Brandenburg

a _ province of Pru ia, surrounded mainly by Mecklenburg and the provinces of Pomerania, Posen, Silesia, and Pru ian Saxony. ‘The soil consists in many parts of barren sands, heaths, and moors; yet the province produces much grain, as well as fruits, hemp, flax, tobacco, ete., and supports many sheep. The forests are very extensive. The principal streams are the Elbe, the Oder, the Havel, and the Spree; but the first two merely skirt the territory. Brandenburg carries on an active trade in manufactured articles, and is well situated for commerce, since it has many canals, rivers, good roads, and is intersected by the railways from Berlin to Leipsic, ete. ‘The province of Brandenburg includes, besides some other districts, the greater part of the former mark of Brandenburg, which formed the cradle of the Pru ian monarchy, and the center round which the present extensive kingdom has grown up. It is divided into the three administrative divisions of Berlin, Potsjam, and Frankfort, and it has a total area of 15,381 square miles, with a pop. (Dec. 1, 1900) of 3,108,554. Most of the inhabitants are Luther ans; the rest are chiefly Roman Catholics and Jews. From’ 1685 to 1688 many French refugees, Walloons, and inhabitants of Lorraine and of the Palatinate, settled in the mark, At present Brandenburg is the most important of che Pru ian provinces, including as it e does the capital (Berlin), and the governments of Potsdam and Frankfort.