Part 27

GERMANTOWN, a residential district and former suburb, now the Twenty-second Ward, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on Wissahickon Creek, in the N. part of the city. It is served by the Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia & Reading railways. There are many old colonial houses and handsome modern residences along Main Street (the old Germantown Road or Avenue). Prominent among the historic houses is Cliveden, or the "Chew House," built about 1761 by Benjamin Chew (1722-1810), who was chief-justice of Pennsylvania in 1774-1777 and was imprisoned as a Loyalist in 1777, and whose home during the battle of Germantown (see below) was occupied by British troops. The well-preserved Morris House (1772) was the headquarters of General Howe at the close of the battle, and in 1793, when Germantown, owing to the yellow fever in Philadelphia, was the temporary capital of the United States, it was occupied by President Washington. Three doors above stood until 1904 the Ashmead House, used for a time by Count Nicholas Lewis Zinzendorf and his daughters for their Moravian school, which was removed to Bethlehem. In the same street, opposite Indian Queen Lane, is the old Wister Mansion, built as a country-seat in 1744 and occupied by British officers during the War of Independence. In another old house (now Nos. 5275-5277), John Fanning Watson (1779-1860), the annalist of Philadelphia, did most of his literary work. Just outside the ward limits, in what has since become a part of Fairmont Park, is the house in which David Rittenhouse, the astronomer, was born; it stands on Monoshore Creek or Paper Mill Run, in what was long called Roxborough (now the 21st ward of Philadelphia). In this vicinity the first paper mill in America was erected in 1690 by a company of which William Rittenhouse, David's great-grandfather, was the leading member. The King of Prussia Inn, built about 1740, and the Mermaid Hotel, as old or older, are interesting survivals of the inns and taverns of old Germantown. The Germantown Academy was built in 1760, and after the battle of Germantown was used by the British as a hospital. In Germantown are also a Friends' (orthodox) school, a Friends' free library, and the Germantown branch of the Philadelphia public library. The first school in Germantown was established about 1701, and for the first eighteen years was under the mastership of Francis Daniel Pastorius (1651-1719), the leader in founding the town, who lived in a house that stood on the site of the present First Methodist Episcopal church, High Street and Main Street. He compiled a primer which was the first school book produced in the state; with three others he drafted and signed in 1688 what seems to have been the first public protest made in America against slavery; and he is celebrated in Whittier's _Pennsylvania Pilgrim_. Later the same school passed to Christopher Dock (d. 1771), who in 1770 published an essay on teaching (written in 1750), which is said to have been the first book on pedagogy published in America. The first Bible printed in America in any European language was published in Germantown in 1743 by Christopher Sauer (d. 1758), a preacher of the German Baptist Brethren, who in 1739 established Germantown's first newspaper, _The High German Pennsylvania Historian, or Collection of Important News from the Kingdom of Nature and of the Church_. His grandsons are said to have cast about 1772 the first American printing type. The Friends were the first sect to erect a meeting-house of their own (about 1693). The Mennonites built a log meeting-house in 1709, and their present stone church was built in 1770. The town hall of Germantown was used as a hospital during the last three years of the Civil War. In Market Square a soldiers' monument was erected in 1883. The Site and Relic Society of Germantown maintains a museum of relics. Many of the early settlers were linen weavers, and Germantown still manufactures textiles, knit goods and yarns.

Germantown was founded in October 1683 by thirteen families from Crefeld, Germany, under the leadership of Francis Daniel Pastorius. The township, as originally laid out, contained four distinct villages known as Germantown, Cresheim, Sommerhousen and Crefield. Cresheim was later known as Mount Airy, and Sommerhousen and Crefield became known as Chestnut Hill. The borough of Germantown was incorporated in 1689. For many years it was a straggling village extending about 2 m. along Main Street. Its growth was more rapid from the middle of the 18th century. In 1789 a motion for the permanent location of the national capital at Germantown was carried in the Senate, and the same measure passed the House, amended only with respect to the temporary government of the ceded district; but the Senate killed the bill by voting to postpone further consideration of it until the next session. Germantown was annexed to Philadelphia in 1854.

_Battle of Germantown._--This famous encounter in the American War of Independence was fought on the 4th of October 1777. After the battle of Brandywine (q.v.) and the occupation of Philadelphia, the British force commanded by Sir W. Howe encamped at Germantown, where Washington determined to attack them. The Americans advanced by two roads, General Sullivan leading the column on the right and General Greene that on the left. Washington himself accompanied Sullivan, with whom were Stirling (an officer who claimed to be earl of that name) and Anthony Wayne. The right at first met with success, driving the British advanced troops back on the main body near the Chew House. Colonel Musgrave, of the 40th Foot, threw a portion of his regiment into this house, and General Agnew came up with his command. The Americans under Stirling attempted to dislodge Musgrave, thus losing time and alarming part of Sullivan's advance who had pushed farther forward in the fog. General Greene on the left was even less fortunate. Meeting with unexpected opposition at the first point of attack his troops were thrown into confusion and compelled to retreat. One of his brigades extended itself to the right wing, and by opening fire on the Chew House caused Wayne to retreat, and presently both of the American columns retired rapidly in the direction of their camp. The surprise had failed, with the loss to Washington's army of 673 men as against 500 on the side of the British. The British General Agnew and the American General Nash were both mortally wounded. In December Washington went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, 40 m. west of Philadelphia. The British wintered in and around the city.

See N.H. Keyser, "Old Historic Germantown," in the _Proceedings and Addresses of the Pennsylvania-German Society_ (Lancaster, 1906); S.W. Pennypacker, _The Settlement of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and the Beginning of German Emigration to North America_ (Philadelphia, 1899), and S.F. Hotchkin, _Ancient and Modern Germantown, Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill_ (Philadelphia, 1889).

GERMANY (Ger. _Deutschland_), or, more properly, THE GERMAN EMPIRE (_Deutsches Reich_), a country of central Europe. The territories occupied by peoples of distinctively Teutonic race and language are commonly designated as German, and in this sense may be taken to include, besides Germany proper (the subject of the present article), the German-speaking sections of Austria, Switzerland and Holland. But Germany, or the German empire, as it is now understood, was formed in 1871 by virtue of treaties between the North German Confederation and the South German states, and by the acquisition, in the peace of Frankfort (May 10, 1871), of Alsace-Lorraine, and embraces all the countries of the former German Confederation, with the exception of Austria, Luxemburg, Limburg and Liechtenstein. The sole addition to the empire proper since that date is the island of Heligoland, ceded by Great Britain in 1890, but Germany has acquired extensive colonies in Africa and the Pacific (see below, _Colonies_).

The German empire extends from 47 deg. 16' to 55 deg. 53' N., and from 5 deg. 52' to 22 deg. 52' E. The eastern provinces project so far that the extent of German territory is much greater from south-west to north-east than in any other direction. Tilsit is 815 m. from Metz, whereas Hadersleben, in Schleswig, is only 540 m. from the Lake of Constance. The actual difference in time between the eastern and western points is 1 hour and 8 minutes, but the empire observes but one time--1 hour E. of Greenwich. The empire is bounded on the S.E. and S. by Austria and Switzerland (for 1659 m.), on the S.W. by France (242 m.), on the W. by Luxemburg, Belgium and Holland (together 558 m.). The length of German coast on the North Sea or German Ocean is 293 m., and on the Baltic 927 m., the intervening land boundary on the north of Schleswig being only 47 m. The eastern boundary is with Russia 843 m. The total length of the frontiers is thus 4569 m. The area, including rivers and lakes but not the _haffs_ or lagoons on the Baltic coast, is 208,830 sq. m., and the population (1905) 60,641,278. In respect of its area, the German empire occupied in 1909 the third place among European countries, and in point of population the second, coming in point of area immediately after Russia and Austria-Hungary, and in population next to Russia.

_Political Divisions._--The empire is composed of the following twenty-six states and divisions: the kingdoms of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Wurttemberg; the grand-duchies of Baden, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Oldenburg and Saxe-Weimar; the duchies of Anhalt, Brunswick, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Saxe-Meiningen; the principalities of Lippe-Detmold, Reuss-Greiz, Reuss-Schleiz, Schaumburg-Lippe, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and Waldeck-Pyrmont; the free towns of Bremen, Hamburg and Lubeck, and the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine.

Besides these political divisions there are certain parts of Germany which, not conterminous with political boundaries, retain appellations derived either from former tribal settlements or from divisions of the old Holy Roman Empire. These are Franconia (Franken), which embraces the districts of Bamberg, Schweinfurt and Wurzburg on the upper Main; Swabia (Schwaben), in which is included Wurttemberg, parts of Bavaria and Baden and Hohenzollern; the Palatinate (Pfalz), embracing Bavaria west of the Rhine and the contiguous portion of Baden; Rhineland, applied to Rhenish Prussia, Nassau, Hesse-Darmstadt and parts of Bavaria and Baden; Vogtland,[1] the mountainous country lying in the south-west corner of the kingdom of Saxony; Lusatia (Lausitz), the eastern portion of the kingdom of Saxony and the adjacent portion of Prussia watered by the upper Spree; Thuringia (Thuringen), the country lying south of the Harz Mountains and including the Saxon duchies; East Friesland (Ost Friesland), the country lying between the lower course of the Weser and the Ems, and Westphalia (Westfalen), the fertile plain lying north and west of the Harz Mountains and extending to the North Sea and the Dutch frontier.

_Coast and Islands._--The length of the coast-line is considerably less than the third part of the whole frontier. The coasts are shallow, and deficient in natural ports, except on the east of Schleswig-Holstein, where wide bays encroach upon the land, giving access to the largest vessels, so that the great naval harbour could be constructed at Kiel. With the exception of those on the east coast of Schleswig-Holstein, all the important trading ports of Germany are river ports, such as Emden, Bremen, Hamburg, Lubeck, Stettin, Danzig, Konigsberg, Memel. A great difference, however, is to be remarked between the coasts of the North Sea and those of the Baltic. On the former, where the sea has broken up the ranges of dunes formed in bygone times, and divided them into separate islands, the mainland has to be protected by massive dikes, while the Frisian Islands are being gradually washed away by the waters. On the coast of East Friesland there are now only seven of these islands, of which Norderney is best known, while of the North Frisian Islands, on the western coast of Schleswig, Sylt is the most considerable. Besides the ordinary waste of the shores, there have been extensive inundations by the sea within the historic period, the gulf of the Dollart having been so caused in the year 1276. Sands surround the whole coast of the North Sea to such an extent that the entrance to the ports is not practicable without the aid of pilots. Heligoland is a rocky island, but it also has been considerably reduced by the sea. The tides rise to the height of 12 or 13 ft. in the Jade Bay and at Bremerhaven, and 6 or 7 ft. at Hamburg. The coast of the Baltic, on the other hand, possesses few islands, the chief being Alsen and Fehmarn off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein, and Rugen off Pomerania. It has no extensive sands, though on the whole very flat. The Baltic has no perceptible tides; and a great part of its coast-line is in winter covered with ice, which also so blocks up the harbours that navigation is interrupted for several months every year. Its _haffs_ fronting the mouths of the large rivers must be regarded as lagoons or extensions of the river beds, not as bays. The Pommersche or Oder Haff is separated from the sea by two islands, so that the river flows out by three mouths, the middle one (Swine) being the most considerable. The Frische Haff is formed by the Nogat, a branch of the Vistula, and by the Pregel, and communicates with the sea by means of the Pillauer Tief. The Kurische Haff receives the Memel, called Niemen in Russia, and has its outlet in the extreme north at Memel. Long narrow alluvial strips called _Nehrungen_, lie between the last two haffs and the Baltic. The Baltic coast is further marked by large indentations, the Gulf of Lubeck, that of Pomerania, east of Rugen, and the semicircular Bay of Danzig between the promontories of Rixhoft and Brusterort. The German coasts are well provided with lighthouses.

_Surface._--In respect of physical structure Germany is divided into two entirely distinct portions, which bear to one another a ratio of about 3 to 4. The northern and larger part may be described as a uniform plain. South and central Germany, on the other hand, is very much diversified in scenery. It possesses large plateaus, such as that of Bavaria, which stretches away from the foot of the Alps, fertile low plains like that intersected by the Rhine, mountain chains and isolated groups of mountains, comparatively low in height, and so situated as not seriously to interfere with communication either by road or by railway.

Mountains and plateaus.

Bavaria is the only division of the country that includes within it any part of the Alps, the Austro-Bavarian frontier running along the ridge of the Northern Tirolese or Bavarian Alps. The loftiest peak of this group, the Zugspitze (57 m. S. of Munich), is 9738 ft. in height, being the highest summit in the empire. The upper German plain sloping northwards from the Bavarian Alps is watered by the Lech, the Isar and the Inn, tributaries of the Danube, all three rising beyond the limits of German territory. This plain is separated on the west from the Swiss plain by the Lake of Constance (Bodensee, 1306 ft. above sea-level), and on the east from the undulating grounds of Austria by the Inn. The average height of the plain may be estimated at about 1800 ft., the valley of the Danube on its north border being from 1540 ft. (at Ulm) to 920 ft. (at Passau). The plain is not very fertile. In the upper part of the plain, towards the Alps, there are several lakes, the largest being the Ammersee, the Wurmsee or Starnberger See and the Chiemsee. Many portions of the plain are covered by moors and swamps of large extent, called _Moose_. The left or northern bank of the Danube from Regensburg downwards presents a series of granitic rocks called the Bavarian Forest (Bayrischer Wald), which must be regarded as a branch of the Bohemian Forest (Bohmer Wald). The latter is a range of wooded heights on the frontier of Bavaria and Bohemia, occupying the least known and least frequented regions of Germany. The summits of the Bayrischer Wald rise to the height of about 4000 ft., and those of the Bohmer Wald to 4800 ft., Arber being 4872 ft. The valley of the Danube above Regensburg is flanked by plateaus sloping gently to the Danube, but precipitous towards the valley of the Neckar. The centre of this elevated tract is the Rauhe Alb, so named on account of the harshness of the climate. The plateau continuing to the north-east and then to the north, under the name of the Franconian Jura, is crossed by the valley of the winding Altmuhl, and extends to the Main. To the west extensive undulating grounds or low plateaus occupy the area between the Main and the Neckar.

The south-western corner of the empire contains a series of better defined hill-ranges. Beginning with the Black Forest (Schwarzwald), we find its southern heights decline to the valley of the Rhine, above Basel, and to the Jura. The summits are rounded and covered with wood, the highest being the Feldberg (10 m. S.E. of Freiburg, 4898 ft.). Northwards the Black Forest passes into the plateau of the Neckarbergland (average height, 1000 ft.). The heights between the lower Neckar and the Main form the Odenwald (about 1700 ft.); and the Spessart, which is watered by the Main on three sides, is nothing but a continuation of the Odenwald. West of this range of hills lies the valley of the upper Rhine, extending about 180 m. from south to north, and with a width of only 20 to 25 m. In the upper parts the Rhine is rapid, and therefore navigable with difficulty; this explains why the towns there are not along the banks of the river, but some 5 to 10 m. off. But from Spires (Speyer) town succeeds town as far down as Dusseldorf. The western boundary of this valley is formed in the first instance by the Vosges, where granite summits rise from under the surrounding red Triassic rocks (Sulzer Belchen, 4669 ft.). To the south the range is not continuous with the Swiss Jura, the valley of the Rhine being connected here with the Rhone system by low ground known as the Gate of Mulhausen. The crest of the Vosges is pretty high and unbroken, the first convenient pass being near Zabern, which is followed by the railway from Strassburg to Paris. On the northern side the Vosges are connected with the Hardt sandstone plateau (Kalmit, 2241 ft.), which rises abruptly from the plain of the Rhine. The mountains south of Mainz, which are mostly covered by vineyards, are lower, the Donnersberg, however, raising its head to 2254 ft. These hills are bordered on the west by the high plain of Lorraine and the coal-fields of Saarbrucken, the former being traversed by the river Mosel. The larger part of Lorraine belongs to France, but the German part possesses great mineral wealth in its rich layers of ironstone (siderite) and in the coal-fields of the Saar. The tract of the Hunsruck, Taunus and Eifel is an extended plateau, divided into separate sections by the river valleys. Among these the Rhine valley from Bingen to Bonn, and that of the Mosel from Trier to Coblenz, are winding gorges excavated by the rivers. The Eifel presents a sterile, thinly-peopled plateau, covered by extensive moors in several places. It passes westwards imperceptibly into the Ardennes. The hills on the right bank of the Rhine also are in part of a like barren character, without wood; the Westerwald (about 2000 ft.), which separates the valleys of the Sieg and Lahn, is particularly so. The northern and southern limits of the Niederrheinische Gebirge present a striking contrast to the central region. In the south the declivities of the Taunus (2890 ft.) are marked by the occurrence of mineral springs, as at Ems on the Lahn, Nauheim, Homburg, Soden, Wiesbaden, &c., and by the vineyards which produce the best Rhine wines. To the north of this system, on the other hand, lies the great coal basin of Westphalia, the largest in Germany. In the south of the hilly duchy of Hesse rise the isolated mountain groups of the Vogelsberg (2530 ft.) and the Rhon (3117 ft.), separated by the valley of the Fulda, which uniting farther north with the Werra forms the Weser. To the east of Hesse lies Thuringia, a province consisting of the far-stretching wooded ridge of the Thuringian Forest (Thuringerwald; with three peaks upwards of 3000 ft. high), and an extensive elevated plain to the north. Its rivers are the Saale and Unstrut. The plateau is bounded on the north by the Harz, an isolated group of mountains, rich in minerals, with its highest elevation in the bare summit of the Brocken (3747 ft.). To the west of the Harz a series of hilly tracts is comprised under the name of the Weser Mountains, out of which above Minden the river Weser bursts by the Porta Westphalica. A narrow ridge, the Teutoburger Wald (1300 ft.), extends between the Weser and the Ems as far as the neighbourhood of Osnabruck.

To the east the Thuringian Forest is connected by the plateau of the Frankenwald with the Fichtelgebirge. This group of mountains, occupying what may be regarded as ethnologically the centre of Germany, forms a hydrographical centre, whence the Naab flows southward to the Danube, the Main westward to the Rhine, the Eger eastward to the Elbe, and the Saale northward, also into the Elbe. In the north-east the Fichtelgebirge connects itself directly with the Erzgebirge, which forms the northern boundary of Bohemia. The southern sides of this range are comparatively steep; on the north it slopes gently down to the plains of Leipzig, but is intersected by the deep valleys of the Elster and Mulde. Although by no means fertile, the Erzgebirge is very thickly peopled, as various branches of industry have taken root there in numerous small places. Around Zwickau there are productive coal-fields, and mining for metals is carried on near Freiberg. In the east a tableland of sandstone, called Saxon Switzerland, from the picturesque outlines into which it has been eroded, adjoins the Erzgebirge; one of its most notable features is the deep ravine by which the Elbe escapes from it. Numerous quarries, which supply the North German cities with stone for buildings and monuments, have been opened along the valley. The sandstone range of the Elbe unites in the east with the low Lusatian group, along the east of which runs the best road from northern Germany to Bohemia. Then comes a range of lesser hills clustering together to form the frontier between Silesia and Bohemia. The most western group is the Isergebirge, and the next the Riesengebirge, a narrow ridge of about 20 miles' length, with bare summits. Excluding the Alps, the Schneekoppe (5266 ft.) is the highest peak in Germany; and the southern declivities of this range contain the sources of the Elbe. The hills north and north-east of it are termed the Silesian Mountains. Here one of the minor coal-fields gives employment to a population grouped round a number of comparatively small centres. One of the main roads into Bohemia (the pass of Landshut) runs along the eastern base of the Riesengebirge. Still farther to the east the mountains are grouped around the hollow of Glatz, whence the Neisse forces its way towards the north. This hollow is shut in on the east by the Sudetic group, in which the Altvater rises to almost 4900 ft. The eastern portion of the group, called the Gesenke, slopes gently away to the valley of the Oder, which affords an open route for the international traffic, like that through the Mulhausen Gate in Alsace. Geographers style this the Moravian Gate.