1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Saxony (province)

SAXONY (Ger. Provinz Sachsen), one of the central provinces of the kingdom of Prussia, consists mainly of what was formerly the northern part of the kingdom of Saxony, which was ceded to Prussia in 1815, but also comprises part of the duchy of Magdeburg and other districts, the connexion of which with Prussia is of earlier date. The area of the province is 9751 sq. m. It is bounded W. by Hesse-Nassau, Hanover and Brunswick, N. by Hanover and Brandenburg, E. by Brandenburg and Silesia, and S. by the kingdom of Saxony and the small Thuringian states. It is, however, very irregular in form, entirely surrounding parts of Brunswick and the Thuringian states, and itself possessing several exclaves, while the northern portion is almost severed from the southern by the duchy of Anhalt.

The population of the province of Saxony in 1905 was 2,979,221, an average of 305 persons to the square mile; they were almost equally divided between urban population and rural. There were 2,730,098 Protestants, 230,860 Roman Catholics and 8050 Jews. The bulk of the inhabitants are of unmixed German stock, but many of those in the east part have Wendish blood in their veins.

Prussian Saxony is divided into the three government districts of Magdeburg, Merseburg and Erfurt. The principal towns are Magdeburg, Halle, Erfurt, Halberstadt, Nordhausen, Mühlhausen, Aschersleben, Weissenfels and Zeitz. Magdeburg is the headquarters of an army corps. The provincial chambers meet at Merseburg. The province sends twenty members to the Reichstag and thirty-eight to the Prussian Abgeordnetenhaus (house of representatives). Magdeburg is the seat of an Evangelical consistory; the Roman Catholics belong to the diocese of Paderborn. The university of Halle holds high rank among German seats of learning.