VIENNA, vi-en'a (German, Wran, yen), capital of German-Austria, formerly capital of the Cisleithan part of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy and in earlier times capital of the Austrian Empire, on the right bank of the Danube and on the Donaukanal, a narrow arm of the river, into which fall several small streams, 380 miles south by southeast of Ber lin and 650 miles east by south of Paris. It stands in a plain with the conspicuous Wiener Wald Mountain boundaries at 10 or 12 miles, distance on all sides. Most of the city rises from the right bank of the Donaukanal on a considerable acclivity. The nucleus of the city, the Innere Stadt, comprising a small part of the whole, was formerly surrounded by a ram part, fosse and glacis, but these were leveled in 1857 and the space occupied by the Ring strasse, a handsome boulevard averaging 55 yards broad, forming one of the finest thorough fares in Europe. The inner or old town was the court and fashionable quarter of the city until the disruption of the dual monarchy oc curred in 1918. The streets here are often nar row and crooked; but on the whole Vienna is a handsome well-built town, with fine squares and spacious streets well kept. The houses are frequently built four or five stories high and occupied in flats with conunon stairs. The chief public park is the Prater, on the island between the Donaukanal and the river itself, about four miles long and two broad, beauti fully laid out, planted and decorated. Vienna's mean height above the sea is 560 feet ; lai 48° 12' N.; long. 16° 22' E.; area, 1051/o square miles; population, 30 June 1914, estimated at 2,149,800. More than four-fifths of the inhabitants are of the German race and the German language is everywhere spoken. The remaining one-fifth is composed mainly of Slays and Hungarians. Seven-eighths of the entire population are Ro rnan Catholics. Protestants number between 70,000 and 80,000; Jews between 170,000 and 180,000.
A general idea of Vienna as a whole is given most conveniently when we mention lead mg features of each of the 21 districts into which the city is divided Thus in the first dis trict, embracing both Altstadt and Ringstrasse, we find Saint Stephen's and the Hofburg — near whieh are the chief government offices; the two great museums and most important banks; the famous street known as the Graben; the Reichsrath building, the Rathaus and the uni versity; the opera-house and the Hofburg Theatre. The second district was, in 1623, as
signed to the Jews; and a part of it is still inhabited by Jewish tradesmen; but another portion is devoted to the very extensive park called the Prater, which is particularly damp toward evening, owing to the close neighbor hood of the Danube, but otherwise remarkably attractive. It was once an imperial deer-park, but since 1776 has been opened to the public. In the third and fourth districts an aristocratic quarter, Wieden, supplements that of district number one. The 5th, 12th, 14th and 15th dis tricts are given over to the minor industries; the sixth and seventh to larger factories and shops. The eighth district is the quarter of officials and clerks; the ninth of hospitals and university institutes; the 10th of Bohemian fac tory-hands. The llth includes the central ceme tery, factories, gas and electric works and large market-gardens. The 16th and 17th are manufacturing districts. The 13th district in cludes Schloss Schanbrunn i the 18th and 19th the villa quarters and a wine-growing region. Manufacturing is carried on in the districts numbered 20 and 21.
Industnes and Commerce.— Vienna is the foremost city in all the region formerly em braced in the Austrian Empire. Its manufac tures . include woolen, cotton and silk goods, leather, porcelain, arms, musical in struments, hardware, furniture, chemicals, pot tery, beer, tnachines, tools, scientific instruments and gold, silver, bronze and tin wares. Espe cially important articles of commerce are grain, wine, cattle, coal, iron, flour and books and art publications. There is also a large inland trade. It is the centre of a great railway system. The diversion and deepening of the channel of the Danube, which brings the river nearer the city, has largely increased its shipping trade between eastern and western Europe. It has been well said that, as a commercial centre, Vienna owes its importance to its location at the point where trade-routes from the Baltic to the Adriatic cross the great highway of the Danube.