Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/463

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   ERMANY occupies the greater portion of central Europe, and has but few lines of natural boundary. If by the designation Germany is meant the territory inhabited by Germans, this is considerably larger than the German empire constituted in 1871, the former having an area of about 340,000, and the latter of 208,000 English square miles. The present German empire extends from 17° 16' to 55° 53' N. lat., and from 5’ 52' to 22’ 52’ E. long. The eastern provinces project so far that the extent of the German territory is much greater from SW. to NE. than in any other direction. Tilsit is 815 miles from Metz, whereas Haderslcben, in Schleswig, is only 540 miles from the Lake of Constance. The difference in time between the eastern and western points is 1 hour and 8 minutes. The empire is bounded on the SJV. and S. by Austria and Switzerland (for 1170 miles), on the SW. by France (275 miles), on the W. by Luxembourg, Belgium, and Holland (together 512 miles). The length of German coast on the North Sea or German Ocean is 300 miles, and on the Baltic 830 miles, the intervening land boundary on the north of Schleswig being only 53 miles. The eastern boundary is lussia (725 miles). The total area of the empire, including rivers and lakes but not the “half-s” or lagoons on the Baltic, is 208,427 English square miles, which is about the 18th part of Europe, the 250th part of the whole dry land, and the 853d part of the whole surface of the globe.

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and .—The length of the coast-line is scarcely the third part of the whole frontier, so that the Germans must be regarded as less a maritime than an in- land people. Unlike the eastern states of Europe, the German empire has not only an inland sea-shore, but is also in direct communication with the great oceans by means of the North Sea. The coasts of Germany are shallow, aml deﬁcient in natural ports, except on the east of Schleswig-llolstein, where wide bays encroach upon the land, giving access to the largest vessels, so that a great harbour for men—of—war has been constructed at Kiel. With the ex- ception of those on the east coast of Schleswig-Holstein, all the important trading ports of Germany are river ports, such as Emden, Bremen, Hamburg, Liibcck, Stettin, Dantzic, Konigsberg, Memel. A great difference, however, is to be re- marked between the coasts of the North Sea and those of the Baltic. On the former, where the sea has broken up the ranges of dunes formed in bygone times, and divided them into separate islands, the mainland has to be protected by maSsive dikes, while the Frisian Islands are being gradu— ally washed away by the waters. On the coast of East Friesland there are now only seven of these islands, of which Norderney, a bathing-place, is best known, while of the North Frisian Islands, on the western coast of Schleswig, Sylt is the most considerable. Besides the ordinary waste of the shores, there have been extensive inundatious by the sea within the historic period, the gulf of the Dollart having been so caused in. Sands surround the whole coast of the North Sea to such an extent that the entrance to the ports is not practicable without the aid of pilots. Helieoland which has belone'ed to England since 1814, is a rocky island, but it also has been considerably reduced by the sea. The tides rise to the height of 12 or 13 feet in the J ahde Bay and at Bremerhafen, am]. 6 or 7 feet at Hamburg. The coast of the Baltic on the other haud possesses few islands, the chief being Alsen and Felnnern off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein, and Bilgen off Pomerania. It has no extensive sands, though on the whole very ﬂat. The Baltic has no perceptible tides ; and a great part of its coast—line is in winter covered with ice, which also so blocks up the harbours that navigation is interrupted for several months every year. Its three halfs fronting the mouths of the large rivers must be regarded as lagoons or extensions of the river beds, not as bays. The Oder Half is separated from the sea by two islands, so that the river ﬂows out by three months, the middle one (Swine) being the most considerable. The Frische Haff is formed by the Nogat, a branch of the Vistula, and by the Pregel, and communicates with the sea by means of the Pillau Tief. The Kurische Haﬁ' receives the Meme], called Niemen in Russia, and has its outlet in the extreme north at Meme]. Long narrow alluvial strips called Nc/ermgen, lie between the last two haﬁ‘s and the Baltic. The Baltic coast is further marked by large indentations, the Gulf of Liibeck, that of Pome- rania, east of Riigen, and the semicircular Bay of Dantzic between the promontories of llixhoft and Briisterort. The German coasts are now well provided with lighthouses.

Surface and .—In respect of physical structure Germany is divided into two entirely distinct portions, which bear to one another a ratio of about 3 to 4. The northern and larger part may be described as a uniform plain, covered generally by very recent deposits, but with small areas of Tertiary and Secondary formations pro- truding here and there. South and Central Germany, on the other hand, is very much diversiﬁed in scenery and in geological structure. It possesses large plateaus, such_as that of Bavaria, which stretches away from the foot of the Alps, fertile low plains like that intersected by the Rhine, mountain chains, and iSolated groups of mountains, comparatively low in height, and so situated as not seriously to interfere with communication either by road or by railway. Its geological structure corresponds to this diversity of surface. The most ancient rocks of Germany are the gneisses, schists, and granites which form the Bohemian and Bavarian plateau, and extend into Saxony. Another isolated mass of similar rocks rising into the heights of the Vosges and Black Forest has been cut through by the valley of the Rhine. Silurian rocks are but scantily developed in Germany. The Devonian system, however, occupies an extensive area, since it forms the high tableland of the Taunus, Hundsruck, and Eifel, which ranges westward into Belgium. Carboni— ferous rocks with productive coal-ﬁelds cover isolated areas, chiefly in north—western Germany, particularly in West- phalia, at Saarbriick, in Saxony, and in Upper and Lower Silesia (see ). Between the Devonian uplands of the Taunus and the crystalline rocks of Bavaria a vast area of western Germany is occupied by the Triassic system, which ranges from Hanover to Basel and from near Metz to Baireuth. The southern half of this vast Triassic basin is bordered by a belt of overlying J urassie rocks which skirt the Danubian plain in Wiirtemburg and Bavaria. Cretaceous rocks occur chiefly in north Germany in scattered patches ﬂanking older formations. They evi- dently underlie the great plain, since they are found rising up here and there to the surface between Westphalia and