Mitau

Mitau, the capital of the Russian government of Courland, on the right bank of the Aa, 27 miles by rail SW. of Riga. Founded in 1271 by the grand-master of the Teutonic Knights, and annexed to Russia in 1795, it has a castle, begun by Byron in 1738, and now the seat of the governor of the province, six churches, a museum, &c., with some very important manufactures, and a trade in grain and timber. From 1798 to 1807 Mitau offered an asylum to Louis XVIII. Pop. 29,615, of whom more than one-half are Germans, and nearly a fourth Jews.