Kovno

Kovno, capital of the Russian government of Kovno, stands near the confluence of the Vilia and the Niemen, 523 miles by rail SW. of St Petersburg and 94 ENE. of Königsberg. The town, founded in the 11th century, was made a stronghold of the Teutonic knights. Long the chief commercial town of Lithuania, it had lost nearly all its trade when it was annexed by Russia in 1795; but since the construction of the railway it has recovered its commercial importance. Grain, flax, linseed, rags, and timber are exported. Pop. 73,543, about one-half Jews.—The government of Kovno touches Prussia and Poland. Area, 15,690 sq. m.; pop. (1897) 1,549,972, of whom three-fourths are Lithuanians and 14 per cent. Jews.