MANNHEIM, mlin'him. The capital of a district in Baden, formerly a town of the Pa latinate; at the confluence of the Rhine and Neckar. 43 miles southwest of Frankfort (Map: Germany. C 4). It is the third largest city on the Rhine, surpassed only by Cologne and Diisseblorf ; sine', its connection by railroad with all important cities in the German Empire it has become the 'first commercial town in the Grand Duchy of Baden. The site of the town is low, and a high (like protects it from inundations. The Rhine, which is here 1200 feet in breadth, is crossed by a railway bridge which conneets Mannheim with Ludwigshafen; a chain bridge spans the Neckar. The town is remarkable for its cleanliness. mud is the most regularly built town in Germany; it is divided into 136 square sections, and numbers its streets according to the American system. The palace. built 1720-29, by the Elector Palatine Charles Philip. is one of the largest buildings of the kind in 1:ermany. The city contains it gym nasium with a library, a botanic garden, an ob servatory, and the National Theatre, founded in 1776, in which Schiller's Robb,. rs was first acted. Among notable public monuments are those of William I. and Prince Bismarck. The Schloss
garten, bordering on the Rhino, is the chief of the five public gardens surrounding the city. Siete the construction of new harbors and ex tensive docks in 1875, Mannheim has bad a great and increasing trade in grain, coal. petroleum. to bacco, sugar. and ironware. Its chief industry, the manufacture of cheinical.z. gives employment to 7000 persons; 3000 are engaged in metal working. Cigars, varnish and rosin, carpets, rub ber. glass and leather goods are also manufae lured. The growing importance of Mannhehn is indicated by the increase in its population from 61.273 in 1885 to 140,384 in 1900. The United States is represented by a consul.
:Mannheim is mentioned as a village as early as 764. Its prosperity dates from the beginning of the seventeenth century, when, under the Elector Palatine Frederick IV.. it became the refuge of religious exiles from the Netherlands. it suffered severely in the Thirty Years' War. The town was almost totally destncyed by the French in 1689. After being rebuilt it was again occupied by the French in 1795, and a large part of it burned. In 1802 it was given to Baden.