NASSAU, formerly a German duchy, now Wiesbaden, a district of the Prussian prov ince of Hesse-Nassau, in 49° 5O-50 50 n. let., and 7° 30'-8° 45 e. long., is bounded av and s. by the Main and the Rhine, the Prussian-Rhenish provinces, and the grand catchy of Hesse; e. by the Hesse and Frankfort territories; and by Westphalia. Area, 1802 sq. miles. Pop. 75, 680,215. Wiesbaden possesses very great physical advantages. In its southern districts, nearly the whole of its area is occupied by the Taunus moult. tains, whose highest point, the great Feldberg, attains an elevation of about 2,750 feet. This range includes within its boundaries the fertile valleys known as the Rheingau. The northern part of the district includes the barren highlands of the Westerwald, whose most considerable peak, the Salzburger Head, is nearly 2,000 ft. high. Besides the Rhine and the Main, which are the boundary-rivers, Wiesbaden is traversed from e. to w. by the.Lahn, which becomes navigable at-Weilburg, and is augmented by the conflu ence of numerous other streams, as the Weil, Embs, Aar, Dill, and Elbe. The produc tiveness of the soil is proved by the excellent quality of the numerous vegetable products, which include corn, hemp, flax, tobacco, vegetables, and fruits, including grapes, which yield sonic of the most highly esteemed Rhenish wines. The hills are well wooded, and abound with game of various kinds, and the rivers yield an abundance of fish and crusta ceans. In the more mountainous districts, iron, lead, copper, and some silver are obtained, together with good building stone, marble, and coal; the chief mineral wealth is, however, derived from the numerous springs, which, directly and iudirectiy, bring the government a clear annual gain of more than 100,000 gulden. The most noted of these springs, of VCch there are more than 100, are Wiesbaden, Weilbach, Laugen Schwalbach, Schlangeubad, Ems, Selters, and Geiluau, the majority of which were the property of the duke.
Wiesbaden, which is divided into 12 circles, has few towns of any commercial import ance, but it boasts of many fashionable watering-places, which are annually crowded with visitors from every part of the world. Of these, the most considerable are Wies baden (q.v.), the capital of the district—pop. '75, 43.674—Schwalbach, Schlangenbad,
Fachingen, Selters, and Geilnau. libelist, an active little place on the Main, is the only manufacturing town of the duchy, but a brisk trade is carried on at many small ports on the Rhine, Main, and Lahti, from whence the mineral waters, wines, and other natural products of the country are exported. The exports are wine—including sonic of the choicest kinds, as Hochheimer, Joharmisberger, Rtidesheimer, Markobrunner, Asmanns hiluser—mineral waters, corn, iron, manganese, cattle, etc.; while the imports embrace colonial products, manufactured goods, salt, jewelry, etc.
Nassau had a representative form of government, based on the constitution of 1814; and the duke, who was also a count palatine of the Rhine. count of Sayn, Konigstein, Katzenellenbogen, and Dietz, etc., was assisted in the government by a council of state, presided over a prime-minister. The legislative assembly consisted of an upper chamber composed of 24 representatives, chosen for six years, and a second chamber, chosen annually. More than one-third of the population belonged to the Catholic church, which was under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the bishop of Limburg, who was assisted by a board of commissioners, located at Eltville, on the Rhine; and excepting about 19,000 persons who belonged to the Jewish and other persuasions, the remainder of the people, including the then reigning house, professed the "evangelical" form of German Protestantism, and were comprehended in one episcopal see under the bishop of Wiesbaden. Ample provisions were made in the district for popular education, in furtherance of which there were upwards of 700 elementary Schools, with about 1000 teachers, 10 normal schools, a gymnasium, various training, theological, polytechnic, military, and other educational institutions. In accordance with a treaty with Hanover, GOttingen constitutes the university for arts for Wiesbaden, which has also a Roman Catholic theological faculty in conjunction with Hesse-Cassel at the university of Mar burg. Wiesbaden, which is the principal seat for all national institutions of literature, science, and YiritiVionee, ha* a good' public library, coutaining 60,000 volumes, a museum, etc.