BOTZEN, Bozen, or Bolzano (the ancient Pons Drusi), a town of Austria, the Capital of the circle of Brixen in Tyrol, is situated at a height of 1120 feet near the confluence of the Talfer and the Eisack, 32 miles N.N.E. of Trent. The town is well built in the Italian style, and has a fine old Gothic church of the 14th and 15 th centuries, a castle, several churches and convents, and a gymnasium. Situated at the intersection of roads from Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, it has an extensive transit trade, and its four large annual fairs date from 1024. It has also manufactures of linen, cotton, silk, hosiery, leather, and wax. It is protected from sudden inundations by a strong dike of masonry nearly two miles in length, and in some parts 24 feet thick. Botzen is mentioned as early as 378. In the 9th century it was the seat of a Bavarian countship, but in 1027 it was presented to the princebishop of Trent by the Emperor Conrad II. For centuries after that date it continued to be an object of strife between the Germans and Italians, until at last, in 1531, the authority of the count of Tyrol was acknowledged on all hands. Since then the city has followed the fortunes of Tyrol.