STRALSUND, a seaport in the Prussian province of Pome rania, on an arm of the Baltic, I2 m. wide, which separates the island of Rilgen from the mainland, 135 m. by rail N. from Berlin and 45 m. N.W. of Rostock. Pop. (5933), A steam rail way ferry connects it with the island railway on Riigen, and so with Sassnitz, whence a regular steamboat mail service affords communication with Trelleborg in Sweden.
Stralsund was founded in 1234, and, though several times de stroyed, steadily prospered. It was one of the five Wendish towns whose alliance extorted from King Eric of Norway a favourable commercial treaty in 1284-1285; and in the 14th century it was second only to Liibeck in the Hanseatic League. Although under the sway of the dukes of Pomerania, the city was able to main tain a marked degree of independence. Its early Protestant sympathies placed it on the side of Sweden during the Thirty Years' War, and in 1628 it successfully resisted a siege of eleven weeks by Wallenstein. After the peace of Westphalia Stralsund was ceded with the rest of Western Pomerania to Sweden; and for more than a century and a half it was exposed to attack and capture as the of the Swedes in continental Europe. It was taken by France in 1807, and in 1815 it passed
to Prussia.
The situation of the town proper, on a small triangular islet only connected with the mainland by three moles and bridges at the angles, has always rendered its fortification comparatively easy. Since 1873 the ramparts have been levelled. The defences of the place are now solely confined to the island of Danholm, known down to the 13th century as Strehla or Strehlo, lying in the Sound. Many of the houses present tall, curious and handsome gables to the street. The four Gothic churches of St. Nicholas, with a series of 14th century frescoes, St. Mary, with a lofty steeple, St. James and The Holy Ghost, and the mediaeval town hall, dating in its oldest part from 1306 and restored in 1882, are among the more striking buildings. The latter houses the provincial museum and the municipal library. Among the educational establishments of the place must be mentioned the Gymnasium, founded in 156o, and a school of navigation.