Kiel, chief town of the Prussian province of Sleswick-Holstein, stands 66 miles N. by E. from
Hamburg by rail, at the head of a deep fjord (11 miles long) of the Baltic, which admits large ships to anchor close to the town. It is the headquarters of the German Baltic Sea navy, and has imperial shipbuilding-yards, slips, dry and wet docks, &c., naval marine stores, a naval academy, a naval officers' school, and an observatory (removed from Altona in 1874). It is also an important commercial port, some 1,100,000 tons of merchandise passing in and out annually. The chief part of its trade is carried on with the towns of Denmark and Sweden; corn, coal, timber, and cattle being imported, whilst coal, flour, beer, butter, cheese, and fish are exported. The industrial activity is considerable, and is mostly exercised in iron-foundries, shipbuilding-yards, corn-mills, breweries, and cabinet-makers' works. Kiel is the seat of a university, founded in 1665, with new buildings completed in 1876; in 1889 it had 85 professors and teachers and 463 students. The castle, built in the 13th century and enlarged by Catharine II. of Russia in the 18th, shelters the university library of 200,000 volumes and a museum with sculptures by Thorwaldsen. The Thaulow Museum contains Sleswick-Holstein carved work of the 15th-18th centuries. The bay is defended by a series of forts placed near its sea entrance. For the Baltic Canal to connect the Elbe and the Bay of Kiel, see BALTIC SEA; and CANAL. Kiel affords good facilities for bathing. The old town, dating from before the 10th century, has been enlarged by the suburbs of Brunswick and Düsternbrook; the latter has beautiful promenades. Pop. (1875) 37,270; (1890) 69,172. Here was signed in 1814 the treaty between Denmark, Sweden, and England, by which Sweden exchanged Pomerania for Norway.