LIVONIA, li-vo'rd-a (Ger. Lirland). The middle one of the Baltic Provinces (q.v.) of Russia, bounded by the Government of Esthonia on the north, Saint Petersburg (between which and Livonia is Lake Peipus), Pskov, and Vitebsk on the east, Courland on the south, and the Gulf of Riga and the Baltic on the west (Slap: Rus sia, C 3). Area, 18,800 square miles, of which the islands of Oesel, Runo, etc., occupy 1100 square miles. The portion of Livonia west of Lake WirzjIirw along the Gulf of Riga is flat and rather low. The eastern part of the province is mainly hilly and reaches in its high est point Alunna Aliiggi (which also is the high est point of the Baltic Pro•inees), an altitude of 1060 feet. This part of Livonia is noted for its picturesqueness. It abounds in lakes and is traversed by numerous rivers, the most promi nent of which are the Aa, the Diina, the Pernau, and the Embaeh. The climate is raw and un steady; about one-fourth of the entire area is covered with forests. Agriculture and stock raising are the leading industries, but the agri cultural conditions in Livonia differ greatly from those prevailing in other parts of Russia. The feudal system introduced by the German con querors practically came to an end in 1819 when the serfs of the province were emancipated by the Russian Government, but not endowed with land (as was subsequently the ease in the rest of Russia), for the land was granted in perpetuity to its ex-feudal possessors. As a result of this arrangement, the larger part of the agricultural land of the province is in large estates owned by the nobility; the remainder is divided Veen the State, Church, and the smaller landholders.
The large estates are worked by the most modern methods: excellent stock is raised on a large scale both for slaughtering and dairying; the dairy products are exported to a considerable extent. The manufactures, valued at more than $33,000,000 annually, are trimmed lumber, wag ons. rubber articles, oil, paper, iron products, chemicals, porcelain ware, tobacco products. etc. The centre of industrial activity is the capital and chief port of Riga (q.v.). Population, in 1S97, 1,300.640. The inhabitants are largely Letts and Esthonians. The population of the cities is made up largely of Germans, with some Russians and Jews. Over SO per cent. are Lutherans and the rest Greek Catholics, Roman Catholics. and Jews. Dorpat (Yuriev) is the seat of a famous university. Livonia was conquered by the Teu tonic Knights and the Knights Swordbearers in the thirteenth century. When the power of the Knights Swordbearers was broken by the on slaughts of the Russians, their grand master ceded Livonia to Lithuania (q.v.). Early in the seventeenth century Gustavus Adolphus of Swe den overran and conquered the country, but it was not until 1660 that it was definitively relin quished by Poland in the Peace of Oliva. At the beginning of the eighteenth century Peter the Great of Russia wrested Livonia from Sweden, which formally renounced its possession in 1721. In recent times the Russian Government has been pursuing a relentless course of Bussilication in Livonia. Consult llistorica (2d ed., Berlin, 1S7S).