Silesia

Silesia, AUSTRIAN, a duchy and crown-land of the Austrian empire, bounded on the NE. by Prussian Silesia, and on the S. and W. by Moravia and Hungary. Area, 1987 sq. m.; pop. (1880) 565,475; (1890) 602,117. Subsidiary chains of the Carpathians and Sudetic Mountains diversify the southern and western frontiers; the duchy is watered by the systems of the Vistula (in the east) and the Oder (west). The climate, though somewhat raw, is healthy, and the soil produces good crops of rye, oats, barley, potatoes, beet-root, hay, &c. Mining and manufacturing industries both flourish. The mines yield coal, iron, sulphur, and other minerals to the annual value of close upon one million sterling. The principal industries are the smelting of iron, making of machinery, the manufacture of various textiles (worsted, cloth, linen and linen thread, cottons, &c.), brewing, distilling, and the preparation of chemicals. The principal town is Troppau. This province was created a separate crown-land in 1849. There is a provincial assembly or diet of thirty-one members.