RÜGEN the largest island belonging to Germany, is situated in the Baltic Sea, immediately opposite the town of Stralsund, l£ miles off the north-west coast of Pomerania in Prussia, from which it is separated by the narrow Strelsasund. Its shape is exceedingly irregular, and its coast-line is broken by very numerous bays and peninsulas, sometimes of considerable size. The general name is applied by the natives only to the roughly triangular main trunk of the island, while the larger peninsulas, the landward extremities of which taper to very narrow necks of land, are considered to be as distinct from Rügen as the various adjacent smaller islands which are also statistically included under the name. The chief peninsulas are those of Jasmund and Wittow on the north, and Mönchgut, at one time the property of the monastery of Eldena, on the south-east; and the chief neighbouring islands are Unmanz and Hiddensoe, both off the northwest coast. The greatest length of Rügen from north to south is 32 miles; its greatest breadth is 251 miles; and its area is 377 square miles. The surface gradually rises towards the west to Rugard (335 feet), the “eye of Rügen,” near Bergen, but the highest point is the Hertha-burg (505 feet) in Jasmund. Erratic blocks are scattered throughout the island, and the roads are made with granite. Though much of Rügen is flat and sandy, the fine beech-woods which cover great part of it and the northern coast scenery combine with the convenient seabathing offered by the various villages round the coast to attract large numbers of visitors annually. The most beautiful and attractive part of the island is the peninsula of Jasmund, which terminates to the north in the Stubenkammer (from two Slavonic words meaning “rock steps”), a sheer chalk ...cliff by the sea, the summit of which, known as the Königsstuhl, is 420 feet above sea-level. The east of Jasmund is clothed with an extensive beech-wood called the Stubbenitz, in which lies the Burg or Hertha Lake. Connected with Jasmund only by the narrow isthmus of Schabe to the west is the peninsula of Wittow, the most fertile part of the island. At its north-west extremity rises the height of Arcona, with a lighthouse.
The official capital of the island is Bergen (3662 inhabitants), connected since 1883 with Stralsund by a railway and ferry. The other chief places are Garz (2014), Sagard (1447), Gingst (1285), and Putbus (1752). The last is the old capital of a barony of the princes of Putbus. Sassnitz, Göhren, and Putbus are among the favourite bathing resorts. Schoritz was the birthplace of the patriot and poet, Arndt (1769-1860). Ecclesiastically, Rügen is divided into 27 parishes, in which the pastoral succession is said to be almost hereditary. The inhabitants are distinguished from those of the mainland by peculiarities of dialect, costume, and habits; and even the various peninsulas differ from each other in these particulars. The peninsula of Mönchgut has best preserved its peculiarities; but there too primitive simplicity is yielding to the influence of the annual stream of summer visitors. The inhabitants rear some cattle, and Rügen has long been famous for its geese; but the only really considerable industry is fishing,—the herring-fishery being especially important. Rügen, with the neighbouring islands, forms a governmental department, with a population (1880) of 46,115.
The original Germanic inhabitants of Rügen were dispossessed by Slavs; and there are still various relics of the long reign of paganism that ensued. In the Stubbenitz and elsewhere Huns’ or giants’ graves (see p. 52, supra) are common; and near the Hertha Lake are the ruins of an ancient edifice which some have sought (though perhaps erroneously) to identify with the shrine of the heathen deity Hertha or Nerthus, referred to by Tacitus. On Arcona in Wittow are the remains of an ancient fortress, enclosing a temple of the four-headed god Svantevit, which was destroyed in 1168 by the Danish king AVahlemar I., when he made himself master of the island. From that date until 1325 Rügen was ruled by a succession of native princes, at first under Danish supremacy; and, after being for a century and a half the possession of a branch of the ruling family in Pomerania, it was finally united with that province in 1478, and passed with it into the possession of Sweden in 1648. With the rest of Western Pomerania Rügen has belonged to Prussia since 1815.
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