MECKLENBURG, meklen-boorg, Ger many, a territory on the Baltic Sea, a former Saxon province, now divided into the grand duchies of MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN and MECK LENBURG-STRELITZ.
(1) Mecklenburg-Schwerin, bounded on the north by the Baltic Sea, elsewhere chiefly by Prussia and Mecklenburg-Strelitz, has an area of 5,135 square miles. The capital is Schwerin. Mecklenburg-Schwerin is watered by several rivers, most important of which are the Elbe and its tributaries, the New Elde and the Sude, on the southern border, the Warnow, the Recknitz and the Stepenitz, which flow toward the Bal tic. There are many lakes and ponds, the larg est of which arc the Miiritz See (51 square miles), the Schweriner See (23 square miles), the Kolpiner and the Planer See. The country is generally flat, though here and there inter sected by low ranges of hills, and its surface is extensively covered with wood. Near the sea are large tracts of sand and morass. The cli mate, though raw, is mild and healthful; the average temperature throughout the year is 46° and the precipitation is 21 inches.
The principal industries are agriculture, dairying and stock-raising. About 50 per cent of the population are tillers of the soil. The landholders are hereditary tenants of the peas ant class, title being vested in the upper classes, as the emperor, the aristocracy, clergy, etc. The chief crops are. wheat, rye, oats, barley, corn, pease, beans, beets, turnips and potatoes, and tobacco is cultivated to some extent. The principal manufacturing industries are foun dries, machine shops, brick yards, tanneries, paper mills, sugar refineries, breweries, distil leries, tobacco factories, etc. There is consid erable commerce through Warnemiinde (Ros tock) and Wismar. The railway mileage is 1,094 miles. The predominating form of reli gion is the Lutheran. Besides the university at Rostock there are several gymnasia and numer ous burgher, parochial and other schools. The two Mecklenburg duchies have a common as sembly or Landesunion, consisting of the repre sentatives of the landed aristocracy or Ritter schaft and the burgomasters of 49 towns; the tenants of the royal domains have no represen tation. The assembly meets once ayear, alter
nately at Malchin and Sternberg. The execu tive authority in Mecklenburg-Schwerin is vested in a cabinet of four ministers; there are also a permanent committee consisting of nine members at Rostock, who represent the two estates when the assembly is not in session, and deputation and convocation diets, which may be assembled upon special occasions and for spe cial purposes. Mecklenburg-Schwerin has two votes in the federal council and six representa tives in the Reichstag, the only elective offices. Each duchy has a separate system of lower courts but they have a Supreme Court at Ros tock in common. There is no general financial budget for Mecklenburg-Schwerin; there are three entirely distinct systems of finance. The budget of the first system is called the admin istration of the sovereign; the second, the states administration and the third the ordinary bud get of the common administration. In 1913 the public debt amounted to $32,717,025. Tech nical education is well advanced and higher education is provided for by the University of Rostock. Pop. 639,958.
(2) Mecklenburg-Strelitz, divided by Meck lenburg-Schwerin into two large districts, the circle or lordship of Stargard, and the prin cipality of Ratzeburg, both on the east, and on the west in several smaller districts, existing in separate patches, has an area of -1,131 square miles. Pop. 106,347, capital Neustrelitz. The country is flat and similar in physical character istics to Schwerin. Strelitz has one joint rep resentative chamber with Schwerin, but Ratze burg is not included in these estates and is gov erned directly by the grand duke. The grand duke gave Ratzeburg a representative constitu tion 1869. Mecklenburg-Strelitz has one vote in the federal council of the empire and one representative in the diet. Consult Raabe, W., (Mecklenburgische Vaterlandskunde' (3 vols., Wismar 1896).