CRACOW, a province of Poland, bounded north by the province of Kieke, east by the province of Lemberg, west by Polish Silesia and south by Czechoslovakia. It covers 6,736 square miles. It is drained by the Vistula and its tributaries, the Dunajec and Wisloka. The north region is a fertile plain, but the main portion consists of highlands stretching up to the Carpathian mountains. The mountain chain reaches from the West Beskids to the Low Beskids, but in the valley of the Dunajec the province extends to' the lofty Tatry heights (more than 7,9oof t.) . Pop. 2,296,842, mainly Poles, with 7.8% classed as other than Polish mother tongue. The Poles speak the same dialect as their neighbours in the provinces of Kieke and Lublin, but the moun tain area is inhabited by the Gorale or Highlanders with their picturesque costume and local dialects. The province is divided into 24 districts, the chief towns being the capital, Cracow (q.v.), Tarnow (pop. and Nowy Sancz (pop. 1931, 30, 278). Rye, oats, wheat and vegetables are produced. The peas ants, who have enjoyed economic liberty since 1848 and political liberty since 1867, are better educated than the peasants of the provinces formerly under Russia, and the peasants' parties origi nating in this region are playing an important part in the constitu tional life of Poland. Industry, however, has hitherto suffered from the competition of the factories of Austria and Bohemia, but is likely to play an increasingly important part in the life of the province. The salt mines of Bochnia and Wieliczka (q.v.) have been famous from the earliest times. Between 1914 and 1918 it was the scene of Mackensen's great offensive on the Dunajec. The greater part of the province was occupied by Austria at the first partition of Poland, and was known as West Galicia till 1918.