CARNIOLA (in German, Krain), a duchy and crown land of the Austrian empire, bounded on the N. by Carinthia, on the N.E by Styria, S.E. and S. by Croatia, and W. by Trieste, Görtz, and Istria. It has an area of 3857 English square miles, and the civil population in 1869 amounted to 463,273, of whom 220,000 were males and 243,264 females. It is occupied in the N. by the southern slopes and offshoots of the Carinthian Alps, in the W. by the Julian Alps and the Karst or Carso Mountains, and on the S.E. frontier by the Uskoken Mountains. The highest point is the Terglou, which rises to nearly 10,000 feet, and bears on its northern declivity the only glacier in the duchy. No part of Europe presents a greater number of caves, subterranean streams, funnels, and similar phenomena; and the grottoes of Adelsberg, especially, are among the most extensive and interesting in the world. The principal river of the duchy is the Save, which rises in the N.W. corner, and flows south-east; its main source is in the Wochein Lake, and its more important tributaries are the Gurk, the Kanker, and the Leibnitz. The climate is rather severe, and the soil comparatively unproductive. In 1870, by official statistics, there were about 336,731 acres of arable land, 25,844 in vineyards, 406,325 in meadows and gardens, 504,879 in pasture, and 448,017 in woods. Millet is the grain principally grown, and furnishes the favourite national fare; maize is not uncommon, but wheat and rye are rarely met with. The country is rich in mineral wealth; in 1870 it yielded 23,632 tons of quicksilver Ore—most of it obtained from the mines of Idria—9401 of iron ore, 7630 of copper ore, 195 of zinc and a small quantity of lead. The weaving of linen and lace is very common through the country, and distillation is ...carried on by a considerable number of the farmers on a small scale. Carniola is divided into the eleven districts of Adelsberg, Gottschee, Gurkfeld, Krainburg, Laibach, Litaj, Loitsch, Radmannsdorf, Rudolfswerth, Stein, and Tchernembl; and the capital Laibach ranks as a separate division. There are fourteen towns,· twenty-three market villages, and 3231 hamlets,—the most populous places being Laibach, with 22,593 inhabitants, Upper Idria 3813, Krainburg 2668, and Rudolfswerth 2068. By far the greater part of the population is of Slavonic race,—the German element amounting to little more than a fifteenth of the whole. Nearly all are Roman Catholics, 956 being Protestants, and 315 adherents of the Greek Church. By the law of 1861 the Carniola diet consists of thirty-seven members, including, besides the bishop, ten appointed by the landed proprietors, eight by the towns and centres of industry, sixteen by the rural communes, and two by the commercial chambers at Laibach; six members are sent to the imperial diet. During the Roman empire Carniola formed part of Noricum and Pannonia. Conquered by Charlemagne, the most of the district was bestowed on the duke of Friuli; but fin the 10th century the title of margrave of Carniola began to be borne by a family resident in the castle of Kieselberg near Krainburg. Various parts of the present territory were, however, held by other lords, such as the duke of Carinthia and the bishop of Friesing. Towards the close of the 14th century all the separate portions had come by inheritance or bequest into the hands of Rudolph IV. of Austria, who took the title of duke of Carniola; and since then the duchy has remained a part of the Austrian possessions, except during the short period from 1809 to 1813, when it was incorporated with the French Illyrian Provinces. In 1849 it became a crown land.
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