GALICIA, ga-lTshil-a, Austria, a crownland or province of Austria, composed of the king doms of Galicia and Lodomeria, the duchies of Auschwitz and Zator and the grandduchy of Cracow, and formerly including the duchy of Bukowina. It is bounded on the north, north east and east by Russia, southeast by Bukowina, south by Hungary and west by Moravia and a small portion of Prussian Silesia; area, 30,311 square miles; pop. 8,025,675 in 1910, and at the outbreak of the war about 8,200,000. The phys ical features of the country are determined by the Carpathians, which form a long and irregu lar curve on the south, the convexity being toward Galicia. Farther north the hills subside and merge into vast plains. The chief river in the northwest is the Vistula, which partly bounds the province. The Western Bug, a trib utary of the Vistula, is partly in Galicia. The chief river is the Dniester. The only Dart of the surface belonging to the basin of the Danube is in the southeast. It is drained by the Pruth and is of limited extent. The climate is severe, particularly in the south, where more than one of the Carpathian summits are beyond the limit of perpetual snow. While Galicia is open to the cold north and east winds, these mountains in tercept the warm winds from the south. The winters are long and rigorous and the summers very warm but comparatively short.
The soil is much diversified. In the more mountainous districts scanty pasture only is obtained, but in general, where the elevation is small, the ground, more especially where resting on a substratum of limestone, is of great fertil ity, and yields abundant crops of wheat, lye, barley, oats and maize. Hemp, flax and tobacco are also extensively grown, and the sugar beet is cultivated. The domestic animals include great numbers of horned cattle, generally of a superior description, and a fine, hardy breed of horses, well adapted for cavalry. Sheep are neglected; but goats, swine and poultry abound. The rearing of bees yields great quantities of wax and honey and is a lucrative industry. Bears and wolves are frequently met with in the forests, and all the lesser kinds of game are in abundance. The minerals include marble, ala baster, copper, lead, zinc, calamine, coal, iron and rock-salt. Only the last two are of much importance. Iron occurs in numerous parts of the central Carpathian chain and bog-iron ore is frequently met with in extensive seams on the plains. They are both worked to a considerable extent. Rock-salt is particularly abundant,
stretching in continuous beds for nearly 250 miles along the base of the Carpathians, and of course beyond the limits of Galicia, into Buko wina and Transylvania. The most important mines have their central locality at Wieliczka. Manufactures have not made much progress. The spinning and weaving of flax and hemp pre vail to a considerable extent on the confines of Silesia. Distilleries exist in every quarter. To bacco, sugar, leather, beer, agricultural ma chinery, etc., are also manufactured. The prin cipal exports are salt, wood, grain, coal, aniseed, linen and spirits. The population is generally of Slavonian origin and consists of two principal branches— Polish in the west and Russniak in the east. In religion they are divided among Roman Catholics, Greek Catholics and Armeni ans. The number of the Jews is considerable. The court of third instance for the country is the Superior Court at Vienna; there are two courts of second instance, one at Lemberg and the other at Cracow ; and there are various dis trict courts of first instance. The government has its headquarters at Lemberg. Educational establishments, both for superior and ordinary instruction, are numerous. At the head of the former stand the University of Cracow, with about 130 instructors and some 1,300 students, and the younger University of Lemberg, with 80 instructors and a similar attendance. The principal towns are Lemberg, the capital, Brody, Cracow, Stanislau, Tarnopol, Przemysl, Sambor, etc.
The nucleus of the modern kingdom of Gali cia and Lodomeria was formed by the duchies of Halicz and Vladimir (the original forms of the present names), which were established about the beginning of the 12th century under two princes of the Russian dynasty of Rurik.
After being the field of continuous strife between Russians, Poles and Hungarians, Galicia continued a Polish dependency from 1382 till the first partition of Poland, in 1772, when it was acquired by Austria and became one of the Cis-Leithan provinces of the Austrian Empire, represented in the Reichsrat by 63 deputies, while the affairs peculiar to itself were delib erated and determined on by its own Landtag or Diet. Polish is the language of official inter course and of the higher educational institutions. During the war in Europe, Galicia was for a long time an arena in which the Allies and the Central Powers struggled for supremacy. See WAR, EUROPEAN.