Mecklenburg lies wholly within the great North-European plain, and its flat surface is interrupted only by one range of low hills, intersecting the country from south-east to north-west, and forming the watershed between the Baltic Sea and the Elbe. Its highest point, the Helpter Berg, is 580 feet above the sea-level. The coast-line runs for 65 miles along the Baltic (without including indentations), for the most part in flat sandy stretches covered with dunes. The chief inlets are the bays of Wismar, Grosse Wiek, Salzhaff, and Kroy, and the roads of Warnemünde. The rivers are numerous though small; most of them are affluents of the Elbe, which itself traverses a small portion of Mecklenburg. Several of the streams are navigable, and the facilities for inland water traffic are increased by a tolerably extensive system of canals. Lakes are very numerous; about four hundred of fair size, covering an area of 500 square miles, are reckoned in the two duchies. The largest is Lake Müritz, 52 square miles in extent. The climate on the whole resembles that of Great Britain, but the winters are generally more severe; the mean annual temperature is 48° F., and the annual rainfall is about 28 inches. Although there are long stretches of marshy moorland along the coast, the soil is on the whole productive. According to the official returns of 1878, about 57 per cent, of the total area of Mecklenburg-Schwerin consisted of cultivated land, 17 per cent, of forest, and 13 per cent, of heath and pasture. In Mecklenburg-Strelitz the corresponding figures were 48, 20, and 9 per cent. Agriculture is by far the most important industry in both duchies. The following table shows the areas and products of the chief crops in 1880 :— [table]

Besides these, smaller areas are devoted to maize, buckwheat, pease, rape, hemp, flax, hops, and tobacco. The extensive pastures support large herds of sheep and cattle, including a noteworthy breed of merino sheep. The horses of Mecklenburg are of a fine sturdy quality, and are highly esteemed in Germany. In 1878 the two duchies contained 100,651 horses, 315,712 cattle, and 1,321,916 sheep. Red deer, wild swine, and various other kinds of game are found in the forests. The manufactures of Mecklenburg are of little importance. Its industrial establishments include a few iron foundries, wool-spinning mills, carriage and machine factories, dye-works, tanneries, brick-fields, soapworks, breweries, distilleries, numerous limekilns and tarboiling works, tobacco and cigar factories, and about eight hundred mills of various kinds. Mining is also insignificant, though a fair variety of minerals is represented in the district. Amber is found on and near the Baltic coast. Trade, mainly confined to the larger duchy, is tolerably active. Rostock, Warnemünde, and Wismar are the principal commercial centres. The chief exports are grain and other agricultural produce, live stock, spirits, wood, and wool; the chief imports are colonial produce, iron, coal, salt, wine, beer, and tobacco. The horse and wool markets of Mecklenburg are largely attended by buyers from various parts of Germany. Fishing is carried on extensively in the numerous inland lakes. Within the last decade the mercantile fleet of Mecklenburg-Schwerin has doubled the number and quadrupled the tonnage of its ships, these consisting in 1881 of 370 sailing vessels and 11 steamers, with an aggregate burden of 112,388 tons. Mecklenburg-Strelitz has no seaboard.

Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz are both limited monarchies under grand-dukes, who are hereditary in the male line. The reigning families are closely related, and possess mutual rights of succession; should both families become extinct, their possessions pass to Prussia. The constitution, which is common to both the duchies, exhibits few traces of the liberal tendency of modern politics. The temporary modifications brought about by the agitation of 1848 were quickly rescinded, and matters returned to the old semi-feudal arrangements, which deprive the bulk of the people of all share in the government. The constitution as it now exists is based upon an agreement made between the duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and his estates in 1755, and adopted in the same year by Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The Landes-Union, or common assembly of the two duchies, consists of representatives of the Ritterschaft, or landed proprietors, and of the Landschaft, which embraces forty-seven towns. The peasantry is unrepresented, and the principality of Ratzeburg, in Mecklenburg-Strelitz, is governed directly by the grand-duke. The Landes-Union meets once annually, alternating between Sternberg and Malchin. When not sitting it is represented by a committee of nine members. Distinct from the Landes-Union are the convocation diet and the deputation diet, which are assemblies of the estates of one or other duchy for special business. In Mecklenburg-Schwerin the executive is placed in the hands of fo^ιr ministers, holding the portfolios of foreign affairs, domestic affairs, finance, and justice (including education and religion). In Mecklenburg-Strelitz there is one minister, who is aided by a small council. In both duchies the military administration is in the hands of the crown. Mecklenburg-Schwerin has two votes in the federal council of the German empire, and sends six members to the imperial diet, while the smaller duchy has one representative in each assembly. As no official budget is published in either duchy, it is impossible to give accurate details of their financial position. In Mecklenburg-Schwerin it is usual to distinguish three branches of revenue, one under the control of the sovereign, one under the joint control of the sovereign and estates, and the third (of small amount) under the sole management of the estates. The income under the first heading is derived from the royal domains, the ordinary taxes, and special votes for special purposes, and ^amounts to about £600,000. With this sum are defrayed the ordinary expenses of government, including the annual contribution to the imperial treasury. The revenue under the second head is about £100,000. The public debt in 1880 amounted to £1,100,000. The revenues of Mecklenburg-Strelitz are unknown; its debt is estimated at about £300,000. The private income of the duke, derived from the royal domains, makes him one of the richest princes in Germany. The duchies of Mecklenburg contribute three regiments of infantry, a battalion of rifles, two regiments of dragoons, and four batteries of field artillery to the imperial army.

The educational institutions partake of the high character common to those of the German empire. The two duchies contain nine gymnasia, seven “Realschulen, ’ three normal schools, and an adequate number of schools of a lower grade. There is a university at Rostock, which in 1882 had a teaching staff of 36 professors and an attendance of about 250 students. In 1880-81 only 0 , 56 per cent, of the recruits in Mecklenburg-Schwerin were unable to read and write their names, while all the recruits in Mecklenburg-Strelitz were able to do both. The predominant confession in Mecklenburg is the Lutheran, which is professed by both the grand-dukes. The proportion of Roman Catholics, Jews, and members of the Reformed Church is insignificant. The ultimate spiritual authority is exercised by consistories at Schwerin and Strelitz. Mecklenburg also contains a fair share of learned societies and benevolent institutions. The supreme court of appeal for both duchies, in all criminal and civil cases, is at Rostock.

The population of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1861 was 548,449; in 1871, 557,707; in 1875, 553,785; and in 1880, 577,055. The capital is Schwerin (30,146 inhabitants), but the most important town is Rostock (36,967 inhabitants). The population of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1861 was 99,060; in 1871, 96,982; in 1875, 95,673; in 1880, 100,269. The chief town is Neu-Strelitz. About 71 per cent, of the inhabitants are engaged in agricultural pursuits. The proportion of the rural to the urban population is as 3 to 1, or exactly the reverse ratio to that in the neighbouring Prussia. The peasantry of Mecklenburg still retain numerous traces of their Slavonic origin, especially in their speech, but their peculiarities have been much modified by amalgamation with the German colonists who settled within this district at various times. The townspeople and nobility are almost wholly of Saxon strain. The slow rate of increase in the population of Mecklenburg is chiefly accounted for by the constant stream of emigration. Between 1870 and 1880 the two duchies contributed in the highest proportion to the emigration from Germany. Out of 595,151 German emigrants who sailed from Bremen, Hamburg, Stettin, and Antwerp within that period, 24,870 came from Mecklenburg-Schwerin and 2481 from Mecklenburg-Strelitz, representing respectively 4 - 38 and 2 - 52 per 1000 inhabitants as the yearly average. Probably another cause of the slow growth of population is to be sought for in the difficulties thrown in the way of the marriage of the peasants by the semi-feudal character of their tenure. It is a significant fact that in 1880 the proportion of illegitimate births in the two duchies amounted to 14 per cent, as compared with 9 per cent, in the entire German empire.

History.— The Vandals, who in the time of Tacitus occupied the region now known as Mecklenburg, were succeeded in the 6th century by a Slavonic race. Though partly conquered by Charlemagne in 789, this people soon regained their independence, and long offered a successful resistance to all attempts on the part of the German emperors to overcome and Christianize them. At last, in 1160, Duke Henry of Saxony made himself master of the country. The native prince was, however, permitted to retain his sovereignty, and has transmitted to his descendants and successors of the present day the distinction of being the only ruling princes of Slavonic origin in Germany. In 1160 he was raised by the emperor Frederick I. to the dignity of a prince of the empire. From 1202 till 1227 Mecklenburg was under Danish supremacy; and in 1229, two years after its restoration to Germany, there occurred the first of a long series of divisions of the territory, which, with subsequent reunions, constitute so much of its complicated history. In 1348 Charles IV. made Mecklenburg a duchy. In 1523 the trials and commotions springing from the rivalry and jealousy of two joint rulers incited the prelates, nobility, and burghers to form a union among themselves, the effects of which are visible to the present day,—most prominently in the existence of the common Landes-Union. The Reformation was welcomed by the inhabitants of Mecklenburg in 1524; and about 1555 nearly all the monasteries were suppressed. In 1621, when a new partition took place, the town of Rostock “with its university and high court” was declared to be held in common. The diet also retained its joint character, and henceforth alternated between Sternberg and Malchin.

In the Thirty Years’ War both Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Güstrow—as the parts were then called—incurred the suspicion of the emperor, who secretly sold them to Wallenstein, and expelled the dukes in his behalf. They were reinstated, however, by Gustavus Adolphus, and at the peace of Prague in 1635 they both made their peace with the emperor. At the peace of Westphalia Rostock and some other parts of Mecklenburg territory were given in pledge to Sweden, and they were not redeemed till 1803. The sufferings of the Mecklenburg peasantry during the Thirty Years’ War were exceeded in no other part of sorely-tried Germany. Most were reduced to serfdom through poverty; in some cases whole villages utterly vanished. In 1695 the Mecklenburg-Güstrow line became extinct; and, after some contention between the brother and the nephew of the last duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin for the vacant succession, the “Hamburg Division” (March 8, 1701) apportioned to each shares that are represented by the present duchies. The affixes Schwerin and Strelitz are derived from the capital towns of the two dukes.

Mecklenburg-Schwerin began its new independent existence by 3 series of constitutional struggles between its nobility and its rulers. The heavy debt incurred by Charles Leopold, who had joined Russia in a war against Sweden, brought matters to such a pitch that in 1728 the emperor Charles VI. deposed the duke - in favour of hi⅛ brother Christian Louis. Under this prince, the “Rostock Contract,” which is still the basis of the constitution, was framedin 1755. During the Seven Years’ War Mecklenburg-Schwerin assumed a hostile attitude towards Frederick the Great, and was in consequence occupied by Prussian troops. In 1806 it was overrun by the French, and in 1808 it joined the confederation of the Rhine. The duke, however, though he assisted Napoleon in 1812, was the first member of the confederation to renounce it, and in the following year his troops fought against France and Denmark. On joining the Germanic confederation he assumed the title of grandduke, with the style of royal highness. In and after 1848 the duchy witnessed a considerable agitation in favour of a new and more liberal constitution, but the subsequent reaction rescinded al) the concessions that had been made, and reduced matters to their former feudal condition. In 1819 and 1820 serfdom and personal bondage were abolished, and various slight ameliorations of the state of the peasantry have since been introduced.

Mecklenburg-Strelitz adopted the constitution of the sister duchy by an “Agnitions-Act” in 1755. In 1806 it was spared the infliction of a French occupation through the interest of the king of Bavaria; but in 1813 it was mulcted in the sum of two million thalers for the French army. In 1808 it entered the Rhenish confederation, but repudiated it in 1813 and joined the alliance against Napoleon. In 1815 the duke assumed the title of grand-duke.

Authorities.— Boll, Geschichte Mecklenburgs, 1855; Nizze, Volksuirthschaftliche Zustände in Mecklenburg, 1861; Boll, Abriss der Mecklenburger Landeskunde i Böger, Topographisches Handbuch f.d. Grossherzogthumer Mecklenburg-Schwerin und Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Kiel, 1881; the official Staatskalender, published annually; the Beiträge zur Statistik Mecklenburgs, published by the Statistical Office at Schwerin; Jahrbücher des Vereins für M<ck.enburgische Geschichte, 1836-1882. For the recent constitutional struggles seethe ∖ arious v orks of Μ. Wiggers, the most prominent leader of the democratic party. (J. F. Μ.)