MECKLENBURG, a territory in northern Germany, on the Baltic sea, formerly divided into two—Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz : these were reunited in Jan., 1934.
Mecklenburg-Schwerin is bounded N. by the Baltic sea, W. by Ratzeburg and Schleswig-Holstein, S. by Brandenburg and Hanover, and E. by Pomerania and Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and possesses three small exclaves. It became a republic in 1918 and by the constitution of 192o it was governed by a Landtag of 64 members. The state sends one member to the Reichsrat of the German Republic. For administrative purposes it is divided into 17 divisions, in addition to the four cities of Rostock, Schwerin, Wismar (the capital) and Giistrow. Its area is 5,068 sq.m. Pop. (1933) 694,775, about 95% of whom are Protest ant.
Mecklenburg-Strelitz consists of two detached parts, the former duchy of Strelitz on the East of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and the former principality of Ratzeburg on the West. The first is bounded by Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Pomerania and Branden burg, the second by Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Lauenburg, and the territory of the free town of Lubeck. Their joint area is 1,131 sq.m. Pop. (1933) 110,514. The state was declared a republic in 1918 and by the constitution of 1923 it was governed by the 35 members of the Landtag who chose an executive of two. It is represented in the Reichsrat by one member. The capital is Neu-Strelitz.
Industries.—Mecklenburg lies wholly within the great North European plain, and its flat surface is interrupted only by a low range of morainic hills, which form the watershed between the Baltic sea and the Elbe. Its highest point, the Helpter Berg, is 587 ft. above sea-level. The coast-line is for the most part cov ered with dunes. The rivers are numerous and some are navi gable, and the facilities for inland water traffic are increased by canals. As a result of glaciation lakes are numerous (about 400). The temperature varies from a January average of 32° F to a July average of 64° F and the annual rainfall is about 23 in. Although there are long stretches of marshy moorland along the coast, the soil is on the whole productive, about half the area being cultivated, while one-fifth is forested. Agriculture is by far the most important industry, and the chief crops are rye, wheat, potatoes and hay. Smaller areas are devoted to maize,
sugar beet, pease, rape, hemp, flax, hops and tobacco. The pas tures support herds of sheep, cattle and horses. Red deer, wild swine and various other game are found in the forests. The in dustrial establishments include a few iron-foundries, wool-spinning mills, machine factories, dye-works, tanneries, brick-fields, soap works, breweries, limekilns and tar-boiling works, tobacco fac tories and mills of various kinds. Rostock, Warnemunde and Wismar are the principal commercial centres. The chief exports are grain and other agricultural produce, live stock and wood; the chief imports are colonial produce, iron and coal. Fishing is carried on extensively in the numerous inland lakes.
The peasantry of Mecklenburg retain traces of their Slavonic origin, especially in speech, but their peculiarities have been much modified by amalgamation with German colonists. The towns people and nobility are almost wholly of Saxon strain. The slow ness of the increase in population is chiefly accounted for by emigration.
The Teutonic peoples, who in the time of Tacitus occupied the region now known as Mecklenburg, were succeeded in the 6th century by some Slavonic tribes, one of these being the Obotrites, whose chief fortress was Michilenburg, the modern Mecklenburg, near Wismar; hence the name of the country. Though partly subdued by Charlemagne towards the close of the 8th century, they soon regained their independence, and the effec tive subjugation of Mecklenburg was made by Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony. The Obotrite prince Niklot was killed in battle in i 16o whilst resisting the Saxons, but his son Pribislaus (d. 1178) submitted to Henry the Lion, married his daughter to the son of the duke, embraced Christianity, and was permitted to retain his office. His descendants and successors, the later grand dukes of Mecklenburg, were the only ruling princes of Slavonic origin in Germany. In 117o the emperor Frederick I. made Pribislaus a prince of the empire. In 1348 the emperor Charles IV. raised Mecklenburg to the rank of a duchy, and in 1418 the university of Rostock was founded.