Provinces. Chief Towns. Rivers, &c. Sleswick...............Sley. Flensborg............Flensborger-Wyk. Sleswick..... Tondern........ .Widaw. Tonningen.........Eyder. Ribe........ ....Gram. Kiel................... ...Elbe. Holstein.... Gluckstadt. ........Elbe. Rendsburg............ Eyder and Canal. 2. THE ISLANDS IN THE BALTIC, &c. 1. ZEALAND, the largest Island, is bounded on the north by the Cattegat Sea, on the east by the Sound, which divides it from Sweden, and on the west by the Great Belt, which separates it from Funen. The coast is intersected with large bays, and within the country are several lakes which abound in fish. Copenhagent, situated on the eastern coast, is the capital of the Danish monarchy. The harbour is formed by a channel which runs between the city and the small island of Amack, or Amager. This little island has a communication with Zealand by two bridges, and supplies the city with vegetables, milk, butter, and cheese. The university of Copenhagen was founded in 1479, and contains, on an average, 700 students; the population of the city is estimated at 105,000. Elsinore on the Sound, nearly opposite to Helsingborg in Sweden, has no harbour, but an excellent roadstead, * Lauenburg was formerly governed by its own duke, and extended on both sides of the Elbe; in 1689 it fell to the house of Hanover. That part of the province between the Elbe and the Steckenitz rivers was made over to Denmark in 1815, in lieu of Swedish Pomerania, which had been ceded to that kingdom in 1814, as a compensation for the loss of Norway. Danish Lauenburg contains about 425 square miles, and 35,000 inhabitants. + Called by the natives Kiobenhaven; viz. the harbour of the merchants. which is generally crowded with vessels passing the Sound, or at anchor. The entrance into the Baltic, by the Sound, is defended by the fortress of Cronborg, which is provided with powerful batteries, and here the Sound is not four miles across; these batteries, however, could not prevent the passage of the British fleet into the Baltic on the 29th of March, 1801. The Consuls of the different maritime nations in Europe reside at Elsinore, it is also the residence of several British and other merchants, and all vessels passing the Sound pay a toll here of one per cent., or of one and a quarter per cent. on the value of their cargoes. 2. FUNEN is situated between the Great and Little Belt, and is next to Zealand in size and importance; it is fertile and produces barley, oats, buck wheat, rye, vegetables, &c. The chief town is Odensee, which has a communication with the sea by a river and canal: here are manufactures of woollen, leather, and soap. 3. LALAND lies to the south of Zealand, it produces corn, peas, and all kinds of grain in abundance. The chief town is Nakskow, in the west of the island. 4. FALSTER is situated to the east of Laland, the chief town is Nykoping. 5. MOEN lies to the north-east of Falster, the chief town is Steege. 6. BORNHOLM is situated to the south of Skania, in Sweden, in 15 degrees east longitude, the chief towns are Ronne and Aakirken. 7. FEMERN is separated from the northern coast of Holstein by a strait called Femern Sound, the chief town is Burg. 8. LANGELAND, south-east of Funen, produces corn, potatoes, flax, &c., the chief town is Rudkioping. 9. ALSEN is situated on the eastern coast of Sleswick, the chief town is Sonderberg. There are several other smaller islands, as Lessoe, Anholt, on which is a light house, Samsoe, &c. in the Cattegat; Saltholm, Amack, and Hwen* in the Sound; Arroe and several others to the south of Funen, This little island was ceded to Sweden at the peace of Roschild in 1658; it is only 6 miles in circumference, and is mentioned here and likewise to the north of Laland, in the Baltic; Fanoe, Rom, Sylt, Forh, Pellworth, and Nordstrand in the North Sea, on the coast of Sleswick; and Heligoland* on the west of Holstein. The kingdom of Denmark contains about 1,690,000 nhabitants, viz. Jutland, Sleswick, Holstein, and Lauenburg, 1,085,000; Zealand, Funen, and other islands, including the city of Copenhagen, 550,000; Iceland and the Faroe Islands, 55,000. Denmark is generally a level country, and contains a great number of rivulets, brooks, and lakes; the coasts abound with creeks and bays, which are of essential benefit to navigation. A range of low hills runs along the middle of the peninsula of Jutland, as far as Holstein, which produce, in some parts, nothing but heath and brushwood, and in others a species of red sand, totally destitute of vegetation. In many parts the pasturages are rich and extensive; the corn most generally cultivated is rye. SLESWICK, or South Jutland, produces barley, oats, rye, wheat, in small quantities, hemp and flax. Flensborg, the largest town, contains about 15,000 inhabitants, Sleswick 7000. HOLSTEIN, which is in the same latitude as the north of England, produces wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, hemp and flax, with some hops; but its chief wealth is in pasture. The manufactures of Denmark are inconsiderable. Its chief exports are cattle, horses, cheese, butter, &c. Altona, on the Elbe, contains about 30,000 inhabitants. The number of vessels belonging to the harbour is upwards of 100; these vessels are chiefly employed in the because it was granted by Frederick II, King of Denmark, to Tycho Brahe, the celebrated Astronomer, on whom he settled a considerable pension, and assisted him in building the observatory, called Uraniburg. Tycho Brahe was a native of Sweden. This island was taken by the English in 1807, and made a depòt for merchandise when our commerce was excluded the continent by Bonaparte; it was retained by the British government at the peace of 1814. ports of the Baltic and North Seas, and also in the herring, cod, and whale fisheries. At Altona are manufactures of silk stuffs, calico, stockings, leather, gloves, tobacco, vinegar, starch, wax, looking-glasses, &c. Denmark contains two universities, one at Copenhagen on a large scale, with ample funds, and a smaller one at Kiel. The established religion is the Lutheran, and the government an absolute monarchy. THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. THE Russian Empire extends from 18 degrees of east longitude, eastward round the globe, to 170 degrees of west longitude; and from 44 degrees of north latitude to the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean; on the east bBhering's Straits and the Pacific Ocean, which divide it from America; on the south by Chinese Tartary, Western or Independent Tartay ry, the Caspian Sea, the rivers Tereck and Kubane, and the Black Sea, which divide it from Turkey in Asia; on the west and south-west by the Pruth and Danube rivers, which separate it from Moldavia and Bulgaria in Turkey; by the San and the Vistula, which divide it from Galicia or Austrian Poland; on the north-west and west by Silesia †, Prussian Poland, Prussia, the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia, and the river Tornea. In territorial extent, the Russian Empire exceeds all the nations in Europe. Its surface contains more than seven millions of square miles, being about one-ninth of the whole habitable globe. Many parts of this vast surface are imperfectly known, and almost uninhabited, particularly in Asiatic Russia: the tract of country on the north-west coast of America, belonging to Russia, is equally rude and uncultivated. If the recent official returns are to be credited, European Russia contains 37 millions of inhabitants, on a surface of one million six hundred and fifty thousand square miles. Asiatic Russia contains sixteen millions of inhabitants, and the KINGDOM of Poland about three millions. The result gives fifty six millions of inhabitants subject to the IMPERIAL CROWN. * At the treaty of Bucharest, in May 1812, that part of Moldavia to the east and north of the Pruth was ceded to Russia, together with Bessarabia. + This includes the KINGDOM of Poland under the protection of Russia, comprising the Palatinates of Cracow, Sandomir, Lublin, Plock, Masovia, &c. which formed the Duchy of Warsaw from 1807 to 1813. EUROPEAN RUSSIA. RUSSIA IN EUROPE is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean; on the east by the Ural Mountains, the Krimea, the Wolga, and the Don, which separate it from Asiatic Russia; on the south by the Sea of Asoph and the Black Sea, which divide it from Turkey in Asia, and by part of the Danube, which separates it from Bulgaria; on the west by the Pruth river, the Kingdom of Poland, Prussia, and the Baltic Sea. The Gulf of Bothnia, and the river Tornea, divide it from Sweden. European Russia is divided into 48 Governments or Provinces, including those taken from Poland and Turkey, viz. 5 in the north, 13 north-west, 14 in the centre, 6 in the east, and 10 in the south. *Vologda............... Vologda............Soukhona. Olonetz... .......Olonetz............Lake Ladoga. Finland..................Abo .................. Aura. Viborg...............Viborg.............Gulf of Finland. 13. Provinces in the North-West. St.Petersburg........St.Petersburg....Neva. Pskov....... .Pskov.......... Esthonia, or Revel..Revel...............Gulf of Finland. Livonia, or Riga.... Riga......... Vitepsck, or Po ...Dwina and Gulf of Riga. lotsk............Vitepsck..........Dwina. + SCourland...............Mittau..........................Aa. ........... Wilia. Or Wologda: the Russian alphabet does not contain the letter W, they give the sound of W to the letter V. + Provinces taken from Poland. |