HANOVER (Ger. Hanno're7), formerly capital of the kingdom, now chief t. of the province of Hanover, is situated on a plain lying on both banks of the Leine—which is crossed by ten bridges, and is navigable hence to the ocean=about 100 m. s.s.w. of I lam burg. It consists of the old town, and the suburbs Glocksee and Linden, and with these inclusive, it had, in 1871, a pop. of 104,248. The older parts of the city are mean and unattractive, but since 1837, when by the accession of Ernest-Augustus, duke of Cum berland, to the throne, it became the residence of the sovereign, Hanover has undergone very extensive alterations and improvements. In the Waterloo Platz, with its column surmounted by a figure of Victory, are the fine new barracks and arsenal. Besides.these the most interesting buildings are the stately town-hall in the market-place, founded in 1439, with an adjacent public library of 40,000 volumes; the loyal library, with its 150,000 volumes and 2,000 MSS., its incunabula, archives, and valuable state papers; the theater, one of the largest in Germany; the king's palace; the museum, with good natural-history collections; a gallery of pictures, etc. ; and the royal state palace, built on the site of a monastery of Minorites in 1632, which deserves notice for the magnificence of its internal decorations, and for the number and value of the objects of ancient and modern art which it contains; its fine gallery of paintings; its chapel, in which are preserved numer ous relies and antiques, many of which were brought from Palestine by Henry the Lion in 1172 ;, and an altar-piece by L. Cranach. Among the charitable institutions of II. are the orphan asylum, school for the blind, infirmaries, hospitals, and poor-houses, the latter of which are principally supported by private subscription. Hanover is well provided
with educational institutions, the most noteworthy of which are the Georgianum, a col legiate school for thp sons of noblemen ; a lyceum, and a gymnasium. The city has also polytechnic, normal, and medical schools, and 25 free public schools. Hanover was the first place in Germany that was lighted with gas (in 1826). The discovery of a rich bed of asphalt in the neighborhood of the town has been the means of giving the streets better side-pavements than most other German towns possess, while the recent improve ments that have been effected in the old system of sewers, which dates from the 10th e., render the drainage particularly good. Hanover has gained pleasant walks and pleasure rounds by the leveling and planting of the ramparts, while in the immediate vicinity of the town lie thy royal palaces of Herrenhausen and Montbrillaut, whose beauti ful grounds and gardens are freely opened to the public.
Since Hanover became a center of the North German railway system, its manufactures have greatly increased in importance. Amongst the foremost are the manufactures of cotton, wax-cloth, machinery, locomotives; also gold, silver, and bronze wares, chemi cals, leather, and tobacco. The trade of the place has also rapidly developed of late years.
See Leutsch, Rim Bliek auf die Gem/de/de H. (1827); Kobbe, Abriss einer Geseltielde d. Atinigreiclis H. (1823); 'Billow, Boarage mar Geseh. d. brannschulanA-landes (1820); Stieler's Atlas (1861); Thies, Hannover mind Unigegend (1S74).