HANOVER, Germany, the northwestern most province of Prussia,prior to 1866 an inde pendent kingdom. It borders on the North Sea and has an area of 14,862-square miles. In the south the Harz Mountains attain an altitude of over 3,000 feet; the rest of the country is an alluvial plain with a gentle slope to the sea. The Elbe on the northeast boundary, the Ems, and the Weser, with its tributaries, the Leine and Alter, are the principal rivers. Coal and lignite, rock salt, iron, copper, zinc, silver, min eral oil and gold are found in the mountainous districts; and there are large peat beds in the north. The coast is low and as in Holland is protected by dykes from the incursions of the sea. There are only two lakes of considerable size, the Diimmersee and the Steinhinder Zee. Over one-third of the area is arable land, pro ducing large quantities of grain and flax. Clover and tobacco are also grown and the sugar-beet industry is acquiring large propor tions. The keeping of bees is generally prac tised on the moors, and a breed of superior cattle is raised along the marshy coast land. Forests of hardwood and pine, extensively used in smelting, occupy one-sixth of the surface. The manufactures are extensive and include shipbuilding, iron goods, machinery, woolens, linens, cottons, leather, paper, beet-root sugar, beer, spirits and numerous domestic commodi ties. Hanover has over 2,000 miles of railroads, numerous canals and an extensive traffic is carried on at its several ports, among which are Geestemiinde, Fmden and Harburg, al though practically its chief port is the free city and port of Bremen (q.v.). The capital is Hanover (q.v.). For administrative purposes, the province is divided into the six districts of Hanover, Hildesheim, Liineburg, Stade, Osna briick and Aurich. The highest court is in Celle. The province sends 36 members to the Prussian Chamber of Deputies, 10 to the Upper House and 19 to the German Reichstag. Edu cation is compulsory and free; chief of the higher institutions of learning is Gottingen Uni versity. There were 3,624 public grammar schools in 1915 with 8,586 teachers and 470,465 pupils. There were 103 secondary schools with 28,971 pupils. There are a mining academy situated at Clausthal, a building school in Nienburg and a forestry school at Mfinden, a technical high school in Hanover, five naviga tion schools and several agricultural institutions.
There are two large libraries, one at Gottingen University and the Royal at Hanover. The majority of the inhabitants are Lutheran Prot estants. Roman Catholics inhabiting Hildes heirn and Osnabruck constitute about one seventh of the population. Hanover was long connected with the Brunswick family, a scion of which, Ernest Augustus, in 1692 became the first Elector of Hanover. He married the daughter of the Elector Palatine, granddaughter of James I and niece of Charles I of England. He was succeeded in 1698 by his son, George Louis, who in accordance with the Act of Settlement (q.v.) became George I, king of England, at the death of Queen Anne in 1714. The connection with England continued dur ing four reigns, and in 1814 the Congress of Vienna raised Hanover to the rank of a king dom, George IV and William IV thus being kings of Great Britain and of Hanover. On the accession of Queen Victoria, however, by the Salk law, the Hanoverian crown passed to the nearest male heir, Ernest Augustus, Duke, of Cumberland, and at his death in 1851 to his son, George V. In 1866 Hanover sided with Austria in the Austro-Prussian contest; the capital was occupied by Prussian troops; the king lost his throne, his estates were seques trated and Hanover was annexed to the Prus sian dominions. George V, who died in 1878, and his son, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cum berland, went into exile rather than recognize the act of annexation. A long protest against annexation was continued in the Reichstag by the Hanoverian deputies; finally in 1892 Ernest Augustus renounced his claims and in 1913 the two houses of Guelph and Hohenzollern were reconciled and Ernest Augustus, son of the Duke of Cumberland, married Victoria Louise, daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Consult Ford, and Prussia> (New York 1903) ; Grotef end, der Verfassung des Konigreichs Hannover, 1814-48' (Hanover 1857) ; Guthe, Lande Braunschweig und Hannover> (Hanover 1888); Havemann, schichte der Lande Braunschweig und Lune burg' (Gottingen 1853-57) ; Kocher, 'Geschichte von Hannover and Braunschweig, 1648-1714' (Leipzig 1896) • Meding, (Memoiren zur Zeit geschichte' (ibi 1884) ; Meyer, 'Die Provinz Hannover) (Hanover 1888) ; Sybel, Begrfindung des deutschen Reichs durch Wil helm P (Munich 1893; Eng. trans., New York 1890-92) ; Ward, 'Great Britain and Hanover> (Oxford 1899). Pop. 2,942436.