PRUSSIA (Ger. Preussen), a kingdom embracing nearly the whole of northern Ger m:lily. It is bounded n. by the German ocean, Jutland, and the Baltic; e. by Russia and Poland; s. by Austria, Saxony, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Weimar, Gotha, and others of the smaller German states, Bavaria, Ilesse-Darmstadt, and Alsace-Lorraine; w. by Belgium and the Netherlands. Prussia owns besides the detached domains of Hohenzollern (q.v.) and Jaade or Jande on the North sea, which lie within the boundaries of other German states.
The following table gives the area and population (1875) of the 12 Prussian provinces: Area in sq.m. Pop. in 18M.
1.. Prussia .... 24,116 3,200,484 2. Brandenburg 15,401 3,132,483 3. Pomerania.... 11,628 1,462,310 4. Posen 1,608,956 5. Silesia 15,558 3,851,960 6. Saxony. 0,743 2,171,858 7. Sleswick-Holstein 7,224 1,074,812 8. Hanover..... ....... .... 14,855 2,018,868 9. Westphalia .... 7,799 1,907,105 10. Hesse-Nassau 6,021 1,469,902 11. Rhenish Prussia ... 10,413 3,807,120 12. Hohenzollern 4-41 66,614 Total.... .... . 134,376 25,772,561 The duchy of Lauenburg, with an area of 452 sq.m., and a population (1875) of 48,808, was incorporated with the province of Sleswick-Holstein in July, 1876, and is included in the estimate given.
In 1819 the total population of Prussia was 10,981.934. In 1858 it was 17,739,913. In 1867 the kingdom, increased from an area of 107,757 English sq.m. to its present size, had a population of 24,106,847. The census of Dec., 1871, gave a total of 24,689,252.
Physical Character, larger portion of Prussia is a part of the great plain stretching from Holland to the Ural mountains, and, except in the s. of Hanover and Silesia, is an almost unbroken level. The Sudetic mountains, whose northern ranges, known as the Riesengcirge q.v.), lie between the Oder and the Elbe, divide Prussia from Bohemia; while the intersects the line dividing it from Saxony and some of the lesser German states. The Harz mountains (q.v.) of Hanover are now within the limits of Prussian territory. None of these ranges rise, even in their highest summits, above 5,000 feet. In the e. the surface of the great plain of Prussia is marked by two distinct tracts of more elevated land, one of which belongs to the elevation which, run ning generally parallel to the Baltic, may be traced from the mouth of the Elbe to the source of the Volga, and which in Prussia rises about 400 ft. above the sea-level. This
tract is diversified with numerous lakes, none of which is more than 20 sq.m. in extent, but which altogether occupy an area of more than 300 sq. miles. The soil, consisting chiefly of loose sand interspersed with a large number of erratic blocks of granite, is sterile, covered in many places with heaths and belts of stunted pines. On the northern slope, terminating on the shores of the Baltic, there are several fertile districts, more especially along those rivers which have been carefully embanked, as the Niemen and the Vistula. The southern elevation of the Prussian plain, running between the Polish mountains of Sandomir in the s.e., and the Elbe between Magdeburg and Burg in the n.w., attains a height of about 1000 ft. near Breslau on the Oder, where it is known as the Trebnitz heights. Its general character is more fertile than the northern elevation; while the country between the two is, for the most part, extremely sterile. It includes the sandy waste in which Berlin, the capital, is situated. South of this tract, and in Silesia and Prussian Saxony, the country is fertile, including some of the most produc tive grain-growing districts of Prussia. Hanover has march the same character. Great marshes or peat-moors covor the n. and n.w. districts; but the valleys that lie among the Harz mountains in the s. are often fertile, and well adapted for agriculture. The coasts are low, and require to be protected from the overflowing of the sea by embankments and dikes. Sleswick-Holstein, the recently annexed territory n. of the Elbe, is in part sandy and heathy, like the plain of Hanover, but it has also numerous marshes. The great plain of northern Prussia is watered by five large rivers—the Weser, Elbe, Oder,Vistula, and Niemen; the numerous affluents of which, together with many smaller streams, con tribute largely to the facilities of intercourse throughout the country, as many of them are navigable for vessels of several hundred tons.