Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/67

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LUXEMBURG 41 LUZON LUXEMBURG, formerly a duchy, bounded on the N. by the Belgian prov- ince of Liege, on the W. by that of Na- mur, on the E. by Rhenish Prussia and on the S. by France- area, 2,700 square miles. A chain of hills, branching from the Ardennes, traverses the country from S. W. to N. E., forming the dividing line between the basins of the Meuse and the Moselle. The valleys are fertile, but the rest of the country has mostly a stony and barren soil; and in some parts a good deal of the surface is occupied with marshes, heaths, and poor waste land. The chief branch of rural industry is the rearing of cattle for exportation. Horses are good. There are few countries where iron is more abundant. The in- habitants, generallj^ of Saxon origin, are all Roman Catholics. Luxemburg was ceded to Siegfried by the monastery of Treves, and created a county in 965. In the 12th century it came into the pos- session of the Counts of Limburg, who took the title of Counts of Luxemburg. The emperor Charles IV. erected it into a duchy in 1354. It came to Philip of Burgundy by his marriage with Isabella, daughter to the King of Portugal, in 1443, and through him passed to the house of Spain, with whom it remained till the peace of the Pyrenees, when part of it was ceded to France, Nov. 7, 1659. It was ceded to France by the treaty of Campo-Formio, Oct. 17, 1797, and it passed to Holland in exchange for cer- tain German principalities in 1814, and became a grand-duchy. In consequence of the Belgian revolution, Luxemburg was dismembered, and a portion was assigned to Belgium by the conference of London, in October, 1831, and a fresh division wao made in 1839, that part as- signed to Belgium being now known as the Province of Luxemburg, the rest form- ing the present Grand-duchy, the King of Holland retaining the title of Grand Duke of Luxemburg. The Grand Duchess Marie Adelaide succeeded her father Grand Duke Wilhelm in February, 1912, and, in turn, was succeeded by her sis- ter, Princess Charlotte, Jan. 15, 1919. The neutrality of the Duchy was vio- lated in August, 1914, by the German armies. By the terms of the Peace Treaty of May 7, 1919, Germany renounced her treaties and conventions, railroad rights, released the Duchy from the Zollverein from Jan. 1, 1919, adhered to abrogation of neutrality and accepted international agreement of Allied powers. The Grand- duchy is divided into the district of Luxemburg (identical with the Dutch province) and the districts of Diekirch and Grevenmacher. The Belgian prov- ince is governed like other provinces. Area of the Grand-duchy 998 square miles. Pop. about 260,000. LUXEMBURG, the capital of the above grand-duchy, formerly included in Dutch Luxemburg, on the Alzette, a tri- butary of the Sur, 22 miles S. W. of Treves. Once one of the strongest for- tresses in Europe. After 1815 the city was garrisoned by about 3,000 Prussian troops, but on the protestation of France, and by a clause of the treaty of London, May 11, 1867, the grand-duchy was ren- dered neutral, and it was agreed that the tov/n of Luxemburg shall cease to be a fortified place. The fortress was evacuated the following month by the Prussians, and the works razed in the course of the year. During the World War, the city was in German occupation, as a military depot, officers' headquarters. Pop. about 20,000. LUXOR, a village in Egypt on the banks of the Nile, standing now on the site of the ancient city of Thebes. The great court erected by Rameses II. is perhaps the greatest building in this section of Egypt. LUZERN. See LUCERNE. LUZERNE, a town in Luzerne co., Pennsylvania, near the Susquehanna river, a little north of Wilkes-Barre. It is near the center of the coal region, and in addition to coal mines possesses a foundry, drill factories, etc. Pop. (1910) 5,426; (1920) 5,998. LUZON, the pricipal and most north- erly island of the Philippine group; be- tween the Chinese Sea and the Pacific Ocean; area, 40,969 square miles; pop. (1903) 3,798,507; capital, Manila. The surface of the island is mountainous, showing volcanic formations, and there are also vast tracts of swampy land. There are also indications of mineral re- sources, including gold, coal, copper, lead, iron, sulphur, marble and kaolin. Luzon yields crops of rice and corn, in quantity usually inadequate for home consump- tion. The best quality and largest amount of tobacco is grown on Luzon, and in the S. portion of the island hemp and cocoa- nut are cultivated extensively. There is a large internal commerce between Manila and the different islands in the group, carried on almost exclusively by water. At the time of the cession of the islands to the United States there was but a single line of railway, extending from Manila N. to Dagupan. The roads m the immediate Ticinity of Manila are macadamized and generally in good con- dition; elsewhere they are of dirt, and become almost impassable in the rainy