Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/553

Rh E W E S 517 streams in the province. The Ems, entering Westphalia from Lippe, flows north-west and enters Hanover. The Weser crosses the north-east of the province, piercing the Weser Hills by means of the narrow pass known as the Porta Westphalica or Westphalian Gate. All these streams are navigable for barges and small vessels. There are no lakes in the province. The climate is on the whole tem perate, though sometimes the winters are severe among the mountains. About 42 per cent, of the surface is given up to agriculture, 25 per cent, to pastures and moors ; 28 per cent, is under wood ; and the remainder is unproductive. The fertility of the soil varies ; it is most unfertile in the north and north-east. A great proportion of the land is in the hands of small farmers and peasant proprietors, who as a class are well-to-do, though their system of farming is in some respects antiquated. Grain of various kinds is grown, though not in sufficient quantity to meet the demands of the pro vince ; potatoes, pease and beans, fruit, and tobacco are also pro duced ; but perhaps the most important crops are hemp and flax, which places Westphalia among the leading flax-producing districts of Germany. The forests are chiefly on the mountains of the Sauer- land, and in the south generally. Considerable numbers of cattle and pigs are reared, the latter yielding the well-known AVestphalian hams ; goats are also numerous in some districts ; and Government pays some attention to the breeding of horses in this province. Sheep are comparatively few. (Compare the agricultural statistics under PRUSSIA.) In virtue of its abundant coal and iron Westphalia is one of the busiest industrial quarters of Germany. There are coal-iields in the north and in other districts, and the great coal-field of the Ruhr extends into the province. The district of Arnsberg, occupy ing the south of the province, is the centre of the mineral industry. Dortmund gives name to one of the five mining districts into which Prussia is officially divided. Westphalia produces more iron ore than any other province in Prussia except the Rhine province and Silesia ; next to Silesia it produces the most zinc, and next to Saxony the most copper ; and it yields more sulphur than any other province. Argentiferous lead, antimony, limestone, gypsum, marble, and slates are also worked. There are seven salt-works and numerous mineral springs. The mineral wealth of the province encourages an extensive manufacturing industry, the leading branches of which are linen- weaving and iron-working. The linen industry is very ancient, and since the 14th century has flourished in this province between the Lippe and Weser. Its chief centre is now Bielefeld, which also manufactures jute. The cotton factories of Minister are im portant. Woollens, stockings, and ribbons are also manufactured to some extent. The principal seats of the metallic industries are Iserlohn, Liidenscheid, Altena, Hagen, and the &quot;Enneper Strasse,&quot; a valley 7 miles long and three quarters of a mile wide, lying along the Ennepe and containing as its chief towns Haspe (7318 inhabi tants) and Gevelsberg (7055). Cast and wrought iron, steel, rails, wire, blades and tools, machinery and small iron and steel goods, bronze, brass, and plated articles are among the leading products. Vitriol, glass, and paper are also made. An active trade is carried on in the manufactured goods, and in timber, hams, and sausages. The leading commercial towns are Bielefeld, Iserlohn, and Dort mund. Minden has a port on the Weser; Beverungen is the centre of the corn trade ; and Paderborn is the chief wool-market. The roads are good, and the railways numerous and convenient. The population in 1885 was 2,202,726, or 282 per square mile. About 52 per cent, are Roman Catholics, most of whom are found in the southern district of Arnsberg. About 46J per cent, are Protestants, the remainder are Jews and others. Education is well attended to. The seat of government is at Miinstcr ; and the province is divided into the three districts of Minden, Minister, and Arnsberg. It has thirty-one members in the Prussian parlia ment, and seventeen in the imperial diet. Westphalia was the name given to the western portion of the early duchy of SAXONY (vol. xxi. p. 351). When Henry the Lion fell under the ban of the empire his Saxon domains were distributed by the emperor. The Sauerland and some other parts of West phalia fell to the archbishops of Cologne, who afterwards received from Frederick Barbarossa the title of dukes of Westphalia and Angria. The northern portion of the original Westphalia became the nucleus of the circle of Westphalia in Maximilian s adminis trative organization of the empire, while the duchy of Westphalia, as an apanage of Cologne, was included in the scattered circle of the Lower Rhine. The circle of Westphalia embraced, roughly speaking, what is now Oldenburg, Hanover to the west of the Weser, the districts of Miinster and Minden, and a few other territories, an area of about 27,000 square miles, which in Maxi milian s time was divided among four bishoprics and innumer able small secular states with an aggregate population of about 3,000,000. The peace of Luneville in 1801 transferred all parts of this circle west of the Rhine to France, while in 1803 the duchy of Westphalia was granted to the duke of Hesse-Nassau as com pensation for his former possessions to the west of the Rhine, which had also been added to France. In 1807 Napoleon constituted the kingdom of Westphalia and gave it to his youngest brother Jerome. It comprised all the Prussian provinces as far east as the Elbe, and extended south to Fulda and the Thuringian states, embracing an area of about 14,880 square miles, with a population of 2,000,000. Nearly the whole of Hanover was added to this kingdom in 1810 ; but next year Napoleon again took away the greater part, as well as other territories, leaving, however, 17,740 square miles, with 2,057,000 inhabitants. This kingdom was intended to take the lead in the Confederation of the Rhine. After the battle of Leipsic in 1813 the kingdom of Westphalia was abolished, and things reverted to their previous order until the congress of Vienna rearranged the map of Europe, when Westphalia as we now understand the term was assigned to Prussia. The peace of Westphalia, concluded in 1648 at Osnabriick and Miinster, put an end to the Thirty Years War (see GERMANY, vol. x. p. 501). WEST POINT, the seat of the United States military academy, on the Hudson, in Orange county, New York. See ARMY, vol. ii. p. 619. WEST TPtOY, a village of Albany county, New York, United States, is situated in the bottom-land on the west bank of the Hudson, opposite Troy, with which it is con nected by an iron bridge, and 5 miles north of Albany. It is at the termini of the Erie and Champlain Canals, and is on a railroad line of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. The village is well laid out, has water and gas, is provided with street cars, and has extensive manu factures of a varied character, but particularly of iron. The Watervliet (United States) arsenal is situated here. The population, 10,693 in 1870, was 8820 (2427 of foreign birth) in 1880. WEST VIRGINIA, one of the North-Eastern Central States of the American Union, lying between 37 6 and 40 38 N. lat, is bounded on the N. by Pennsylvania and Maryland, on the E. and S. by Virginia, and on the W. by Kentucky and Ohio, and has an area of 24,780 square miles. The form of the State is extremely irregular. It may be roughly likened to an ellipse, the greatest diameter of which lies nearly north-east and south-west. Its boundary upon the east and south is made up of the irregular line which limited the counties which were set off from Virginia for the formation of this State. Upon the west the boundary is low-water upon the further shore of the Big Sandy and Ohio rivers. A long narrow strip, known as the &quot; Panhandle,&quot; projects northward some sixty miles along the Ohio, the boundary being the con tinuation of the straight line which separates Ohio and Pennsylvania. To the east of this the northern boundary follows Mason and Dixon s line ; then, dropping in a due south direction to the &quot;Fairfax Stone,&quot; it follows thence easterly the course of the Potomac to its junction with the Shenandoah. The entire State is mountainous or hilly, being com prised within the region known as the Cumberland or Alleghany plateau. The highest land in the State is upon the eastern and southern boundary, where the plateau in many places reaches elevations exceeding 4000 feet. Thence the country has a general slope to the north-west, and is lowest along the Ohio, where the elevation is but 600 to 800 feet. This plateau has been subjected to stream erosion until it has become a network of narrow crooked ridges with deep gorges or narrow valleys. The height of the ridges and the depth of the valleys, together with the ruggedness of the country, diminish towards the north-west, until near the Ohio the hills become rounded and softened in outline, and the valleys are broad and fertile.