GALICIA, a former province of Aus tria, now a part of the Republic of Poland, bounded by Russia„ Bukowina, Hungary, and Moravia ; area, 30,307 square miles; pop., Polish in the W., Russniak in the E. The great physical features of the country are, in a man ner determined by the Carpathians, which form a long and irregular curve on the S. and send out branches into Galicia. Farther to the N. the hills sub side rapidly and finally merge into vast plains. It has several considerable rivers, those on the W. being affluents of the Vistula, those in the E. of the Danube and Dniester. The climate is severe, particularly in the S. where more than one of the Carpathian summits rise beyond the snow-line. The summers are very warm but comparatively short. The soil in general is fertile, and yields abun dant crops of cereals, hemp, flax, tobacco, etc. The domestic animals include great numbers of horned cattle and a fine hardy breed of horses. Sheep are in gen eral neglected; but goats, swine and poultry abound, and bee-keeping is prac ticed on a large scale. Bears and wolves are still found in the forests; and all the lesser kinds of game are in abundance. The minerals include marble, alabaster, copper, calamine, coal, iron, and rock salt. Only the last two are of much im portance. Rock salt is particularly abundant. The most important mines
have their central locality at Wieliczka. Manufactures have not made much prog ress. The spinning and weaving of flax and hemp prevail to a considerable ex tent on the confines of Silesia. Distil leries exist in every quarter. The Roman Catholics and the Greek Catholics are the chief religious bodies. The chief educa tional establishments are the University of Lemberg and that of Cracow. The principal towns are Lemberg, the capital, and Cracow.
After being the field of continuous strife between Russians, Poles, and Hun garians, Galicia continued a Polish de pendency from 1382 till the first parti tion of Poland in 1772, when it was ac quired by Austria. Galicia was one of the Cis-Leithan provinces of the Aus trian empire, and was represented in the Reichsrath by 63 deputies, while the affairs peculiar to itself were deliberated and determined on by its own Landtag or Diet. Polish is the language of official intercourse and of higher educational in stitutions. Galicia suffered severely in the World War, and was successively in vaded by Russian and Austrian armies. It was awarded to Poland by the Treaty of Versailles. The capital is Lemberg. Pop. about 8,500,000. See POLAND.