SILE'SIA, a province of the kingdom of Prussia, included in the limits of the German empire, lies s. of the provinces of Brandenbure. and Posen, and is bounded on the e. by the Polish provinces of Russia and Austria, and on the s. and w. by the Austrian prov inces of Silesia and Bohemia, and the kingdom of Saxony. It is divided into three gov ernments: Lieg ate, in the w.; Breslau, in the C.; and Oppeln, in the s.; and these, again, are subdivided into circles. Area, 15,666 English .sq.m. • pop. '71, 3.707,144, of whom 1,896,136 were Catholics, 1,760,341 Protestants, and 46,62ijews; '75, 3,843,699. Of the population, 1. speak Polish, more than 90,000 employ other Slavic dialects, and the rest use the German language. This province, the largest and much the most populous of the Prussian provinces, is crossed front n.e. to s.w. by a broad strip of mountainous country, which widens out at each extremity; and along the whole eastern boundary, and in the s. are ranges of low hills; in the n.w. and center the surface is flat' and heathy, or sandy, with numerous stagnant pools. Silesia is almost wholly included iu the basin of the Oder (navigable as far s. as Ratibor), which flows through it from s.e. to n.w., and receives from each side numerous tributaries; but a small portion in the extreme a. is drained into the Vistula, which here takes its rise. The soil is altogether fertile and well cultivated, more so, however, in lower than is upper Silesia; and cereals of all kinds, oil-plants, beet, hops, occasionally vines, and, above all, flax and hemp, are the crops of the province; but of late years the cultivation of tobacco and of plants yielding dye-stuffs has been receiving increased attention. Cattle and sheep, the latter excellent in quality, and partly of pure or mixed merino blood. are reared in the highlands, the annual produce of wool averaging fully 140,000 cwt. The mines of Silesia are of great importance; iron, copper, and leadare the chief products; coal is found in abundance. The manufacture of lace, averaging in annual value £1,500,000, is carried on in the mountainous districts, chiefly Schweidnitz; and the production of other fabrics, as linen, cotton, and woolen goods, paper, iron, leather, glass. and earthenware, is vigor ously carried on throughout the province. The Oder and the great central railway from Berlin and Posen to Vienna afford'ample facilities for commerce. There are a university
at Breslau, gymnasia in the principal towns, and a great number of professional and industrial schools.
Silesia was inhabited at the beginning of the Christian era by the Quadi and Lvgii, who, like the other German tribes, advancing westward in time 6th c., were succeeded by Slavic tribes. It formed part of the Slavic kingdom of .Moravia, was next joined to Bohemia, and in the beginning of time 10th c. to Poland. In 1163 it was separated from the kingdom of Poland, but was ruled by dukes who were of the royal line of Piast; these dukes, to repeople time country, which had been devastated by the numerous civil wars, encouraged the settlement of German colonies, especially in lower Silesia. The practice of division and subdivision of territory prevailed so extensively in Silesia that at one time it had no less than 17 independent dukes, and to save itself from reincor poration with Poland, it acknowledged the sovereignty of the kings of Bohemia, with which, and with Germany, from the time of the emperor Karl IV., it was indissolubly connected. In 1537 the duke of Liegnitz, one of the numerous Silesian princes, entered into an agreement of mutual succession (erbverbrilderung) with the elector of Branden burg, on the extinction of either reigning line; and the other ducal lines becoming gradually extinct their possessions fell to Liegnitz or to Bohemia, or lapsed to the emperor. In 1675, when the last ducal family, that of Liegnitz, failed, its territories of Liegnitz, Brieg, and Wohlau would have fallen to Prussia; but the emperor of Germany refused to recognize the validity of the agreement of 1537, and took possession of the Liegnitz dominions, as a lapsed fief of Bohemia. The remainder of Silesia was thus incorporated into the Austrian empire. In 1740, Frederick II. of Prussia, taking advan tage of the helpless condition of Maria Theresa of Austria, laid claim, on the strength of the agreement of 1537, to certain portions of Silesia; and without declaring war, marched into and took possession of the province, maintaining his hold despite the utmost efforts of Austria in 1740-42, and 1741 45, called the first and second Silesian wars. After the third Silesian war, better known as the seven years' war (q.v.), it was finally ceded (1763) to Prussia.