HESSE-HOMBURG (HESSEN-HOMBURG), Germany, former landgraviate comprising the districts of Homburg vor der Halle and Meisen heim on the right and left bank of the Rhine respectively, with an area of about 106 square miles. It was anciently a part of ,Hesse Darmstadt, but became a separate land in 1768. From 1806 to 1815 it was again an integral part of Hesse-Darmstadt. In the latter year its independence was restored by the Con gress of Vienna and its territory increased by the addition of Meisenheim. Baths and springs were opened at Homburg in 1833 and became a principal source of revenue to the state. Gambling also prevailed and was with difficulty kept within bounds until 1872. A liberal consti tution was granted in 1848, but appears to have never been in effect. In 1866 on the death without issue of the last Landgrave, Ferdinand, the territory was divided, Meisenheim going to Prussia and the landgraviate to Hesse-Darm stadt. Later in the same year (3 Sept. 1866) it was ceded to Prussia because of its having sided with Austria in the conffid with the for mer, and became a part of the Prussian prov ince of Hesse-Nassau. Consult Herget, (Das landgraffiche Hans Homburg' (Homburg 1903.
lie's'eas'a, or HES h'es's'en-nas'sow, Germany, province of Prussia, which includes the former electorate (Kurfiirstentum) of Hesse-Cassel (except some small districts), the greater part of the former duchy of Nassau, that portion of the former landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg which lies on the right bank of the Rhine, the territory and town of Frankfort-on-the-Main, and some small districts ceded by the grand duchy Hesse and Bavaria. It was formed in 1867-68 out of the foregoing regions, which were annexed by Prussia as a result of the War of 1866. The province is bounded by the Prus sian provinces of Westphalia, Hanover, Saxony and the Rhine-province, the principality of Waldeck, the grand duchy of Saxe-Weimar and the kingdom of Bavaria; area, 6,060 English square miles, divided into the two governments (Regierungsbezirke) of Cassel and Wiesbaden. he greater part of this province has a rugged surface, with only small and scattered areas of lowlands or valleys.
Topography and Climate.— In the Wies baden governmental division the highlands be long to the Rhenish-Westphalian mountain sys tem, a branch of which extends like a peninsula between the new red-sandstone formations of the Cassel governmental division; and in the former division we find the Taunus and West erwald, with the Feldberg and the Fuchskatiten as the highest points. Predominant in the lat
ter division (Regierungsbezirke) are the red sandstone mountains of the Rhenish system, in cluding the high RhOn with the Wasserkuppe and the Milseburg, etc. In the northern part of the province a great number of mountains, either separated or in relatively small groups, form the Hessian highlands, the altitude of the peaks ranging from 1,235 feet, in ,the Lahn berge near Marburg, to 2,054 feet in the Kniillgebirge, between the Fulda and the Schwalm, the heights of the Seulingswald be tween the Werra and the Fulda; north of these the Richelsdiirfer Mountains and northeast the Ringgau Mountains; the Bombacher Wald and the Alheimer toward the west, etc. The.,Skihre, the Meissner and the Kaufunger -forest lie farther toward the north; th genberg, the Reinhardtswald and chtswald extend north and sotth between the Weser, the Fulda, Diem::; and Eder. New red-sandstone con stitutes the basis of these mountain-regions; only in rare instances is it covered with shell lime. Basaltic columnar formations, however, occur in many localities, and in a noteworthy degree are interpolated among Tertiary forma tions between Cassel and Ziegenhain. The Thuringian Forest occupies a part of Schmal kalden, and in Rinteln are segments of the Weser Mountains; the most conspicuouspoint in either of these governmental °circles) being the Inselkerg (2,977 feet). As a whole, Hesse Nassau belongs •to the Weser and Rhine river systems. The navigable larger rivers—in the south, the Main and Rhine, and in the north the Werra and the Weser— are to be regarded as border or boundary streams; among those penetrating the territory of the province and more closely identified with it are the Kinzig, the Nidda, the Ohm, the Ems, the Weil, the Aar, the Elbbach, the Dill, the Eder, the Schwalm, the Diemel and (especially import ant) the Fulda and the Lahn. In the Rhon Mountains and the Westerwald the climate is particularly harsh, these regions being covered with great masses of snow during nearly one half of the year; on the other hand climatic conditions in low-lying districts are decidedly f avorable.