Part 134

=NORWAY= (Norweg. _Norge_), the western division of the Scandinavian peninsula, is one thousand one hundred and sixty miles in length (coast-line three thousand miles) and varies in width from twenty to one hundred miles north of 63° N. lat.; below that line it swells out to two hundred and sixty miles. The coast-line is extensive, deeply indented with numerous fiords, and fringed with an immense number of rocky islands. The surface is mountainous, consisting of elevated and barren tablelands, separated by deep and narrow valleys. The finest of the valleys stretching inland from the fiords is Romsdal, where the rounded pure gneiss mountains tower up to six thousand feet with almost perpendicular walls. The cultivated area is about one-thirtieth part of the country; forests cover nearly one-fourth; the rest consists of highland pastures or mountains.

Norway is separated from Sweden by the Kjolen Mountains (three thousand to six thousand feet), the backbone of the peninsula, which divide south of 63°; the western branch widens out into a broad plateau, undulating between two thousand and four thousand feet and embossed with mountain-knots--Dovre, Jotun, Lang, Fille, Hardanger Fjelde (_fells_)--the separate peaks of which shoot up to six thousand feet and higher.

=Rivers.=--The few important rivers that Norway can claim as exclusively her own have a southerly direction, and discharge themselves into the Skager-Rack; of these the chief are the Glommen (four hundred miles), and its affluent, the Lougen. The most important river in the north is the Tana, which forms part of the boundary between Russia and Norway, and falls into the Arctic Ocean. Lofty waterfalls are numerous. Lakes are extremely numerous but generally small. The principal is the Miösen Vand. The streams are turned to account in floating down the valuable timber of the forests, and their rapids give abundant mill power.

=Production and Industry.=--Agriculture, though pursued with some vigor of late, is unable to furnish sufficient products for home consumption; hence it has been necessary to import considerable quantities of corn, meat, and pork. The fisheries give employment to a large part of the population throughout the year. The most important are cod and herring. The mineral products are of late increasing.

The purely industrial establishments are grouped mainly around Christiania, and include textile factories, machine shops, chemical works, flour mills, breweries, etc. The use of water power for electrical enterprises is growing. The Norwegians rank among the busiest sea carriers of the world, the Norwegian mercantile marine ranking third among maritime nations, or first in proportion to population.

The chief exports consist of timber, matches, fish, oil, and other products of the fisheries, pulp, paper, skins and furs, nails, minerals, stone, ice, calcium carbide, condensed milk, butter, margarine, tinned goods, etc.

=People.=--The people of the peninsula are of Germanic race, with the exception of the small number of Finns and the Lapps in the north. The Norsemen of Norway, of middle stature, strong, generally blonde haired and blue eyed, seamen by choice, have adopted the Danish as the language of the towns and of literature, the modernized Old Norse being banished to the outlying country districts and unfrequented fiords.

Education is compulsory and free between the ages of seven and fourteen, schools being maintained by local taxation with state grants in aid. The attendance is high. Secondary schools are provided by the state, by local authorities, and privately. There are a number of special schools and industrial and technical institutes. The University of Christiania is an important institution for higher education.

Except 52,700 persons (including Methodists, Baptists, Roman Catholics, Jews, Mormons), the entire population belong to the Lutheran Church.

=Government.=--After the crisis of European affairs brought about by Napoleon’s wars, Denmark lost her hold over Norway, which had been united to it for more than four centuries, and that country was united to Sweden in exchange for Finland, which then passed under Russian sway. Norway, however, was again separated from Sweden as an independent kingdom under King Haakon VII. in 1905.

The _Storthing_ or Parliament consists of one hundred and twenty-three members, women being eligible and electors (since 1907); and divides for legislative purposes into two chambers called “_Odelsting_” and “_Lagting_.”

The Norwegians share with the Swiss the distinction of being the most democratic people in Europe; all titles of nobility were abolished in 1821. In 1912 practically all offices except in the cabinet, diplomatic service, army, navy, and church, were thrown open to women.

=Cities.=--The chief cities are the capital, Christiania, and Bergen. Other important towns are Trondhjem, Stavanger, and Drammen.

=Christiania=, the modern capital and chief commercial town of Norway (the ancient capital is Trondhjem, “home of the throne,” where the kings are still crowned), is built on the northern end of the Christiania Fiord. Population, in 1910, 241,834. It is named after Christian IV., who commenced building it in 1624 after the destruction of the ancient city of Oslo by fire. It is the seat of Parliament, of the High Court of Judicature, and of the National University. Connected with this are the students’ garden, a library of four hundred and fifty thousand volumes, a botanical garden, zoological and other museums, laboratories, and observatory. The Meteorological Institute was established in 1866. There are two national and historical palaces here, one in the city quite near the university, and one, Oscarshall, beautifully situated two miles from the city on an eminence overlooking the fiord. There is a national picture-gallery, and a very interesting museum of northern antiquities. The _Dom_ or Cathedral and Trinity Church are the principal ecclesiastical buildings. The old fortress _Akershus Faestning_ still remains, but has little military value.

The staple industry of Christiania is its shipping trade; its chief export is timber. A considerable industry is the brewing of _Christiania öl_, a sort of lager beer, with resinous flavor, largely consumed throughout Norway, and exported. The minor manufactures are cotton, canvas, engine-works, nailworks, paper-mills, and cariole-making. The harbor is closed by ice for three or four months most winters.

=History.=--It is not until the ninth century that the story of Norway begins to emerge from the obscurities of myth and legend. At first it was occupied by Lapps and by several Gothic tribes, then became an independent kingdom, founded in 872, and was united to Denmark in 1380.

The Napoleonic crisis in Europe may be said to have severed the union, which had existed for more than four hundred years between Norway and Denmark. The latter country after having given unequivocal proofs of adhesion to the cause of Bonaparte, was compelled, after the war of 1813, to sign the treaty of Kiel in 1814, in which it was stipulated by the allied powers that she should resign Norway to Sweden. Charles XIII. was declared joint king of Sweden and Norway in 1818. From that time down to 1905 Norway remained in union with Sweden. In June of that year Norway declared the union dissolved, and the repeal of the union was signed in October of the same year. The throne was offered to and declined by a prince of the reigning house of Sweden, but was afterwards accepted by Prince Carl of Sweden, who was thereupon elected as King Haakon VII. In 1908 a treaty was signed by Great Britain, Germany, France, Russia, and Norway guaranteeing the integrity of the Norwegian kingdom.

=Poland= (called by the natives _Polska_, a word of the same root as _Pole_, “a plain”), a kingdom of Europe, proclaimed, in 1916, by the governments of Austria-Hungary and the German Empire as the result of conquests by the Central Powers, comprises substantially what is geographically known as Russian Poland (the kingdom of Poland formed in 1815) and Austrian Poland (or the Austrian province of Galicia). The former has an area of about 49,000 square miles, with a population of more than 12,000,000; the latter, an area of 30,300 square miles, and a population of 8,000,000.

=Surface.=--This extensive tract forms part of the great European central plain, and is crossed by only one range of hills, which run northeast from the Carpathians, forming the watershed between the Baltic and Black Seas.

Its principal streams are the Vistula, the Niemen, and the Dwina, all belonging to the basin of the Baltic; and the Dniester, South Bug, and Dnieper, with its tributary, Pripet, belonging to the basin of the Black Sea.

The physical configuration of the country makes it admirably adapted for agriculture. Next to grain and cattle its most important product is timber.

The soil is mostly a light fertile loam, though there are large barren tracts of sand, heath, and swamp, especially in the east. Much of the fertile soil is rich pasture land, and much is occupied with forests of pine, birch, oak, etc. Rye, wheat, barley, and other cereals, hemp, timber, honey, and wax, cattle, sheep, and horses, vast mines of salt and coal, some silver, iron, copper, and lead constitute the natural riches of the country.

=People.=--The present population of the provinces, included in the Poland of former days, consists chiefly of Poles, Lithuanians, Germans, Jews, Malo-Russians, Roumanians and Gypsies. The Poles, who number 10,000,000, form the bulk of the population; the Lithuanians, 2,100,000 in number, inhabit the northeast of the country; the Germans, of whom there are 2,000,000, live mostly in the towns; the Jews are very numerous being estimated, at 2,200,000.

Roman Catholics preponderate; then come in order the Greek Church, Protestants, Jews, and Armenians.

=Cities.=--The following are the populations of the chief cities: Capital, Warsaw, 800,000; Lodz, 400,000; Lemberg, 225,000; Cracow, 160,000; Przemysl, 60,000.

=Warsaw= (Polish _Warszawa_), the capital of Poland, stands on the Vistula’s left bank, three hundred and thirty miles east of Berlin by rail and seven hundred miles southwest of Petrograd. Two iron bridges lead to the suburb of Prague, on the opposite bank. Standing on a navigable river, with great railway lines to Moscow, Petrograd, Vienna, Danzig, and Berlin, Warsaw is one of the most important cities of eastern Europe, being smaller only than Petrograd and Moscow. Corn and flax are largely exported, and coal and manufactured goods imported. Warsaw itself manufactures electroplate, machinery, boots, woolens, pianos, carriages, tobacco, sugar, chemicals, beer, and spirits.

Of over one hundred Catholic churches the cathedral of St. John is the most notable; there are also several Greek churches, two Lutheran ones, and many synagogues. The castle is an imposing building, and there are many fine private palaces. The university, suppressed at various times, was reopened in 1915, and has seventy-five professors who now teach in Polish.

=History.=--The early history of Poland is legendary and obscure. The Poles, like the Russians, are a Slavonic race, and are first spoken of as the Polani, a tribe or people between the Vistula and Oder. The country was divided into small communities until the reign of Mieczyslaw I. (962-992) of the Piast dynasty, who renounced paganism in favor of Christianity, and was a vassal of the German emperor.

He was succeeded by Boleslaw the Great (992-1025), who raised Poland into an independent kingdom and increased its territories. In succeeding reigns the country was involved in war with Germany, the Prussians, the Teutonic knights, and with Russia. The last of the Piast dynasty was Casimir the Great (1364-1370), during whose reign the material prosperity of Poland greatly increased. He was succeeded by his nephew, Louis of Anjou, king of Hungary, whose daughter, Hedwig, was recognized as “king” in 1384, and having married Jagello, prince of Lithuania, thus established the dynasty of the Jagellons, which lasted from 1386 to 1572.

During this period Poland attained its most powerful and flourishing condition. In 1572 the Jagellon dynasty became extinct in the male line, and the monarchy, hitherto elective in theory, now became so in fact. The more important of the elective kings were Sigismund III. (1587-1637), Wladislaw or Ladislaus IV. (1632-1648), John Casimir, (1648-1669), and the Polish general Sobieski, who became king under the title of John III. (1674-1696). He was succeeded by Augustus II., Elector of Saxony, who got entangled in the war of Russia with Charles XII., and had as a rival in the kingdom Stanislaus Lesczynski. Augustus III. (1733-1763) followed, and by the end of his reign internal dissensions and other causes had brought the country into a state of helplessness.

In 1772 under the last feeble king Stanislaus Augustus (1764-1795), the first actual partition of Poland took place, when about a third of her territories were seized by Prussia, Austria, and Russia, the respective shares of the spoil being Prussia 13,415 square miles, Austria 27,000 square miles, Russia 42,000 square miles.

A second division between Russia and Prussia took place in 1793. Prussia received nearly all the present province of Posen, and the western part of what is now Russian Poland; Russia received all the territory east of about long. 44°. A third division between Russia, Prussia, and Austria occurred in 1795. Prussia took a large part of the present Russian Poland, including Warsaw; Austria received part of the present Russian Poland between the Bug, Vistula, and Pilica; and Russia received all the remainder, situated east of the Niemen and Bug.

An insurrection under Koszciusko had taken place in 1794, but he was defeated at the battle of Maciejowice and taken prisoner. Suvorov (Suwarrow), the Russian general, took Warsaw, and the Polish monarchy was at an end. King Stanislaus resigned his crown, and died at Petrograd in 1798.

Part of Poland was formed by Napoleon into the duchy of Warsaw. The Congress of Vienna in 1815 made a resettlement of the territory, creating a kingdom of Poland, under Russian rule, with a constitution. An insurrection which began in November, 1830, was suppressed in September, 1831; the constitution was abolished in 1832. From this time the independence of Poland was suppressed, and in 1832 it was declared an integral part of the Russian empire, with a separate administration, headed by a viceroy chosen by the Czar. On November 6, 1848, the republic of Cracow became Austrian; and the subsequent rebellion against Russian rule in 1863 only brought further humiliation on Polish hopes and aspirations.

During the European war Poland, in 1914, first suffered invasion and devastation by the Russian armies, and during the two following years was completely overrun by the Austro-German armies, and placed under the military rule of the latter. The proclamation of Poland as a new independent kingdom took effect in 1916.

=PORTUGAL= (named from Portus Cale, the Roman name of Oporto), a republic of Europe, lying between Spain and the Atlantic, on the west side of the Iberian Peninsula, is three hundred and fifty miles in length and varies in width from seventy to one hundred and forty miles. The area is 36,038 square miles--a little larger than Ireland.

=Surface and Climate.=--The coast is mostly low and flat, except immediately north and south of the mouth of the Tagus, and at Cape St. Vincent. The north of Portugal is diversified by spurs (five thousand feet) of the mountains of Spanish Galicia. The Sierra da Estrella (six thousand five hundred and forty feet) is a westward continuation of the Spanish Sierra Guadarrama system. The Sierra Morena is continued westwards in southern Portugal.

The principal rivers of the country--the Guadiana in the south, the Tagus in the center, and the Douro and Minho in the north--are simply the lower courses of Spanish rivers; but the Mondego has its sources in the country.

The vicinity to the ocean tempers the climate and exempts it from the dry heat of Spain. The inequalities of the surface produce, however, diversities of climate; for, while snow falls abundantly on the mountains in the northern provinces, it is never seen in the southern lowlands. Rain falls abundantly throughout the year.

=Production and Industry.=--The chief products are wheat, barley, oats, maize, flax, hemp, and the vine in elevated tracts; in the lowlands, rice, olives, oranges, lemons, citrons, figs, and almonds. There are extensive forests of oak, chestnut, sea pine, and cork, the cultivation of the vine and the olive being among the chief branches of industry; the rich red wine known to us as “port” is shipped from Oporto. Its mineral products are important--copper, lead, tin, antimony, coal, manganese, iron, slate, and bay salt, which last, from its hardness and purity, is in demand. Its manufactures consist of gloves, silk, woolens, linen, and cotton fabrics, metal and earthenware goods, tobacco, cigars, etc. The exports consist to the extent of fifty per cent of wine, which is the chief industrial product of the country; others are cork, cattle, copper ore, fruits, oil, sardines, and salt.

=People.=--The Portuguese are a mixed race--original Iberian or Basque, with later Celtic admixture. Galician blood (derived from the ancient Gallaici, presumably Gallic invaders) predominates in the north; Jewish and Arabic blood are strongly present in the center, and African in the south.

The Portuguese differ widely from their Spanish brethren, whom they regard with inveterate hatred and jealousy, mainly on account of their attempts to subvert the independence of Portugal.

Education is free and nominally compulsory between the ages of seven and fifteen, but is not strictly enforced, and over seventy-five per cent of the population above seven years old are illiterate. Secondary education is conducted in state lyceums. There are also military, naval and other special schools. The University of Coimbra is the chief higher institution.

=Government.=--Portugal was a constitutional monarchy till 1910, when a republic was established. The constitution of 1911 provides a Senate, elected by municipal councils, and a National Council, by direct suffrage. The two chambers united constitute the Congress of the republic. The president of the republic is elected by both chambers for a period of four years. He cannot be re-elected.

=Cities.=--Capital, Lisbon, on the Tagus, population, 435,359. Oporto had a population (1911) of 194,664. There are no other large towns, but Braga, Loulé, Setubal, and Funchal (Madeira) had populations exceeding 20,000 in 1911.

=Lisbon= (Port. _Lisboa_), capital of Portugal, stands on the northern shore of a bottle-shaped expansion of the Tagus, nine miles from its mouth; it is four hundred and twelve miles by rail west by southwest of Madrid. The city extends for four or five miles along the shore, and climbs up the slopes of a low range of hills, occupying a site of imposing beauty.

The oldest part of Lisbon is that which escaped the earthquake of 1755; it lies on the east, round the citadel, and consists of narrow, intricate streets, not over clean. It is still known by its Moorish name of Alfama. The western portions were built after the earthquake, with wide and regular streets, fine squares, and good houses. The summits are mostly crowned with what were formerly large monasteries.

The gloomy cathedral of the “patriarch,” built in 1147, restored after 1755, has a Gothic facade and choir. The large church of St. Vincent contains the tombs of the former royal (Braganza) family. The church of Estrella is a reduced copy of St. Peter’s at Rome. In San Roque is a chapel thickly encrusted with mosaics and costly marbles. But the finest structure in the city is the Gothic monastery and church of Belem, a monument to the great seamen of Portugal; it was begun in 1500 on the spot from which Vasco da Gama embarked (1497) on his momentous voyage. Inside the church are tombs to Camoens and Vasco da Gama, and the grave of Catharine, wife of Charles II. of England.

A fine square facing the bay is surrounded with government offices, the handsome custom-house, and the marine arsenal. There are an academy of sciences, with a library of one hundred and twenty thousand volumes, a polytechnic school, a medical school, a conservatory of music, a public library of four hundred thousand volumes and two observatories.

A magnificent aqueduct brings water to the city from springs nine miles to the northwest.

A series of forts protect the seaward approaches. The harbor is one of the finest in the world, well sheltered, deep close to the quays, and capacious enough to hold all the navies of Europe at once.

=History.=--Like the rest of Iberia, Portugal (the southern part of which was known to the Romans as Lusitania, often taken as a poetical name for the whole country) was thoroughly Romanized after the conquest of the Carthaginians by the Romans in 138 B. C. Then the peninsula was overrun by the Visigoths, and next by the Saracens. Northern Portugal fell under the influence of Castile; but under Alfonso I. (1143) Portugal became an independent kingdom, though the Saracens were not conquered in the south till 1250. Wars with Castile were frequent.

Under John (1385-1433) began a close alliance between Portugal and England, and the Portuguese king John married John of Gaunt’s daughter. With their son, Prince Henry the Navigator, began the most brilliant era of discovery and conquest, including the acquisition of Madeira, the Azores, and the doubling of the Cape of Good Hope (1486), the reaching of India by sea and settlements there (1497), and the discovery and occupation of Brazil (1500).

In the sixteenth century Portugal was one of the most powerful monarchies of Europe, and most prosperous of commercial peoples; but its decline was swift, and Philip II. annexed Portugal to Spain for sixty years. English assistance secured the independence of the kingdom in 1640; but the glory had departed. Portugal shared in the troubles of the French occupation and the Peninsular war; after Napoleon’s defeat, the old family, which had taken refuge in Brazil, was restored, but the country was rent by intrigue, dissension, and civil war.

The rush of the European powers to occupy central and southern Africa stirred Portugal to cling tenaciously to her once great colonial empire in Africa; but the march of events has given to Britain, Germany, France, and Belgium much that Portugal once claimed as hers.

Popular discontent culminated in the assassination of King Carlos and his eldest son in the streets of Lisbon in February, 1908. His second son, Manoel, succeeded. In 1910 the murder of Dr. Bombarda, a republican, hastened on a revolution already arranged for. The army and navy assisted in deposing Manoel and setting up a provisional government, with Theophile Braga as provisional president. He retired in 1911, and in August of that year Dr. Manoel Arriaga was elected as the first president of the republic.

The republic was formally recognized by the United States upon the meeting of the Portuguese chambers in June, 1911, and by the other powers on the formation of the cabinet in September, 1911. In 1915 Portugal joined the Entente Allies in the European war.