silk, woolens,
linen, and cotton fabrics, metal and earthenware goods, tobacco, cigars,
etc. The exports consist to the extent of fifty per cent of wine, which
is the chief industrial product of the country; others are cork, cattle,
copper ore, fruits, oil, sardines, and salt.
=People.=--The Portuguese are a mixed race--original Iberian or Basque,
with later Celtic admixture. Galician blood (derived from the ancient
Gallaici, presumably Gallic invaders) predominates in the north; Jewish
and Arabic blood are strongly present in the center, and African in the
south.
The Portuguese differ widely from their Spanish brethren, whom they
regard with inveterate hatred and jealousy, mainly on account of their
attempts to subvert the independence of Portugal.
Education is free and nominally compulsory between the ages of seven and
fifteen, but is not strictly enforced, and over seventy-five per cent of
the population above seven years old are illiterate. Secondary education
is conducted in state lyceums. There are also military, naval and other
special schools. The University of Coimbra is the chief higher
institution.
=Government.=--Portugal was a constitutional monarchy till 1910, when a
republic was established. The constitution of 1911 provides a Senate,
elected by municipal councils, and a National Council, by direct
suffrage. The two chambers united constitute the Congress of the
republic. The president of the republic is elected by both chambers for
a period of four years. He cannot be re-elected.
=Cities.=--Capital, Lisbon, on the Tagus, population, 435,359. Oporto
had a population (1911) of 194,664. There are no other large towns, but
Braga, Loulé, Setubal, and Funchal (Madeira) had populations exceeding
20,000 in 1911.
=Lisbon= (Port. _Lisboa_), capital of Portugal, stands on the northern
shore of a bottle-shaped expansion of the Tagus, nine miles from its
mouth; it is four hundred and twelve miles by rail west by southwest of
Madrid. The city extends for four or five miles along the shore, and
climbs up the slopes of a low range of hills, occupying a site of
imposing beauty.
The oldest part of Lisbon is that which escaped the earthquake of 1755;
it lies on the east, round the citadel, and consists of narrow,
intricate streets, not over clean. It is still known by its Moorish name
of Alfama. The western portions were built after the earthquake, with
wide and regular streets, fine squares, and good houses. The summits are
mostly crowned with what were formerly large monasteries.
The gloomy cathedral of the “patriarch,” built in 1147, restored after
1755, has a Gothic facade and choir. The large church of St. Vincent
contains the tombs of the former royal (Braganza) family. The church of
Estrella is a reduced copy of St. Peter’s at Rome. In San Roque is a
chapel thickly encrusted with mosaics and costly marbles. But the finest
structure in the city is the Gothic monastery and church of Belem, a
monument to the great seamen of Portugal; it was begun in 1500 on the
spot from which Vasco da Gama embarked (1497) on his momentous voyage.
Inside the church are tombs to Camoens and Vasco da Gama, and the grave
of Catharine, wife of Charles II. of England.
A fine square facing the bay is surrounded with government offices, the
handsome custom-house, and the marine arsenal. There are an academy of
sciences, with a library of one hundred and twenty thousand volumes, a
polytechnic school, a medical school, a conservatory of music, a public
library of four hundred thousand volumes and two observatories.
A magnificent aqueduct brings water to the city from springs nine miles
to the northwest.
A series of forts protect the seaward approaches. The harbor is one of
the finest in the world, well sheltered, deep close to the quays, and
capacious enough to hold all the navies of Europe at once.
=History.=--Like the rest of Iberia, Portugal (the southern part of
which was known to the Romans as Lusitania, often taken as a poetical
name for the whole country) was thoroughly Romanized after the conquest
of the Carthaginians by the Romans in 138 B. C. Then the peninsula was
overrun by the Visigoths, and next by the Saracens. Northern Portugal
fell under the influence of Castile; but under Alfonso I. (1143)
Portugal became an independent kingdom, though the Saracens were not
conquered in the south till 1250. Wars with Castile were frequent.
Under John (1385-1433) began a close alliance between Portugal and
England, and the Portuguese king John married John of Gaunt’s daughter.
With their son, Prince Henry the Navigator, began the most brilliant era
of discovery and conquest, including the acquisition of Madeira, the
Azores, and the doubling of the Cape of Good Hope (1486), the reaching
of India by sea and settlements there (1497), and the discovery and
occupation of Brazil (1500).
In the sixteenth century Portugal was one of the most powerful
monarchies of Europe, and most prosperous of commercial peoples; but its
decline was swift, and Philip II. annexed Portugal to Spain for sixty
years. English assistance secured the independence of the kingdom in
1640; but the glory had departed. Portugal shared in the troubles of the
French occupation and the Peninsular war; after Napoleon’s defeat, the
old family, which had taken refuge in Brazil, was restored, but the
country was rent by intrigue, dissension, and civil war.
The rush of the European powers to occupy central and southern Africa
stirred Portugal to cling tenaciously to her once great colonial empire
in Africa; but the march of events has given to Britain, Germany,
France, and Belgium much that Portugal once claimed as hers.
Popular discontent culminated in the assassination of King Carlos and
his eldest son in the streets of Lisbon in February, 1908. His second
son, Manoel, succeeded. In 1910 the murder of Dr. Bombarda, a
republican, hastened on a revolution already arranged for. The army and
navy assisted in deposing Manoel and setting up a provisional
government, with Theophile Braga as provisional president. He retired in
1911, and in August of that year Dr. Manoel Arriaga was elected as the
first president of the republic.
The republic was formally recognized by the United States upon the
meeting of the Portuguese chambers in June, 1911, and by the other
powers on the formation of the cabinet in September, 1911. In 1915
Portugal joined the Entente Allies in the European war.
=ROUMANIA=, a kingdom in southeast Europe, lies mainly between the
Carpathians, the Purth, and the Danube (the Dobruja being south of the
Danube). It includes the strip added from Bulgaria as “compensation” for
changes consequent on the Balkan war of 1912-1913, from a point on the
Danube above Silistria to Cape Sabla on the Black Sea. Bordering on
Hungary, Russia, Bulgaria, and Servia, its area is 52,000 square miles,
and population 7,500,000.
=Surface.=--Roumania consists for the most part of a great treeless
steppe-like plain, occupying nearly the whole of the northern watershed
of the Lower Danube; behind this plain rise the wooded Transylvania
Alps. Between the northern bend of the river to its marshy delta and the
Black Sea there rises the bare plateau called the Dobruja, partly
grass-covered, partly swampy, without tree or bush. This famous old
battle-ground is crossed by Trajan’s double wall or rampart, built to
keep the northern barbarians out of the Roman provinces.
=Rivers.=--All the rivers are tributaries of the Danube, and flow from
the Carpathians and the Transylvanian Alps across the level steppe to
join its left bank. The chief are the Pruth, which now forms the
boundary towards Russia, the Sereth, and the Oltu (Aluta).
=People.=--Most of the Roumanians are supposed to be descendants of the
race formed by the alliance of the Roman colonists with the original
inhabitants of Dacia. The Roumanian language is derived mainly from
Latin, with Slavonic, Hungarian, and other elements.
They are strong, well-knit men, with black hair, lively, but not very
active. The mass of the people live in great poverty; a few thousand
Boyars, nobles or landed proprietors, really form the nation. Large
numbers of Jews and Gypsies live among the Roumanians. Almost the entire
population belongs to the Greek Church, but religious equality prevails.
=Government.=--The constitution, voted by a popular assembly in 1866,
vests the executive authority in the reigning king and his council of
ministers; the legislative body consists of a Senate and a Chamber of
Deputies.
=Production and Industry.=--The agricultural products consist of wheat,
maize, millet, barley, rye, beans, and peas. Vines and fruits are
abundant. The forests are of great extent and importance, but the riches
of the country consist mainly in its cattle and sheep. Minerals and
precious metals are said to be abundant, but only salt and petroleum are
obtained.
Education is free and nominally compulsory, but owing to inadequate
provision over sixty per cent of those above seven years of age are
illiterate. Secondary education is relatively better, and the schools
are well attended. There are also special schools and universities at
Bucharest and Jassy. A government high school of commerce was opened in
1913.
=Cities.=--Capital, Bucharest, has a population (1912) of about 500,000.
Other towns are: Jassy, 80,000; Galatz, 66,000; Braīla, 60,000; Ploesci,
50,000; Craiova, 46,000.