BRUNSWICK (Ger., BRAUNSCHWEIG), Germany, a duchy and sovereign state in the northwest part of the German empire, compris ing an area of 1,425 square miles. It is divided into eight districts— three larger and five smaller, detached from each other and sur rounded by foreign possessions. The minerals, are of some importance, including iron, lead, copper, some gold and silver, salt, asphalt, peat; while there are also marble, granite, sandstone• and other kinds of stone. The forests cover a considerable area, and over 72 per cent of this is in the hands of the state. About one-half of the land is arable. Of the cultivated area•of Brunswick 75 per cent belongs to private per sails, 14 per cent .to corporations and 11 per cent to the state. The most important cuiti vated crops are grain, flax, hops, tobacco, pota toes, the sugar-beet and fruit. A good deal of attention has been given in recent times to the improvement of the breeds of cattle, sheep and horses. The industrial occupations are varied if not individually important, and embrace beet root sugar, tobacco and cigars, paper, glass, flax, jute and woolen goods, hats, wooden wares, chemicals, porcelain, sewing and other machines, lacquered wares, sal-ammoniac, chicory and madder industries. The lacquered wares and porcelain of Brunswick are famous even in foreign countries. Brunswick, the capital, is the centre of trade. In 1806 • the duchy was
annexed by Napoleon to the kingdom of West phalia, but its native prince, Frederick William, was restored in 1813. In the German Confed eration Brunswick held the 13th rank, with two votes in the Assembly and one along with Nassau in the Diet. It was afterward a mem ber of the North German Union, formed after the dissolUtion of the old confederation by the victories of Prussia in the short campaign of 1866. As a state of the German empire it now sends two members to the Bundesrath and three deputies to the Reichstag. In its internal government Brunswick is a constitutional mon archy. As amended in 1899, the constitution provides for a Diet of one chamber, composed of 48 members, 15 elected by the towns, 15 by the rural communities, 2 by the Protestant clergy, 4 by the landed aristocracy, 3 by the manufacturing interests, 4 by the professional classes and 5 by the highest taxed citizens. The estimated revenue and expenditure for 1912-13 were respectively 14,964,413 marks and 14,961,518 marks; the debt, 45,173,991 marks; reserve fund, 37,644,003 marks. Education is in the hands of a special commission. There are about 439 elementary schools, and a considerable number of secondary and trade schools. In 1910 the population was 494,339. The prevailing religion is the Lutheran.