POMERANIA (German, Pommern), a territory of Ger many and a maritime province of Prussia, bounded on the north by the Baltic, on the west by Mecklenburg, on the south by Brandenburg, and on the east by the Border Province (Grenz mark Posen-West Preussen) and by Poland. Its area is 11.687 sq.m., and the population in 1933 was 1,919,935, showing a den sity of 164 inhabitants to the square mile. Pomerania is one of the flattest parts of Germany, although east of the Oder it is traversed by a range of low hills, and there are also a few isolated eminences to the west. Off the west coast, which is very irregular, lie the islands of Riigen, Usedom and Wollin; the coast of Farther Pomerania is smooth in outline and is bordered with dunes, or sandbanks. Besides the Oder and its affluents, the chief of which are the Peene, the tYcker and the Ihna, there are several smaller rivers flowing into the Baltic ; a few of these are navigable for ships, but the greater number only carry rafts.
The soil of Pomerania is for the most part thin and sandy, but patches of good land are found here and there. The principal crops are potatoes, rye and oats, but wheat and barley are grown in the more fertile districts; tobacco, flax, hops and beetroot are also cultivated. Horses for farmwork, sheep for both wool and mutton, cattle, pigs, geese (for flesh and feathers) are features of local agriculture. Owing to the long line of coast and the numerous lakes, fishing forms an important industry. Linen weaving is practised as a domestic industry. Ship-building is carried on at Stettin and at several places along the coast. The chief commercial ports of Pomerania are Stettin, Stralsund and Swinemunde. Education is provided for by a university at Greifs wald and by numerous schools.
and the Pomerani. The name of Pomore, or Pornmern, meaning "on the sea," was given to the district by the latter of the tribes about the time of Charlemagne. Originally it seems to have de noted the coast district between the Oder and the Vistula. After wards Pomerania extended much farther to the west, while being correspondingly curtailed on the east, and a distinction was made between Slavinia, or modern Pomerania, and Pomerellen. The latter, corresponding substantially to the present province of West Prussia, remained subject to Poland until 1309, when it was divided between Brandenburg and the Teutonic Order.
The history of Pomerania, as distinct from that of Pomerellen, consists mainly in a succession of partitions and in constant hos tilities with the elector of Brandenburg, who claimed to be its im mediate feudal superior. During the Thirty Years' War Pome rania was devastated and by the peace of Westphalia the elector of Brandenburg acquired eastern Pomerania (Hinterpommern), and the western part (Vorpommern) was awarded to Sweden. In 1720 Swedish Pomerania was curtailed by extensive concessions to Prussia, but the district to the west of the Peene remained in the possession of Sweden until the general European settle ment of 1815. Then Sweden assigned her German possessions to Denmark in exchange for Norway, whereupon Prussia, partly by purchase and partly by the cession of the duchy of Lauenburg, finally succeeded in uniting the whole of Pomerania under her rule.
See F. W. Barthold, Geschichte von Riigen and Pommern (Hamburg, 1839-45) ; the Codex Pomeraniae diplomaticus, edited by K. F. W. Hasselbach and J. G. L. Kosegarten (Greifswald, 1862) ; H. Berghaus, Landbuch des Herzogtums Pommern (1865-76) ; K. Mass, Pommersche Geschichte (Stettin, 5899) ; J. Bugenhagen, Pomerania, edited by 0. Heinemann (Stettin, 1900) ; M. Wehrmann, Geschichte von Pommern (Gotha 5904-6).