Belgrade has but trifling manufactures of arms, cutlery, saddlery, silk goods, carpets, etc. It is, however, an entrepôt of trade between Turkey and Austria.
Other towns are Nish, 25,000; Kragojevatz, 19,000; Leskovatz, 15,000; Podjeravatz, 14,000; Shabatz, 12,000; Vranya, 11,500; Pirot, 11,000; and Krutchevatz, 10,000.
The principal towns in the territories acquired in 1913 are Monastir, 60,000; Prisrend, 42,000; Uskub, 32,000; Prilip, 24,000; Istip, or Shtip, 21,000; Kalkandelen, or Tetovo, 20,000; Koprili, or Veles, 20,000; Dibra, 16,000; Pristina, 16,000; Kumanovo, 15,000; Ochrida, 15,000; and Novi Bazar, 13,000.
History.—The Servians came from the Carpathians in the seventh century, and founded a great state, which, about 1350, embraced Albania and much of Bulgaria and Macedonia; but at Kossovo in 1389 the Turks crushed the Servian power and made Servia first tributary and then a province of the Ottoman empire.
A national rising had some success under Kara George in 1807-1810 and through Russian influence it was arranged that Servia should have some measure of internal autonomy. Still more successful was a rising in 1815 under Obrenovich. Under his successors there was considerable progress; and after the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878 Servia obtained complete independence and became a kingdom. King Milan abdicated in 1889.
In 1903 a party of officers, representing a wide conspiracy, assassinated King Alexander and Queen Draga, and Peter Karageorgevitch was proclaimed king. In 1913 Servia, as a member of the Balkan League (Bulgaria, Greece, Servia, and Montenegro), waged a successful war against Turkey. In August, 1913, Servia and Greece were attacked by Bulgaria, their former ally, owing to disputes concerning the division of the spoils. The second war collapsed in a few weeks through the threatened intervention of Roumania, and ended in the Treaty of Bucharest. Servia also became involved with the Austro-Hungarian monarchy on a question of the Albanian frontier, where desultory fighting had taken place for some months, but eventually the smaller power withdrew from the disputed area. The outcome of the military operations was the inclusion of the whole of “Old Servia” (the greater part of Macedonia) within the Servian boundaries, which thus embrace an area (1914) of close on thirty-four thousand square miles, with a population estimated at five million.
The assassination of the Austrian heir presumptive, in June, 1914, brought about an invasion of Servia by the forces of Austria-Hungary, and started the Pan-European war that is still in progress.
SPAIN(Span.España), occupying the larger part of the southwestern peninsula of Europe, is bounded on the south and east by the Mediterranean, on the west by the Atlantic and Portugal, and on the north by the Bay of Biscay and France, from which it is separated by the Pyrenees. Its coast line extends 1,317 miles—712 formed by the Mediterranean and 605 by the Atlantic—and it comprises a total area of 196,700 English square miles, and a population (1910) of 19,588,688.
Surface.—The interior of the peninsula consists of an elevated tableland, surrounded and traversed by mountain ranges. The uniform coast line and the great elevation of its central plateau give Spain a more continental character in its extreme range of temperature than any of the other peninsulas of Europe.
Outside the plateau lie the highest summits in the country, the Pic de Néthou, in the Pyrenees, Mulhacen and Veleta in the Sierra Nevada, while the Picos de Europa in the Cantabrian Range attain over eight thousand feet. The plateau itself is traversed by four mountain ranges which separate the valley of the Ebro from that of the Douro; and the whole of it has a general slight inclination from east or northeast to southwest. Hence all the considerable rivers except the Ebro flow westward to the Atlantic.
These include the Guadalaviar, Júcar, and Segura, important rivers of the eastern watershed. The Minho, Douro, Tagus, Guadiana, and Guadalquivir drain the western valleys, which are formed between the mountain ranges of the Peninsula. The Tagus is the largest river of the Peninsula, the estuary of which forms a magnificent harbor. The Guadalquivir, though the shortest of the larger streams, is the most important on account of its fullness and its course through the most extensive lowland of the Peninsula. The effect of the tide in it is felt for several leagues above Seville, to which city it is navigable, eighty miles from the sea.
The configuration of the country renders the climate very varied. In parts of the northwest the rainfall is among the heaviest in Europe. In the east and southeast occasionally no rain falls in the whole year. The rainfall in the western Pyrenees is very great, yet on the northern slope of the valley of the Ebro there are districts almost rainless. The western side of the great plateau, speaking generally, is more humid and much colder than the eastern, where irrigation is necessary for successful cultivation.
Production and Industry.—Galicia is almost a cattle country; Estremadura possesses vast flocks of sheep and herds of swine. The country is generally fertile, and well adapted to agriculture and the cultivation of heat-loving fruits—as olives, oranges, lemons, almonds, pomegranates, and dates. The agricultural products comprise wheat, barley, maize, oats, rice, with hemp and flax of the best quality. The vine is cultivated in every province; in the southwest, Jerez, the well-known sherry and tent wines are made; in the southeast, the Malaga and Alicante.
Spain is rich in iron, copper and lead, but the mines have been only partially developed.
The seat of the manufacturing industries is chiefly Catalonia. Cotton and woolen manufactures engage many hands, and there are also considerable silk, paper, and cork industries.
The principal exports are wine, copper and copper ores, lead, iron ores, olive oil, raisins, oranges, cork, esparto grass, wool, salt, quicksilver, grapes, etc.
People.—The basis of the population of the whole Peninsula is that of the old Iberians, modified by the admixture of Celtic, Phœnician, Roman, Germanic, and Moorish (Arab) invaders who from time to time gained ascendency in the land and became intermixed with the ancient inhabitants.
Until lately the only religion tolerated was that of the state, the Roman Catholic; now a certain toleration is allowed to other denominations.
Education varies greatly among different classes and in different provinces. In the large towns and in some of the provinces a great effort is made to keep the higher and the technical schools on a level with the best in other European countries. In other parts the[565]neglect is very great. There are ten universities: Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Oviedo, Salamanca, Seville, Santiago, Valencia, Valladolid, and Saragossa. Primary education is by law compulsory, but the law is not strictly enforced, which accounts for the large percentage of illiterates.
Government.—The government of Spain is an hereditary monarchy founded on the constitution of 1876. The Cortes consists of two bodies—the Senate, of about three hundred and sixty members (one-half elected), and a Congress of Deputies, elected at the rate of one member to every fifty thousand inhabitants.
Cities.—The principal cities are Madrid, population 597,573; Barcelona, 587,219; Valencia, 233,348; Seville, 155,366; Malaga, 136,192; Murcia, 125,380; Saragossa, 111,701; Carthagena, 96,983; Bilbao, 93,536; and San Sebastian, 92,514; and there are also twelve towns with over 50,000 inhabitants.
THE ROYAL PALACE, MADRID,one of the finest in Europe, has a frontage of four hundred and seventy feet, is one hundred feet high, and built of white stone. Among the thirty rooms on the first floor, the largest and finest is the Hall of the Ambassadors. The vault was painted by Tiepolo, and represents the exaltation of the Spanish monarchs. The walls are draped with velvet embroidered with gold, and twelve immense mirrors also decorate it. On the right of the throne, which is guarded by four gilded bronze lions, is a statue of Prudence, and on the left that of Justice. The chapel is extremely rich, but not very handsome. There is also a library, a theatre, and the magnificent collection of Flemish tapestries.
THE ROYAL PALACE, MADRID,
one of the finest in Europe, has a frontage of four hundred and seventy feet, is one hundred feet high, and built of white stone. Among the thirty rooms on the first floor, the largest and finest is the Hall of the Ambassadors. The vault was painted by Tiepolo, and represents the exaltation of the Spanish monarchs. The walls are draped with velvet embroidered with gold, and twelve immense mirrors also decorate it. On the right of the throne, which is guarded by four gilded bronze lions, is a statue of Prudence, and on the left that of Justice. The chapel is extremely rich, but not very handsome. There is also a library, a theatre, and the magnificent collection of Flemish tapestries.
Madrid(Span. pron.Madh-reedh´), the capital of Spain, is situated in the department of Madrid (part of the ancient province of New Castile), eight hundred and eighty miles by rail from Paris. It is built on a treeless, ill-watered plateau, on the left bank of the Manzanares, two thousand and sixty feet above the sea-level.
The Manzanares is merely a mountain-torrent falling into the Jarama, a tributary of the Tagus; water is brought from the Guadarrama Mountains by an aqueduct forty-two miles in length.
The general aspect of the city is clean and gay, while the older parts are picturesque; no trace now remains of the mediæval city. The new streets are generally fine, broad, and planted with trees; the houses well built, lofty, and inhabited by several families living in flats. A great feature is the magnificent open spaces, chief of which is the Prado, running north and south through the eastern part of the city, and, with its continuations, three miles long. It contains four handsome fountains with groups of statuary, a fine obelisk to commemorate the gallant struggle with the French (May 2, 1808), monuments to Columbus, Isabel the Catholic, etc.
The picture-gallery here, founded by Charles III., is one of the finest in Europe, and contains many of the masterpieces of Velasquez, Murillo, Raphael, Tintoretto, Rubens, Teniers, and Van Dyck. Two other parks are the Buen Retiro, the fashionable promenade on the east of the city, and the Casa de Campo on the west. Midway between its extremities the Prado is crossed at right angles by the Calle de Alcala, the finest street in the city, about a mile in length, and leading from outside the fine triumphal arch rebuilt by Charles III. to the Puerta del Sol, the square which is the heart of Madrid; here converge the principal electric lines, and in it and the streets branching off from it are situated the principal shops and places of business.
The finest square is the Plaza Mayor, formerly the scene of bull-fights; it contains a gigantic equestrian statue of Philip III., its founder. On the west of the city are the new cathedral and the royal palace; the latter, commenced in 1738 to replace the ancient Alcazar, which had been burned down, was finished in 1764 at a cost of fifteen million dollars. Other fine buildings are the palace of justice, formerly a convent; the houses of parliament; Buena Vista Palace, now the ministry of war, and the new national bank.
Besides a flourishing university, founded by Cardinal Ximenes, and two high schools, Madrid contains numerous municipal schools. Madrid[566]is well provided with newspapers and public libraries, the chief being the National Library, with more than half a million volumes, and the library of the university.
The opera house is one of the finest in the world; all the theaters must by law be lighted by electricity. The bull ring, situated outside the gates on the east, is a solid structure seating fourteen thousand.
Iron founding and the manufacture of furniture, carriages, and fancy articles are carried on on a small scale. The manufacture of tobacco employs many persons, chiefly women. The publishing trade is important, and books are well printed and cheap. The old tapestry factory still turns out beautiful work, as do the potteries at Moncloa.
THE ESCURIALis thirty-two miles from Madrid. It is called by the Spaniards the eighth wonder of the world. Philip II. built it in 1685 to commemorate the taking of St. Quentin, and to accomplish a vow which he made to St. Lawrence. This vast building has fifteen principal entrances, and more than one thousand one hundred windows. It is entirely built of granite, and its appearance is monotonous and cold. It contains a church, the Capilla Mayor, filled with royal monuments, the sacristy, a vast vaulted hall with a marble altar ornamented with bronze, the choir, and the pantheon or vault, where the kings of Spain are buried. The pantheon is reached by a magnificent staircase of colored marbles. The urn containing the remains of Charles V. was opened in 1870, and the body was even then in perfect preservation. The library of books and the manuscript library attracts the attention of scholars. The main entrance to the palace is in the middle of the north façade. The Hall of Battles, is covered with frescos representing Spanish conquests; and the apartments in which Philip II. lived and died. The Pavilion of Charles IV., called the Casa del Principe, is a charming little museum of paintings, sculptures, and mosaics. The King’s Seat, where Philip II. came to sit when presiding over the work of the palace, is also to be seen.
THE ESCURIAL
is thirty-two miles from Madrid. It is called by the Spaniards the eighth wonder of the world. Philip II. built it in 1685 to commemorate the taking of St. Quentin, and to accomplish a vow which he made to St. Lawrence. This vast building has fifteen principal entrances, and more than one thousand one hundred windows. It is entirely built of granite, and its appearance is monotonous and cold. It contains a church, the Capilla Mayor, filled with royal monuments, the sacristy, a vast vaulted hall with a marble altar ornamented with bronze, the choir, and the pantheon or vault, where the kings of Spain are buried. The pantheon is reached by a magnificent staircase of colored marbles. The urn containing the remains of Charles V. was opened in 1870, and the body was even then in perfect preservation. The library of books and the manuscript library attracts the attention of scholars. The main entrance to the palace is in the middle of the north façade. The Hall of Battles, is covered with frescos representing Spanish conquests; and the apartments in which Philip II. lived and died. The Pavilion of Charles IV., called the Casa del Principe, is a charming little museum of paintings, sculptures, and mosaics. The King’s Seat, where Philip II. came to sit when presiding over the work of the palace, is also to be seen.
History.—Spain was originally occupied by Iberian tribes (akin to the present Basque inhabitants of the north), who were partially overlaid by invading Celts. The Carthaginians established themselves in the south of Spain in the third century B. C. The Romans appeared in force in the next century, but it was not till after a fierce and prolonged resistance from Iberians and Celtiberians that, under Augustus, the Roman conquest was complete. Soon Spain, thoroughly Romanized, was contributing largely to Latin literature and Roman culture.
The Germanic invaders from the north, Suevi, Vandals, and Visigoths, crushed the Roman power in the fifth century A. D., and Spain became a province of the Visigothic kingdom (573 A. D.). Then followed the Moorish conquest, which was very rapid (714-732) and complete, except in the north and northwest. The several Christian kingdoms of Spain: Castile, Leon, Navarre, Aragon, etc., as well as Portugal—were formed by the gradual depression of the Moors; but Moorish Granada was not conquered till 1492, and Spain was not united under one rule till 1512.
Spain became a European state with the union of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile in 1469, and the New World was discovered for them. Under the Emperor Charles V., in the sixteenth century, Spain was the most important country in Europe; but the population was unequal to the drain upon it caused by constant warfare, emigration, and adverse economical and industrial conditions.
With Philip II., Charles’s son, the decline of Spain set in, though now for sixty years Portugal was under the Spanish crown. The Bourbon dynasty brought complication in the wars of Louis XIV., and little advantage from the recovery of Naples and Sicily. The nadir of Spanish history is in the time of Napoleon, when Spain, in spite of some national efforts, was nominally a kingdom, but really a mere province of the French empire.
In spite of the valiant patriotism shown in resisting the French, and the ultimate recovery of national independence through the overthrow of Napoleon, the history of Spain in the nineteenth century was in the main inglorious. In Cuba there had been trouble since 1895, the final outcome of which was the disastrous Spanish-American war, leading to the loss of the greater colonies. The twentieth century has seen gradual recovery, growing[567]toleration, a breach with the Vatican, revolutionary and repressive movements, and ambitions in northwest Africa.
In June, 1911, the situation in Morocco led to the dispatch of a Spanish force to Alcazar. But the indignation aroused in France at this action was quite overshadowed by the sensation caused when it became known that Germany had sent a warship to Agadir. Labor troubles in Spain broke out in September, 1911. Martial law was proclaimed throughout the country, and a royal decree suspended the constitutional guarantees, which were not re-established until October 22. In March, 1912, the ministry was reconstituted, but, in 1916, during the European war, again gave way over grave questions over neutrality and internal conditions.
SWEDEN(SwedishSverige), a kingdom of northern Europe, occupies the eastern side of the Scandinavian peninsula. From 1814 till the amicable but definitive separation in 1905, it was associated with Norway under one crown. Its greatest length, north to south, is close to 1000 miles, its greatest breadth 300; its area 170,970 square miles; and its coast line 1550 miles. Besides many skerry islands, Sweden owns Gothland and Œland.
Surface.—The country may be generally described as a broad plain sloping southeastward from the Kjölen Mountains to the Baltic. The only mountainous districts adjoin Norway; the peaks sink in altitude from seven thousand feet in the north to three thousand eight hundred feet at the southern end of the chain. Immediately south of this point a subsidiary chain strikes off to the southeast, and, threading the lake region of central Sweden, swells out beyond into a tableland with a mean elevation of eight hundred and fifty feet and maximum of twelve hundred and forty feet. Fully two-thirds of the entire surface lies lower than eight hundred feet, and one-third lower than three hundred feet, above sea level.
Sweden is separated popularly and geographically into three great divisions—Norrland, Svealand, and Gothland. Norrland, in the north, is a region of vast and lonely forests and rapid mountain streams, often forming fine cascades and ribbon-like lakes before they reach the Gulf of Bothnia.
The central division of Svealand, or Sweden proper, is a region of big lakes, and contains most of the mines. Lakes occupy nearly fourteen thousand square miles, or eight and two-tenths per cent of the total area; several of the largest, as Vener, Vetter, Hjelmar, Mälar, are connected with one another and the sea by rivers and canals. Lake Mälar contains some thirteen hundred islands, many beautifully wooded, with royal palaces or noblemen’s castles; and its shores are studded with prosperous towns, castles, palaces, and factories.
Gothland, the southern division, contains a much higher proportion of cultivated land, and its wide plains are all under agriculture.
Climate.—The climate of Sweden is continental in the north, along the Norwegian frontier, and on the southern plateau. The lakes in the colder districts of the north are ice bound for some two hundred and twenty days in the year; in the south only for about ninety days. The rainfall is greatest on the coast of the Cattegat.
Production and Industry.—The principal articles of cultivation are the various cereals—oats, rye, barley, wheat—and potatoes. The forests are very extensive, covering one-half of the surface of the country, and consisting of pine, birch, fir; these are of great importance, supplying timber, pitch, and tar, and also the chief fuel.
The mineral products are extremely rich: iron of excellent quality, that known as the Dannemora iron, being converted into the finest steel; gold and silver in small proportions; copper, lead, nickel, zinc, cobalt, alum, sulphur, porphyry, and marble. There is a railroad opening up the rich iron ore districts of Lapland, and mineral trains run from Gellivare and Kiruna to Lulea on the Gulf of Bothnia and to Narvik on the Atlantic. Considerable mines of coal are worked in Scania.
The chief articles of export are timber, butter, iron, steel, wood pulp, paper, matches, stone, iron and zinc ores, etc.
People.—The Swedes are a Germanic people, tall and strong, but with more variety of characteristics than the Norwegians. The Swedish language, allied closely to Norse and Danish, appears in very many dialects. It has had, especially since the sixteenth century, an extensive literature.
Almost the whole population is Protestant, adhering to the Lutheran Church, members of which alone are permitted to hold public offices. Education is well advanced in both countries, public instruction being gratuitous and compulsory. Sweden has the Universities of Upsala, which dates from 1477, and of Lund, founded in 1668, besides the many scientific and educational institutions of Stockholm.
Government.—The constitution of Sweden dates from 1809, but in 1866, when the separate meetings of the four estates—nobles, clergy, burghers, and peasants—were done away, the legislative system was much modified. The executive power is vested in the king, acting under the advice of a Council of State; the legislative in the two Chambers of the Diet, both of which are elected by the people—the first for nine years from proprietors, the second for three years from a lower class. The administration of justice is entirely independent of the government.
Cities.—The capital, Stockholm, has a population (1913) of 382,085. In addition to the capital, there are fourteen towns with above 20,000 population, viz.: Göteborg, 178,030; Malmö, 95,821; Norrköping, 46,180; Gefle, 35,736; Helsingborg, 37,385; Örebro, 33,182.
Malmö, on the sound opposite Copenhagen, is the outlet of the corn granary of the southern plain; Norrköping, on an inlet of the Baltic, after Stockholm, is the busiest manufacturing town of Sweden, its mills being driven by the rapids of the Motala; Gefle lies north of Stockholm, and is second only to it as a seaport on the Baltic side of the country; and Karlskrona, on the south coast, is the naval arsenal and headquarters of the fleet of Sweden.
PANORAMA OF STOCKHOLM, CAPITAL OF SWEDEN
PANORAMA OF STOCKHOLM, CAPITAL OF SWEDEN
Within recent years a network of railways has been formed over southern Sweden and Norway, connecting the capital towns with the ports of Göteborg, Malmö, and many other points.
Stockholm(lpronounced), stands on several islands and the adjacent mainland, between a bay of the Baltic and Lake Mälar, in a situation that is accounted one of the most picturesque in Europe.
Its nucleus is an island in mid-channel called “the Town”; on it stand the imposing royal palace; the chief church (St. Nicholas), in which the kings are crowned; the House of the Nobles; the town house; the ministries of the kingdom; and the principal wharf, a magnificent granite quay, fronting east.
Immediately west of the central island lies the Knights’ Island (Riddarholm); it is almost entirely occupied with public buildings as the old Houses of Parliament; the old Franciscan church, in which all the later sovereigns of Sweden have been buried; the royal archives, and the chief law-courts.
North of these two islands lie the handsomely built districts of Norrmalm, separated from them by a narrow channel, in which is an islet with the new Houses of Parliament. In Norrmalm are the National Museum with valuable prehistoric collections, coins, paintings, sculptures; the principal theaters; the Academy of Fine Arts; the barracks; the Hop Garden, with the Royal Library, two hundred and fifty thousand volumes and eight thousand manuscripts, and with the statue of Linnæus; the Academy of Sciences; the Museum of Northern Antiquities; the Observatory, etc.
Ship Island (Skeppsholm), immediately east of “the Town” island, is the headquarters of the Swedish navy, and is connected with a smaller island on the southeast, that is crowned with a citadel. Beyond these again, and farther to the east, lies the beautiful island of the Zoological Gardens. Immediately south of “the Town” island is the extensive district of Södermalm, the houses of which climb up the steep slopes that rise from the water’s edge. Handsome bridges connect the central islands with the northern and southern districts; quick little steamboats go to the beautiful islands in Lake Mälar on the west, and eastward toward the Baltic Sea, forty miles distant.
Sugar, tobacco, silks and ribbons, candles, linen, cotton, and leather are produced, and there are large iron foundries and machine shops. Though the water approaches are frozen up during winter, Stockholm exports iron and steel, oats and tar.
Stockholm was founded by Birger Jarl in 1255, and grew to be the capital only in modern times.
History.—Sweden was originally occupied by Lapps and Finns, but probably (1500 B. C.) Teutonic tribes drove them into the forests of the north, and at the dawn of history we find Svealand occupied by Swedes (Svea) and Gothland by the Goths.
Gothland was christianized and also conquered by the Danes in the ninth century, while Svealand remained fanatically heathen till the time of St. Eric (twelfth century), who conquered Finland, henceforth a Swedish possession. For a century Goths and Swedes had different kings, but gradually melted into one people toward the end of the thirteenth century.
Now arose bitter feuds between king, nobility, peasants, and universal turbulence prevailed; agriculture, industry, literature and culture progressed not at all or hardly existed. Even after the union of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark under one monarch (1397), Sweden was torn by conflicts which lasted down to the expulsion of Danish oppressors, and the restoration of Swedish autonomy by the national rising under Gustavus Vasa (1524), the ablest prince who had yet ruled the Swedes. Under him the reformation was heartily[569]accepted. Gustavus Adolphus and the Swedes were its bulwark, not merely at home but in Germany in the Thirty Years’ war; and by the acquirement of Bremen, Verden, and Pomerania, Sweden became (1648) a member of the empire.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS PLACE AND THE ROYAL THEATER, STOCKHOLM
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS PLACE AND THE ROYAL THEATER, STOCKHOLM
NEW UNIVERSITY, UPSALA, SWEDENUpsala is best reached by boat from Stockholm. Here the celebrated university, founded 1477, by Jacob Ulfson, now magnificently housed, stands in the Drottninggatan. Library, the largest in Sweden, with three hundred thousand volumes, including the Codex Argenteus, or Gothic Gospel of Bishop Ulphilas (318-388), written in silver letters on purple vellum, also the Atlantica of Rudbeck, and the sacred book of the Druses, with the Edda Manuscript. An Observatory is attached to the University. The Botanical Garden has many rare plants and a bust of Linnæus (Linné), who was professor and physician here, living at Hammarby.
NEW UNIVERSITY, UPSALA, SWEDEN
Upsala is best reached by boat from Stockholm. Here the celebrated university, founded 1477, by Jacob Ulfson, now magnificently housed, stands in the Drottninggatan. Library, the largest in Sweden, with three hundred thousand volumes, including the Codex Argenteus, or Gothic Gospel of Bishop Ulphilas (318-388), written in silver letters on purple vellum, also the Atlantica of Rudbeck, and the sacred book of the Druses, with the Edda Manuscript. An Observatory is attached to the University. The Botanical Garden has many rare plants and a bust of Linnæus (Linné), who was professor and physician here, living at Hammarby.
Under Charles XII. and his successor, the enmity of Denmark, Poland, and Russia wrested her new conquests from Sweden, and gave Livonia, Esthonia, Ingermanland, and Karelia (which had long been Swedish) to Russia; thus reducing Sweden from the rank of a first-rate European power. After a bloody struggle Sweden had to cede Finland (1809) to Russia. Norway was united by a personal union (i. e., by the monarch) with Sweden in 1810; and in 1818 the French general Bernadotte was elected king (as Charles XIV.).
Norway’s demand for a larger measure of home rule led in 1905 to a complete separation.
SWITZERLAND(Ger.Schweiz; Fr.Suisse), is a confederation of twenty-two cantons, lying practically in the very center of Europe, between France, Germany, Austria, and Italy. No part of it is within one hundred miles of the sea. It is also a very small country (sixteen thousand square miles), not much larger than the half of Scotland. The greatest length from east to west is two hundred and sixteen miles, the width from north to south being one hundred and thirty-seven miles. The population in 1910 was 3,741,971.
Surface.—The southern boundary lies for the most part along the highest crests of the Alps, which descend by the Italian valleys to the plain of Lombardy; the summits of the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa rise on the boundary line, which is crossed by the Great St. Bernard, Simplon, and Splügen passes. North of this mass of heights the deep valleys of the Upper Rhone flowing west to the Lake of Geneva, and of the Upper Rhine flowing northeast to that of Constance, mark a deep trench all across the country. In the heart of the country rises the mass of the Bernese Alps or Oberland, the Alps of Uri and Glarus, with the summits of the Finsteraarhorn and Jungfrau. Still farther north the country descends gradually by less elevated mountains and hills to the undulating lowland of Switzerland (still one thousand five hundred feet above the sea), which extends in a curve from the Lake of Constance on the northeast along the Valley of the Aar, by the Lakes of Biel (Bienne) and Neuchâtel to that of Geneva. Beyond this the long parallel ranges of the Jura close in the country on the northwestern frontier.
More than half of the whole country is covered by rocks, glaciers, forest, and mountain pasture, and cannot be permanently inhabited.
Rivers and Lakes.—All the northern part of the country belongs to the basin of the Rhine flowing to the North Sea. That river, having purified its waters in its passage through the Boden-See or Lake of Constance (partly in Switzerland), is joined by the Aar, which rises near the Grimsel, and flows through the lakes of Brienz and Thun. To this basin also belong the lakes of Zürich and Zug, Luzerne, Neuchâtel, and Biel or Bienne. The southwestern district drains by the Rhône to the Mediterranean, through the Lake of Geneva or Leman, which is partly in Switzerland, partly in France.
The smaller part of the southern boundary that laps over the Italian valleys of the Alps includes the head of Lake Maggiore, in Switzerland, and the upper Ticino, which flows through it to the plain of Lombardy and the Adriatic. In the east the boundary embraces only one valley, which drains to the Danube, the Engadine, through which the Upper Inn flows northeastward.
From the elevation at which they rise, and their rapids, the rivers of Switzerland are of no value in navigation. The Rhine only begins to be freely navigable at Basel, where it leaves the country. The larger lakes, however, have little steamers plying from shore to shore; that of Geneva, forty-seven miles long, has a considerable traffic.
Climate and Scenery.—The climate naturally varies with the elevation above the sea level, from that of the perennial snows at an elevation of about nine thousand feet, downward through the pastoral alpine region and the tall pine forests, to the lower lands in which the chestnut flourishes, and where orchard fruits, the vine, mulberry, and wheat can be grown. There is a variation of about thirty-four and one-half degrees in the mean temperature—between fifty-four and one-half degrees Fahrenheit at Bellinzona, and twenty degrees on the Theodule Pass.
Switzerland has been called the playground of Europe, and is visited by large numbers of tourists from all parts of the world, attracted by its magnificent mountain and lake scenery.
The amount of money brought annually by tourists is estimated at twenty million dollars.
STATUE OF TELL, ALTDORF, SWITZERLANDAltdorf, near the southern end of Lake Luzerne, and capital of the canton of of Uri, is in the mountain-walled valley, and is the reputed scene of Tell’s shooting the apple. The side is marked by a fountain. The colossal statue of Tell is near by. His birthplace, near Bürglen, is occupied by a frescoed chapel.
STATUE OF TELL, ALTDORF, SWITZERLAND
Altdorf, near the southern end of Lake Luzerne, and capital of the canton of of Uri, is in the mountain-walled valley, and is the reputed scene of Tell’s shooting the apple. The side is marked by a fountain. The colossal statue of Tell is near by. His birthplace, near Bürglen, is occupied by a frescoed chapel.
Geneva and Lausanne, on the beautiful lake of Geneva, Interlaken (between the lakes of Thun and Brienz), Luzerne and the Rigi, Schaffhausen at the Rhine fall, Zermatt beneath Monte Rosa, Lugano in the heart of the Italian lake district, are notable tourist stations; St. Moritz in the Engadine, and Leuk (Louèche) in the Rhone Valley, Pfäffers in that of the Upper Rhine, are famous for their baths. Switzerland as a whole—with its mountains, lakes, glaciers, waterfalls, valleys and cities—has been described by an American poet as a “cluster of delights and grandeurs.”
Production and Industry.—The forests, which cover about a sixth of the surface, are of immense value to the country, where most of the houses are built of wood. The mountain pastures give the characteristic employments of the people of the Alps and Jura, as herdsmen and shepherds, tending their cattle and making cheese in the mountain châlets during summer.
Agriculture is followed chiefly in the valleys, where wheat, oats, maize, barley, flax, hemp, and tobacco are produced.
The textile industries are the most important, the chief centers being Zürich, Basel, Glarus, and St. Gall. The chief are silk, cotton, and linen fabrics, besides raw silk. Next comes the clock and watchmaking industry, established at Geneva in 1587, which spread to the cantons of Neuchâtel, Berne and Vaud.
Wood carving was introduced in the Oberland about 1820. Other manufactures are chemicals, chocolate, and condensed milk.
Salt, obtained on the banks of the Rhine, is the only valuable mineral of the country.
People.—Three-fourths of the population of Switzerland, occupying all the center and north of the country, are Germanic; the remaining fourth belongs to three branches of the Romanic family—the French in the west, the Italian in the south, and the Rhæto-Romanic in the southeast. A little more than half of the population is Protestant, the remainder, chiefly in the mountain region, Roman Catholic.
Education is widely diffused, especially in the Protestant districts of the northeast, where the law of compulsory education is rigidly enforced. There are universities at Basel, Berne, Zurich, Geneva, and Lausanne.
Government.—At the close of the political storms which raged in Europe from 1789 till 1815, the affairs of Switzerland were re-arranged by the Congress of Vienna, which provided for the perpetual neutrality and independence of Switzerland in its twenty-two cantons. Since 1848 the independent states or cantons of Switzerland have become a united confederacy (Bundes Staat), the supreme legislative and executive authority of which is vested in a parliament of two chambers, sitting at Berne—the Stände Rath or States Council, and the National Rath, the first composed of two members for each canton, the second of representatives of the people according to numbers. The cantons are still, however, in a great measure, independent democracies, each making its own laws and managing its local affairs.
Referendum and Initiative.—These are two political institutions peculiar to Switzerland, the furthest developments of democracy yet attained.
The referendum, which has now spread throughout the whole Confederation, and by means of which all legislative acts passed in the Federal or Cantonal Assemblies may be referred to the peopleen masse, was fully developed in 1874, and it has been put in operation on an average once a year. The decisions have generally shown a conservative rather than a radical tendency on the part of the people.
Initiativeis the exercise of the right granted to voters to initiate proposals for the enactment of new laws or for the alteration or abolition of the old ones.
Cities.—The capital of the Swiss Confederation is Berne, population (1910) 85,650. In 1910 there were twelve communes with populations exceeding 20,000: Zürich, 190,733; Bâle, 132,280; Geneva, 123,160; Berne, 85,650; Lausanne, 63,296; St. Gall, 37,657; Chaux-de-Fonds, 37,626; and Luzerne, 39,152.
THE BERNE CATHEDRALwas built in 1421-1573, and restored in 1850, with a richly sculptured portal, some good stained glass of the fifteenth century, and a famous organ. From the Terrace in the rear of the Cathedral, the snowy peaks of the Bernese Alps are seen in a glorious panorama.
THE BERNE CATHEDRAL
was built in 1421-1573, and restored in 1850, with a richly sculptured portal, some good stained glass of the fifteenth century, and a famous organ. From the Terrace in the rear of the Cathedral, the snowy peaks of the Bernese Alps are seen in a glorious panorama.
Berne, since 1849 the capital of Switzerland, sixty-eight miles by rail southwest of Basel, is situated on a lofty sandstone promontory formed by the winding Aar, which surrounds it on three sides. It is one of the best and most regularly built towns in Europe, as it is the finest in Switzerland. The houses are massive structures of freestone, resting upon shop-lined arcades. Rills of water flow through the streets. The view of the Alpine peaks from the city is magnificent.
The principal public buildings are a Gothic cathedral, the magnificent Federal Council Hall, the mint, the hospital, and the university. Berne has an interesting museum, and a valuable public library of fifty thousand volumes.
It was founded in 1191, was made a free imperial city in 1218, under Frederick II.; and between 1288 and 1339 successfully resisted the attacks of Rudolf of Hapsburg, Albert, his son, and Louis of Bavaria. The “Disputation of Berne” between Catholics and Reformers in 1528 prepared the way for the acceptance of the reformed doctrine.
On account of the traditionary derivation of its name (Swabianbern, “a bear”), bears are maintained in a public bear-pit.
History.—The original inhabitants of Switzerland were the Celtic Helvetii, and the Rhætii of doubtful affinity. Both were conquered by Julius Cæsar and the generals of Augustus, and Romanized. Overrun by the Burgundians in the west, and their Germanic kinsmen the Alemannians in the east, Helvetia became subject to the Frankish kings and were christianized in the seventh century.
Most of the country was subsequently part of the Holy Roman Empire; and in 1273 a Swiss noble, Rudolf of Hapsburg in Aargau, became German emperor. Soon after his death (in 1291) the inhabitants of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden formed a league to defend their common interests, and in 1315 crushed an Austrian army at Morgarten. In 1332 Luzerne joined the alliance, and in 1353, Berne, Zürich, Glarus, and Zug. The Austrians were again routed in Sempach in 1386, and in 1388 at Näfels.
The Swiss next had a fierce but triumphant struggle with Charles the Bold of Burgundy, whom they routed at Grandson and Morat in 1476, and finally at Nancy (where Charles was slain) in 1477.
When the Reformation began there were thirteen cantons, and the cantons took opposite sides from the beginning, not without serious turmoil and bloodshed. The treaty of Westphalia in 1648 recognized Switzerland as an independent state. Some of the cantons were strictly aristocratic and some highly democratic, and there was much discontent long before the French Revolution, when, in 1798, between civil strife and French armies, the old republic (or rather alliance) came to an end.
The Helvetic Republic of nineteen cantons, under French auspices, endured till 1805; then a new republican constitution was adopted, the Federal Pact of twenty-two cantons. On Napoleon’s downfall, Valais, Neuchâtel, and Geneva, which had been incorporated with France, were restored, and Swiss neutrality and inviolability were recognized by the treaty of Vienna in 1815. Religious troubles led to a Catholic league in 1844, which was suppressed by the Federal forces in 1847. The present constitution was adopted in 1848, but revised in 1874. In 1891 a demand for popular initiative for measures was carried. In 1908 Switzerland entered into an international convention for compulsory arbitration at the court of the Hague.
BERNE CLOCK TOWER,famous for its Bear Chimes—figures which perform every time the clock strikes.
BERNE CLOCK TOWER,
famous for its Bear Chimes—figures which perform every time the clock strikes.
TURKEY, or Ottoman Empire, comprises the wide but heterogeneous territories really or nominally subject to the Osmânlî Sultan, in Europe, Asia, and Africa. These territories, which once extended from the Danube to the cataracts of the Nile, and from the Euphrates to the borders of Morocco, have been greatly reduced in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Asiatic Turkeyis now the true center of gravity of the empire; it includes Anatolia (the great plateau of Asia Minor), the lowlands of Mesopotamia, the highlands of Kurdistan and Armenia, and the island of Samos. The total area of the empire has been estimated as follows:
Of the above totals only 700,000 square miles (with a population of 21,000,000) are directly under Turkish government.
European Turkeyconsists of the provinces of Adrianople, Constantinople and Chatalja, and is separated from Asia by the Bosphorus at Constantinople and by the Dardanelles (Hellespont), the only political neighbor being Bulgaria, on the northwest.
PANORAMA OF THE BOSPHORUS AT THE NARROWEST PARTThe Bosphorus, the straight connecting the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea, is so-called after Io, who swam over it in the shape of a heifer. On the western shore is the city of Constantinople. The Bosphorus at this point is about five hundred and fifty yards wide.
PANORAMA OF THE BOSPHORUS AT THE NARROWEST PART
The Bosphorus, the straight connecting the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea, is so-called after Io, who swam over it in the shape of a heifer. On the western shore is the city of Constantinople. The Bosphorus at this point is about five hundred and fifty yards wide.
Physical Features.—Turkey in Europe is a mountainous country and the chief physical features as it is now limited is the strait of Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. The Bosphorus, which guards the approach to the Black Sea from the Sea of Marmora, is at the same time the focus of all maritime trade between the Mediterranean and Russia, etc., as well as of the overland routes from Europe into Asia Minor. It has fitly been likened to a tortuous river valley over whose wooded banks are scattered forts and towers, cities and villages, castles and parks. The southern gate of the Sea of Marmora is the Dardanelles, which gives an opening into the Ægean.
Turkey in Asia is still more mountainous. The two almost parallel ranges, Taurus and Anti-Taurus, which are the basis of its mountain system, cover almost the whole of the peninsula of Asia Minor or Anatolia with their ramifications and offshoots, forming the surface into elevated plateaus, deep valleys, and enclosed plains. From the Taurus chain the Lebanon range proceeds southwards parallel to the coast of Syria, and, diminishing in elevation in Palestine, terminates on the Red Sea coast at Sinai.
The Euphrates, Tigris, Orontes, and Kizil-Ermak are the chief rivers. (See Asia Minor.)
Climate.—The climate of Turkey in Asia is as varied as the physical features. The great plateau on the north has a distinctly continental climate, rigorous severe winters with intense scorching heat in summer; in the eastern part of the plateau region the mountains are covered with snow for two-thirds of the year, and some of the principal ranges are capped with perpetual snow; here the peasants build their dwellings underground to escape the severity of the seasons. Towards the west the winters are not quite so severe, but the variations of temperature are excessive.
Products and Industry.—The soil of European Turkey is for the most part very fertile, and the cultivated products include most of those usual in central and southern Europe—maize, rice, rye, barley, millet, besides tobacco madder, and cotton. The mineral products are iron in abundance, argentiferous lead ore, copper, sulphur, salt, alum, and a little gold; some deposits of coal have been found, but none are worked. Sheep-breeding is largely carried on.
In Asiatic Turkey the mineral wealth is great; coal and iron are found together in considerable quantities; rich mines of copper exist in the mountains on the south of the Black Sea, and in the Taurus near Diarbekir lead and silver are found at intervals along a line connecting Angora, Sivas, and Trebizond in the north, and the eastern Taurus in the south; green, black, and white marble, and the finest quality of granite, are to be had in many parts of the mountain section.
With a fertile arable soil and a suitable climate, nearly every agricultural product flourishes. Oats, barley, and wheat are produced in great abundance. Almost all kinds of garden produce and orchard fruits abound, grapes and oranges are to be had all round the Mediterranean coast, as well as the choicest tobacco, opium, valonia and madder.
The mulberry is everywhere cultivated for feeding the silkworms, and cotton is grown in most of the western valleys. Vast groves of boxwood and other valuable trees clothe the seaward slopes of the hills. Dates are produced for export in the Babylonian plain, where wheat is indigenous. Petroleum and bitumen springs are found in the Euphrates valley.
Angora is famous for its flocks of goats, which produce the mohair of commerce, and enormous quantities of wool come from the countless flocks of sheep tended by the wandering Bedouin and Kurd shepherds.
There are at present no manufactures worth mention. The sponge fisheries of the Mediterranean are a source of great wealth.
Commerce.—The exports include tobacco, cereals, fruits, silk, opium, mohair, cotton, coffee, skins, wool, oil-seeds, valonia, carpets, etc., and are largely derived from the Asiatic provinces. Recently large quantities of wine and of raisins for the manufacture of wine have been exported. Since the establishment of the Anatolian railway by German enterprise the export of cereals, chiefly malting barley, has largely increased.
People.—The population consists of a singular mixture of races. Turks, Greeks, Slavs, and Albanians are largely represented, besides Armenians, Kurds, Arabs, Tartars, Jews, Circassians, and Frank residents. (SeeBook of Races.)
The established religion is Islam or Mohammedanism, but most other creeds are recognized and tolerated. The Protestant religion was for the first time officially recognized in 1845.
Education in all departments has of late been notably improved and has largely contributed to the complete overthrow of the antiquated and despotic system of government.
Government.—Until 1908 the government of Turkey was a pure despotism. An amazing change was swiftly and peacefully carried through in the autumn of that year. In connection with the troubles in Macedonia between Christians and Moslems, Greeks and Bulgarians, a Turkish military revolt took place, which, under the guidance of the “Young-Turkish” party (mostly educated abroad), became a great national movement. The sultan, overawed, had to acquiesce; parliamentary government was planned and carried out; equality before the law proclaimed to all races and religions of the empire; and a large measure of local self-government promised not merely to Turks but to Greeks, Bulgarians, Albanians, Armenians, Syrians, Kurds and Arabs.
The enormous difficulties of the crisis were complicated by Bulgaria proclaiming its independence, and Austria-Hungary annexing the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. But government by a national assembly has taken root in Turkey.
The term “Sublime Porte,” sometimes given to the Turkish government, is derived from the name of the chief gate of Constantinople.
Cities.—Of the towns by far the most populous is the capital, Constantinople (1,200,000), while after it come Adrianople (83,000), which by reason of its central position in the Maritza valley, commands an extensive inland commerce, Midia, and Gallipoli, the chief port on the Dardanelles.
The principal towns of Asiatic Turkey are Smyrna, 260,000; Bagdad, 150,000; Damascus, 150,000; Aleppo, 125,000; Beyrout, 120,000; Scutari in Anatolia, 80,000, and Broussa, 80,000.
Constantinoplewas founded in 330 A. D. by Constantine the Great, from whom it derives its name, on a site partly occupied by the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium. The Turks call it Istambol or Stambol.
The city stands on a hilly promontory of triangular shape, having the Sea of Marmora and the Bosphorus on the south and east, and on the north the Golden Horn, an arm of the Bosphorus. It is thus surrounded by water on all sides but the west, where a strong wall shuts the city off, from the mainland. Like Rome, the city is built on seven hills, six of them being separated portions of one long ridge.
As in the case of all great cities, Constantinople has spread far beyond its original bounds, and may be said to include towns originally quite separate from itself.
Constantinople is excellently situated, more advantageously, perhaps, than any European city but Naples.
From the outside its appearance is most picturesque and imposing. At the taking of the city in the fifteenth century most of the churches were destroyed, and mosques were erected in the most prominent situations. Cupolas and minarets, with graceful curves and soaring spires, combine with lofty cypresses to give the city an air of unique grace, and to invest it with the mysterious glamour of the oriental world.
Within, however, the appearance is not so pleasing. The streets form a labyrinth of dirty, crooked, and ill-paved alleys, while most of the houses are low and are built of wood or rough stone. During the last half century the aspect of things has become much more European. The streets, under western influence, have been widened and improved, lighting at night is common, and a European style of building has been introduced, even for the sultan’s palace. Cabs and electric cars are to be seen in most parts, while the old camel service has entirely disappeared. The dress of the people has changed in the same direction. The streets are generally dull in appearance, almost all animation being concentrated in the bazaars.
Constantinople consists of two distinct parts, besides more distant suburbs—Constantinople proper or Stambol, and what may be termed Christian Constantinople because it is there that the Christian colonies chiefly congregate. The two are separated by the Golden Horn, a safe harbor, capable of accommodating twelve hundred vessels, and so deep that the largest ironclads of the Turkish navy find enough water for their draught quite close to the shore.
Stambol or Turkish Constantinople lies on the south side of the Golden Horn, and Christian Constantinople lies on the north side; the two are connected by bridges. Stambol is on the site of Byzantium, and the old walls run a circuit of fourteen miles from the grim but now ruined and disused castle of the Seven Towers—where many sultans met their deaths at the hands of their mutinous soldiery, and where foreign ambassadors were imprisoned upon declaration of war—to the Golden Horn, then along its south shore to Seraglio Point, and so back to the Seven Towers, close along the margin of the Propontis. Here are nearly all the monuments and antiquities worth seeing in Constantinople.
First, next the Seraglio, stands Agia Sophia, Saint Sophia, the church dedicated by Constantine to “Eternal Wisdom,” and rebuilt with added splendor by Theodosius and by Justinian, and now converted into a cathedral mosque. Outside it is not worth a second glance, but within, the airy grace of its stupendous dome, and the beauty of its marbles and mosaics fascinate and amaze the vision.