BERLIN, the third largest city of Europe; capital of the former King domof Prussia, and of the former Empire of Germany, now capital of the German republic, on both sides of the Spree river; 166 miles E. S. E. of Ham burg. Pop. about 2,000,000. It is built on a flat, sandy plain. Berlin occupies an area of over 25,000 acres, and now in cludes a number of former suburban towns and villages. The houses in the main are built of brick and plastered or stuccoed on the outside. The center of the city is now almost exclusively de voted to commerce, and the remarkable advance in the trade and political inter ests of the city since 1871 have attracted to it an enormous population. The prin cipal streets are the famous Unter den Linden, with its four rows of lime trees and the stately Brandenburg Gate, the Wilhelmstrasse, the Konigsstrasse, and the Leipzigerstrasse. Scattered about the city are a number of notable statues, including the remarkably imposing one of Frederick the Great, at the head of the Unter den Linden, and those of Schwerin, Winterfeld, Seidlitz, Keith, Zieten, Von Biilow, Leopold of Dessau, and the Great Elector. The Branden burg Gate, which was begun in 1789, presents on each face six lofty Doric columns, and a Roman entablature, sur mounted by an attic upon which is a bronze quadriga of "Victory." In the Belle Alliance Platz is a "Column of Peace," erected in 1840, to commemorate the peace of 1815. The triumphs of the German arms are further typified in the great "Monument of Victory," dedi cated in 1875.
Notable Buildings.—In the center of the city is the old Royal Palace, contain ing nearly 700 apartments, including the richly adorned state rooms, the finest of which are the Weisser Saal, and the palace chapel. Near by are the palaces of the former Emperor and Crown Prince, the Royal Library, the old and new museums, the National Art Gallery, the arsenal, the Royal Theater, the opera house, the guard house, and the Univer sity of Berlin. These are all situated between the Spree and the E. end of Unter den Linden. Near the Kfinizsplatz in the Thiergarten is the Reichstag, opened during the reign of Wilhelm II. On the Wilhelmstrasse is the former pal ace of the Imperial Chancellor, where the Congress of Berlin sat in 1878. The Old Museum contains antiquarian speci mens, a remarkable collection of coins, a gallery of ancient sculpture, and a celebrated picture gallery; and the new museum has an invaluable collection of Egyptian antiquities brought together by Lepsius; six magnificent mural paint ings by Kaulbach on the grand stair case; a collection of over 500,000 engrav ings; and twelve rooms filled with valu able casts. The Brandenburg Gate is a
i copy of the Prophylwa at Athens, is 65 feet high and 205 feet wide, and marks the line of the old wall of the city.
Prior to the World War the city had a large traffic by the Spree, the canals, and the railways, the traffic by water being 50 per cent. greater than that of any other city or town in Germany. The Reichsbank is the chief bank in Ger many for the issue of notes. The prin cipal branches of industry were wool weaving, calico printing, the manufac ture of engines and other machinery, iron, steel, and bronze ware, drapery goods, clothing, scientific instruments, chronometers, pianos, German silver ware, toys, chemicals, furniture, car pets, porcelain, linen goods, artificial flowers, and beer.
History.—As far back as the 13th cen tury, the central part of the present city was inhabited. K011n, on the island formed by the Spree on its left bank, was united to Old Berlin on the right bank in 1307. These names are still retained by the corresponding quarters of the modern city. Berlin was long little more than a fishing village; but when the Great Elector, Frederick Wil liam (1640-1688), had united the sepa rate duchies of which Prussia is now formed, it became the capital. In the next century it received accessions of French and Bohemian colonists, driven into exile by religious persecution. Every inducement was then held out to bring foreigners to settle in the rising city. Under Frederick the Great it continued to prosper, and at his death had 145,000 inhabitants. The city was taken by the allies in 1760, and by Napoleon in 1806. After the peace of 1815 it became a focus of the arts and sciences, and a great center of commercial enterprise. The last quarter of the 19th century was a period of tremendous growth in wealth and population. The city suffered se verely during the disturbances which followed the ending of the World War and the establishment of the German re. public. See GERMANY.