BRANDENBURG, briio'deo-brE. The most populous province of Prussia, situated in the centre of the kingdom, and covering an area of 15,381 square miles, excluding the city of Berlin ( \lap: Prussia, E 2). It is very flat, and in sonic parts marshy, with a slight elevation toward the southeastern end. Brandenburg is exceptionally well watered both by natural rivers and lakes, as as by canals. Among the chief rivers are the Oder, with its numerous tribu taries, and the Elbe, with its navigable tribu tary the Havel. Lakes are very numerous, and some of them are connected by canals with the larger rivers. Brandenburg has a very sandy and sterile soil and it is only by artificial means that it has been made productive. The area un der tillage is very extensive, and the chief cereals raised are barley and rye. Wheat. and oats are raised in limited quantities. while potatoes are grown on a very large scale for distilling pur poses. Tobacco is also an important agricultu•al product. The raising of cattle is carried on ex tcnsively and some wool is exported. The chief mineral product is brown coal, of which Branden burg yields about 8,000.000 tons annually, and the mining of which gives occupation to over 10, 000 men.
The manufacturing industries are developed to a very high degree. Brandenburg contains ex tensive silk, woolen. linen, and cotton cloth and yarn mills, and numerous establishments for the dyeing, spinning, and printing of different textiles. There are also machine-shops, cigar and cigarette factories, glass and chemical works. The of spirits and beer is extensive, and the sugar-mills produce large•quantities of beet-sugar. The manufacture of women's gar ments is a prominent branch of industry, and the gold, silver, and bronze wares of Berlin are fa mous. Brandenburg is exceptionally well pro vided with transportation facilities. Besides its several navigable rivers and excellent canal sys tem, it has about 3900 miles of roads and over 1900 miles of railway lines of standard gauge, mostly belonging to the State.
For administrative purposes. the province is divided into the two districts (lecgierunybezirke) of Potsdam and Frankfort, Berlin forming a separate division. It sends 36 representatives to the Lower Chamber Libgeordnetenhaus) of the Prussian Lauding. and 20 members to the Ger man Reichstag. Since 1' '5 the Landtag of Bran denburg has had its seat in Berlin. ( For further particulars a, to local administration. sue PECS si.x. paragraph on Local Government.) The population Of the province in 1900 was 3.107.951, showing an increase of 10.14 per cent. for the period of 1s95-1900. The population con sists almost exclusively of German Protestants. Althomth a considerable number of the inhabi tants a re of French and Dutch extraction, they have been so completely assimilated that no trace is left of their foreign origin. The general ten dency of the population to leave agriculture for manufacturing pursuits. so strongly marked in all the Prussian provinces, is especially pro nounced iu Brandenburg. where a large falling
of iu the agricultural population since 1882 is accompanied by a still larger increase in the manufacturing population. The seat of the administration is at Potsdam.
The various nations of Teutonic origin which inhabited Brandenburg at the beginning of the Christian Era were replaced during the age of migrations by a number of Slavic tribes. whom Charles the Great vainly attempted to subdue. Henry 1. succeeded in exacting tribute from them, and litho 1. divided their country into three mark,: but the Slays were not fully over come till the middle of the Twelfth Century; when Albert the Bear, who styled himself Ear grave of Brandenburg (see BRANDENBURG, city), about 1140, established the supremacy of the Ger mans by peopling the region with colonists from Westphalia and the Netherlands. Under the suc cessors of Albert the feudal authority of Bran denburg was extended over Pomerania, and terri torial gains were made at the expense of Bohemia and Poland. Especially prosperous was the joint reign of the brothers John 1. and otho 111. in the middle of the Thirteenth Century, in whose time the power of the nobles was greatly restrict ed and many cities were founded. From 1:323 to 1411 the Marg.raviate was ruled by prinees of the houses of Wittel,bach and Luxemburg, under whom it drifted into feudal anarchy, and de dined decidedly in wealth and power. In the Golden Bull of the Emperor Charles IV. (1356) the \largrave of Brandenburg was recognized :is one of the seven Imperial Electors. In 1411 Frederic.); of Hohenzollern. Burgraxe of Nurem berg, became Margrave. :did in 1415 was invested with the electoral dignity. Frederick and his successors crushed the nobility one for all, re stored order, and extended the bonndarieS of their principality. The Reformation was intro duced about 1540, and in the religious disputes of the succeeding period the Electors of Branden burg were leading champions of the Protestant cause. The greatness of Brandenburg may be dated from 1618, when John Sigismund became. through marriage, Duke of Prussia. In spite of the disasters of the Thirty Years' War. Branden burg-Pnissia, under the energetic rule of tile Great Elector, Frederick William (1640-S'S), rose to the position of a leading State in ncrthern Europe. In addition to Brandenburg and East Prussia, his dondnions embraced the eastern and larger half of Pomerania, and the former Sees of Halberstadt. Minden, and Magdeburg (all ac quired in the Peace of Westphalia, in 1618), to gether with Cleves, Mark, and Ravensberg, in the region of the Rhine and Westnhalia. Under his son and successor, the Eleetm Frederick 111. (King Frederick I. of Prussia), this realm was transformed at the very beginning of the Eigh teenth Century (1701) into the Kingdom of Prussia, into whose history the history of Bran denburg is subsequently merged. Consult: Fon tane, Wanderun!Ka dureh die Mark Brandenburg (4 vols., Berlin, 1892) Haake, Brandenburgisehe Politik Kriegfiihrung (Kassel, 1896). See