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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: RAY-RHU |
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RHINE PROVINCE, or RHINELAND , the most westerly province of the kingdom of Prussia, bounded on the N. by Holland, on the E. by the Prussian provinces of Westphalia and Hesse-Nassau, and the grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, on the S.E. by the Bavarian Palatinate, on the S. and S.W. by Lorraine, and on the W. by Luxemburg, Belgium and Holland. The small district of Wetzlar in the midst of the province of Hesse also belongs to the Rhine Province, which, on the other hand, surrounds the Oldenburg principality of Birkenfeld. The extent of the province is 10,423 sq. m.; its extreme length, from north to south, is nearly 200 m., and its greatest breadth is just under 90 m. It includes about 200 m. of the course of the Rhine, which forms the eastern frontier of the province from Bingen to Coblenz, and then flows through it in a north-westerly direction. ' The southern and larger part of the Rhine province, belonging geologically to the Devonian formations of the lower Rhine, is hilly. On the left bank are the elevated plateaus of the Hunsruck and the Eifel, separated from each other by the deep valley of the Mosel, while on the right bank are the spurs of the Westerwald and the Sauerland, the former reaching the river in the picturesque group known as the Seven Mountains (Siebengebirge). The highest hill in the province is the Walderbeskopf (2670 ft.) in the Hochwald, and there are several other summits above 2000 ft. on the left bank, while on the right there are few which attain a height of 1600 ft. Most of the hills are covered with trees, but the Eifel (q.v.) is a barren and bleak plateau. To the north of a line drawn
Of the total area of the Rhine province about 45% is occupied by arable land, 16% by meadows and pastures, and 31% by forests. Little except oats and potatoes can be raised on the high-lying plateaus in the south of the province, but the river-valleys and the northern lowlands are extremely fertile. The great bulk of the soil is in the hands of small proprietors, and this is alleged to have had the effect of somewhat retarding the progress of scientific agriculture. The usual cereal crops are, however, all grown with success, and tobacco, hops, flax, rape, hemp and beetroot (for sugar) are cultivated for commercial purposes. Large quantities of fruit are also produced. The vine-culture occupies a space of about 30,000 acres, about half of which are in the valley of the Mosel, a third in that of the Rhine itself, and the rest mainly on the Nahe and the Ahr. The choicest varieties of Rhine wine, however, such as Johannisberger and Steinberger, are produced higher up the river, beyond the limits of the Rhine province. t In the hilly districts more than half the surface is sometimes occupied by forests, and large plantations of oak are formed for the use of the bark in tanning. Considerable herds of cattle are reared on the rich pastures of the lower Rhine, but the number of sheep in the province is comparatively small, and is, indeed, not greatly in excess of that of the goats. The wooded hills are well stocked with deer, and a stray wolf occasionally finds its way from the forests of the Ardennes into those of the Hunsruck. The salmon fishery of the Rhine is very productive, and trout abound in the mountain streams. The great mineral
supply of lead, and zinc is found near Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle. The mineral
The mineral resources of the Prussian Rhine province, coupled with its favourable situation and the facilities of transit afforded by its great waterway, have made it the most important manufacturing district in Germany. The industry is mainly concentrated round two chief
chief
cotton
The population of the Rhine province in 1905 was 6,435,778, including 4,472,058 Roman Catholics, 1,877,582 Protestants and 55,408 Jews. The Roman Catholics muster strongest on the left bank, while on the right bank about half the population is Protestant. The great bulk of the population is of Teutonic stock, and about a quarter of a million are of Flemish blood. On the north-west frontier reside about ro,000 Walloons, who speak French or Walloon as their native tongue. The Rhine province is the most thickly populated part of Prussia, the general average being 617 persons per sq. m. The province contains a greater number of large towns than any other province in Prussia. Upwards of half the population are sup-ported by industrial and commercial pursuits, and barely a quarter by agriculture. There is a university at Bonn, and elementary education is especially successful. For purposes of administration the province is divided into the five districts of Coblenz, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Aix-la-Chapelle and Trier. Coblenz is the official capital , though Cologne is the largest and most important town. Being a frontier province the Rhine-land is strongly garrisoned, and the Rhine is guarded by the three strong fortresses., of Cologne with Deutz, Coblenz with Ehrenbreitstein, and Wesel. The province sends 35 members to the German Reichstag and 62 to the Prussian house
History.The present Prussian Rhine province was formed in 1815 out of the duchies of Cleves, Berg, Gelderland and Jiilich,243 the ecclesiastical principalities of Trier and Cologne, the free cities of Aix-la-Chapelle and Cologne, and nearly a hundred small lord-ships and abbeys. At the earliest historical period we find the territories between the Ardennes and the Rhine occupied by the Treviri, the Eburones and other Celtic tribes, who, however, were all more or less modified and influenced by their Teutonic neighbours. On the right bank of the Rhine, between the Main and the Lahn
Augustus
special
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