HANOVER. 535 HANOVER. winter. In the vic-inity of tlic moors fevers are jireviileiit, and the mortality is high. The mean aiiiuuil toniperatiire is alxnit 47'" F. The mining industry is important, and is carried on mostly in the Harz region. The chief minerals are coal and iron, of which about G50.000 tons each are mined annually. Silver, lead, and cojiper are also mined, -Hhile salt products are prominent. Turf and peat are large and important outputs, being shipped up the streams and canals toward the interior for use as fu(d. Some mineral oil is found. AouiCL'LTl'RE. About one-third of the total area of the province is under tillage — farm and garden — a little over one-fifth is under pasture, and nearly one-sixth under forest. According to the census of ISilo.. there were 345.159 land holdings, with a total area of 7,192,500 acres. Of these, 200.870 holdings covered less than 5 acres each: 66,240, from 5 to 12% acres each: 55,869. from liVn to 50 acres each; and 22,180, over 50 acres each. In the drier regions of the country rye is the prominent crop; in the marsh and moor districts, wheat, oats, barley, buck- wheat, rape, and potatoes are grown. Cattle- raising is an important industry. For wheat and oats Hanover is one of the leading regions in Germany. In the mountain valleys the farming is intensive, and fruit is the leading product. The sugar-beet industry is rapidly growing; the number of factories was 43 in 1000. Clover, hops, flax., and tobacco are raised. The number of head of stock in the province generally in- creased about 10 per cent, during the decade from 1890 to 1900, the sheep holdings alone having fallen olT. ILiXUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. The manufac- turing industries are prosperous and growing, especially in the southern part of the province. The industrial census of 1895 gives the number of industrial establishments as 158,756. employ- ing 418.837 persons, or about 16 per cent, of the population. In that number were included 67.- 058 establishments without any help and 1181 establishments employing 150,487 hands. Among the chief manufactured products are cotton and woolen textiles, machinery, wagons, leather, glassware, cigars ;ind tobacco, paper, chemicals, and spirits. Shipbuilding is a prominent in- dustry. There are several Chambers of Com- merce that actively further the interests of manu- facturing and agriculture. The commerce is extensive. Hanover ranking among the thirteen leading commercial towns of Prussia. Trade is greatly facilitated by the numerous splendid waterways of the province, as well as by its ample roads and railways, the last exceeding 1500 miles in length and belonging for the most part to the State. The Province of Hanover has about 40 ports, of which six are important ship- ping centres, including Harburg and Geeste- miinde. The Hanoverian shipping trade owmed in 1900 about 850 boats, which had, however, a light tonnage— 56.000, Government and Instrixtion. For purposes of administration Hanover is divided into the six counties of Hanover, Hildesheim, Liineburg, Stade. Osnabriick, and .urich. which are divided into 78 circles. The province is represented by 36 members in the Prussian Chamber of Deputies and by 10 in the Upper House. It sends 19 members to the German Reichstag. In educa- tional matters Hanover holds high rank. Edu- cation is free, compulsory, and thoroughly dif- fused. There are over 100 secondary schools and other schools of advanced instruction. There is also the famous imiversity at Gijttingen (q.v.) . Among the practical schools are the royal mining academy in Clausthal, the building school in Xienburg, and the forestry .school in .Miinden. There are a technical high school (in the capital) , five navigation schools, several agricultural insti- tutions, a school for the cultivation of meadows, a veterinary high school, and several unions for the diffusion of practical knowledge, as well as various associations fostering the interests of science, art, historj", natural philosojihy, engi- neering, and architecture. There are two large libraries: that of Gottingen University, and the Royal Library in the capital. The Royal The- atre of Hanover holds a creditable rank in Ger- many. Population. The population of the province was 2,422,020 in 1890; in 1900, 2.590,336, of whom 2,227,816 were Protestants. The popula- tion per s<piare mile was 174.2 in 1900. There were 1784 emigrants in 1900, nearly all to the United States. HISTORY. The early history of Hanover is that of Bruns- wick. In 1235 Otho, the grandson of Henry the Lion, of the famous House of tiuelf (Welf) was recognized as Duke of Brunswick l)y the Emperor Frederick II. On the death of Ernest the Con- fessor. Duke of Liineburg, in 1546, his dominions were divided between his sons, Henry, who became the founder of the Brunswick-Wolfcnbiittel line, an<l William, who founded the new line of Bruns- wick-Liineburg. (See Brunswick. House of.) Several divisions were made among the mem- l)ers of this family, the most important of which occurred in 1635, when George, the son of William, received the principalities of Calenberg and Giit- tingen, and took up his residence in the city of Hanover. Duke George died in 1641, and was succeeded by his son, Christian Louis, who in 1648 succeeded to the possession of Liineburg, transferring Calenberg to his brother George William. In 1665 George William in turn se- cured Liineburg. and Calenberg fell to the pos- session of his younger brother .Tohn Frederick, who was succeeded by still another brother, Er- nest Au.gu.stus, in 1679. This prince introduced the law of primogeniture into the succession of the principality in 1683, and in 1092 secured the electoral dignity for his house from the Emperor Leopold I., becoming Elector of Hanover. He married Sophia, the daughter of Elizabeth, wife of the Elector Palatine. Frederick V.. and the granddaughter of James I. of England, thus con- necting the Hanoverian house with that of Eng- land and Scotland. Their, son. George Louis, suc- ceeded his father in the DucV.y of Calenberg and in the electoral dignity in 1698, and. by marrying his cousin Sophia Dorothea, he united the two duchies of Calenberg and Liineburg, on the death, in 1705, of George William. In 1714, on the death of Queen Anne. George Louis, Elector of Hanover, ascended the throne of Great Britain as George T. (q.v.). being the nearest Protestant heir, through his mother, the F.lectress Sophia. With George, a brighter epoch opened for the inhabitants of Hanover, who were relieved from the burden of maintaining the court and ducal household, while the revenues of the Crown were thenceforth appropriated solely to
