The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Rhine, Province of the

RHINE, Province of the, or Rhenish Prussia (Ger. Rheinprovinz, Rheinpreussen, or Rheinland), a W. province of the kingdom of Prussia, lying on both sides of the Rhine, bordering on the provinces of Westphalia and Hesse-Nassau, the grand duchy of Hesse, Bavaria, Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, Belgium, and Holland; area, 10,416 sq. m.; pop. in 1871, 3,579,347, of whom about 74 per cent. were Roman Catholics, 25 per cent. Protestants, and the remainder Jews. The N. part of the province is level, the E. and S. parts mountainous. The principal mountain ranges are the Hohe Venne, the Eifel (about 2,500 ft. high), and the Hunsrück, W. of the Rhine, and the Siebengebirge, E. of it. The chief river next to the Rhine is its western affluent the Moselle. The province is rich in minerals, and is fertile and well cultivated. The manufactures are extensive, and comprise almost every species of industry. It is divided into the administrative districts of Cologne, Düsseldorf, Coblentz, Treves, and Aix-la-Chapelle, and contains besides the cities of those names Bonn, Crefeld, Elberfeld, Jülich, Wesel, Berg, and Cloves. Capital, Coblentz.