BROMBERG, a town of Prussia, capital of a government in the province of Posen, is situated 70 miles north of the city of that name on the River Brahe, which is there crossed by a fine new railway bridge. Its public buildings comprise two Roman Catholic churches, a Protestant church, and a Jewish synagogue, a gymnasium, a seminary, a workhouse and penitentiary, a hospital, and a military storehouse. It has large mills, manufactures linen and woollen stuffs, leather, tobacco, Prussian blue, sugar, chicory, vinegar, beer, brandy, and oil, and carries on an active transit trade. The Bromberg Canal, constructed in 1773-4 by command of Frederick II., at a cost of 700,000 dollars, connects the Brahe with the Netz, and thus establishes communication between the Vistula, the Oder, and the Elbe. Bromberg is mentioned as early as 1252. From 1327 to 1343 it was in the hands of the Teutonic Order.

Destroyed in war it was restored by Casimir of Poland in 1346, and down to the close of the 16th century it continued to be a flourishing commercial city. It afterwards suffered so much from war and pestilence that about 1772, when the Prussians took possession, it contained only from five to six huudred inhabitants. By the treaty of Tilsit it was transferred to the duchy of Warsaw; in 1813 it was occupied by the Russians, and in 1815 it was restored to Prussia. Population in 1871, 27,740.