Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1005

 OLDENBURG 649

Fully oiie-lialf of the poi)ulation arc engaged in agriculture, cattle-rearing, <fcc., and only 38 '4 per cent, live in towns with 2,000 inhabitants or upwards. In 1895 the aojricultural tenements were divided as follows : —

Under 1 Hectare

1-10 Hectares

10-100 Hectares

Over 100 Hectares

Total

13,844

2,430

1,416

231

17,921

Their total area was 208,140 hectares. These farms supported 47,264 persons, of whom 20,251 were actively engaged upon them. Mecklenburg-Strelitz has 59 English miles of railway.

British Minister Plenipotentiary. — Rt. Hon. Sir F. C. Lascelles, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.

Consul-General. — William Ward (Hamburg).

Reference.

Afaj/^r (A.), Geschichte des Grossherzogthuras Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 1816—1890. 8. Neustrelitz, 1S90.

OLDENBURG.

(Grossherzogthum Oldenburg.) Reigning Grand-duke.

Peter I., Grand-duke of Oldenburg, born July 8, 1827 ; the son of Grand- duke August and of Princess Ida of Anhalt-Bernburg ; succeeded to the throne at the death of his father, February 27, 1853 ; married, February 10, 1852, to Elisabeth, born March 26, 1826 (died February 2, 1896), daughter of Prince Joseph of Saxe-Alteuburg. Offspring : I. Prince August, heir- apparent, born November 16, 1852 ; married (1), Fcbiaiary 18, 1878, to Princess Elizabeth (died August 28, 1895) daughter of Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia ; (2), October 24, 1896, to Princess Elizabeth of Mecklonburg- Sclnverin ; issue of first marriage, a daughter, Sophia, born February 2, 1879, of the second, a son, Nicolaiis, born August 10, 1897. II. Prince Gcorg, born June 27, 1855.

The ancient house of Oldenburg, which has given sovereigns to Denmark, Scandinavia, and Russia, is said to be descended from Wittckind, the cele- brated leader of the heathen Saxons against Charlemagne. In the fifteenth century a scion of the House of Oldenburg, Count Christian VIII., was elected Xing of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The main line became extinct with Count Anton Giinther, in 1667, whereupon the territory of the family fell to the King of Denmark, who made it over to Grand-duke Paul of Russia, in 1773, in exchange for pretended claims upon Schleswig-Holstein. The Grand- duke then (1773) gave Oldenburg to his cousin, Prince Friedrich August of Holstein-Gottorp, with whose descendants it remained till December 1810, when Napoleon incorporated it with the Kingdom of Westphalia. But the Congress of Vienna not only gave the country back to its former sovereign, but, at the urgent demand of Czar Alexander I., added to it a tenitory of