BAVARIA (in German, Bayern), a kingdom of Southern Germany, forming part of the German Empire, consists of two distinct portions, Bavaria proper and the Palatinate of the Rhine, which are separated by the grand duchies of Baden and Hesse. Bavaria proper contains an area of about 26,895 miles, and the Palatinate rather less than 2282, making the whole extent of the kingdom about 29,177 square miles.

The frontier of Bavaria proper on the north-east, towards Bohemia, consists of a long range of mountains known as the B5hmerwald ; while the north is occupied by the Fichtelgebirge and the Frankenwald, which separate Bavaria from Reuss, Meiningen, and Hesse-Darmstadt. The ranges

The extent of forest is more than twice that of the land under wood in Great Britain. It forms more than a fourth of the total area of Bavaria, while in Britain the proportion is less than a twenty-sixth. This is owing to various causes - the extent of hilly and mountainous country, the thinness of the population, and the necessity of keeping a given extent of ground under wood for the supply of fuel. Nearly a third of the forests are public property, and furnish a considerable addition to the revenue. They are principally situated in the provinces of Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, and the Upper Palatinate. The level country, including both Lower Bavaria (extending northwards to the Danube), and the western and middle parts of Franconia, is very productive in rye, oats, wheat, barley, and millet, and also in hemp, flax, hops, madder, and (in warm situations) in vines. The last are grown chiefly in tho vicinity of the Lake of Constance and on the banks of the Main, in the lower part of its course, while the most extensive hop-growing district is central Franconia. Potatoes are cultivated in all the provinces, but especially in the Palatinate and in the Spessart district, which lies in the north-west within a curve of the Main. The southern division of Swabia and Upper Bavaria, where pasture-land predominates, form a cattle-breeding district, and the dairy produce is extensive, no less than 11,000 tons of cheese and 2386 tons of butter being sold in the course of a year. The former finds a market all over Germany, and is also exported to Austria, France, and other countries, while Northern Germany is the chief consumer of the latter. The greater proportion of the land throughout the kingdom is in the hands of peasant proprietors, the extent of the separate holdings differing very much in different districts. The largest peasant property may be about 170 English acres, and the smallest, except in the Palatinate, about 50.

According to the returns for 1863 the number of cattle I in the kingdom was 3,185,688; sheep, 2,058,638 ; swine, 926,522; and goats, 150,855. Oxen are largely employed in agricultural operations instead of horses. The cattle, as a general rule, are kept in sheds, and not pastured in the - Of mineral deposits Bavaria possesses a great variety. / The quantity of iron ore is very large both in the south and north, the number of mines being between 200 and 300. Coal-mines are likewise numerous, especially in the districts of Amberg, Kissingen, Steben, Munich, and the Rhine Palatinate. The produce in 1867 was nearly 351,000 tons. Of quicksilver there are several mines, chiefly in the Palatinate of the Rhine ; and small quantities of copper, manganese, and cobalt are obtained. There are numerous quarries of excellent marble, alabaster, gypsum, and building stone ; and the porcelain-clay is among the finest in Europe. To these may be added graphite, emery, steatite, barytes, felspar, and ochre, in considerable quantities ; excellent lithographic stone is obtained at Solnhofen ; and gold and silver are still worked to an insignificant extent. Salt is annually prepared on a large scale, being obtained partly from brine springs and partly from mines. The principal localities are Halle, Berchtesgaden. Traun• stein, and Rosenheim. The gross production in 1866 was 41,119 tons, and the value at the works amounted to £62,869. In the following year the Government monopoly, which had existed so long, was abolished, and free trade was established in salt between the members of tho customs-union, a change which has led to a considerable import of salt from Prussia.

A great stimulus was given to manufacturing. industry in Bavaria by the law of 1868, which abolished the last remains of the old restrictions of the guilds, and gave the whole country the liberty which had been enjoyed by the Rhine Palatinate alone. The chief manufacturing centres are Nuremberg and Munich for hardware, and Augsburg for cloth goods ; but various other towns are rising into importance. In Franconia are numerous paper-mills, and saw-mills are naturally common in the forest districts. A considerable quantity of glass is manufactured, especially in the Bohmerwald, and wooden wares are largely produced at Ammergau and Berchtesgaden. The preparation of the favourite national drink forms an important industry, - the breweries throughout the kingdom numbering upwards of 5000. Among the most remarkable are the breweries of Erlangen. Other articles of manufacture are leather, tobacco, and earthenware.

The exports from Bavaria consist chiefly of salt, timber,1 cattle, pigs, corn, and madder ; and the imports comprise sugar, tobacco, raw cotton and cotton-goods, silks and linen, iron and iron-wares. As most of the imports are introduced indirectly through other Zollverein states, no custom-house register is kept of the total amount.

The highroads in Bavaria extend in all over 9000 t miles. In 1869 there were rather more than 1600 miles of railway in operation, and nearly 300 were in course of construction. The greater proportion is in the hands of the Government, and the remainder belongs to the Eastern Company and the United Railway Companies of the Rhine Palatinate. The principal canal in the kingdom is the Ludwigs-eanal, which connects the Rhine with the Danube, extending from Bamberg on the Regnitz to Dietfurt on the AltmiffiL There is an extensive network of telegraphs, all of which belong to, and are worked by, the Government post-office. , The Bavarians proper form a distinct section of the German race, speaking a well-defined dialect of the High German , but a large portion of the population of the country is of Swabian origin. The national character resembles that of the Austrians, being generally marked by fidelity and loyalty In matters of religion they are credulous and even superstitious ; and the will of their superiors is received by the lower orders with great deference both in political and ecclesiastical affairs. Independence of thought and action have, however, been gradually increasing ; and now that the country has become part of the German empire, a rapid transfusion of intellectual and political life is apparently taking place.

The present form of government is founded partly on long-established usage and partly on a constitutional act, passed in May 1818, and modified by subsequent acts, of which the most important was passed in 1848-9. The monarchy is hereditary, with a legislative body of two houses. The title of the sovereign is simply king of Bavaria; that of his presumptive heir is crown-prince of Bavaria. The executive power is vested altogether in the king, whose person is declared inviolable, the responsibility rests with the ministers, whose functions are nearly the same as those of ministers in England ; and there are offices for foreign affairs for the home department, for religion and education, for the treasury, the army, and the administration of justice. These are all situated in Munich, the capital. The upper house of the Bavarian parliament, known as the Chamber of the Reichsrathe, comprises the princes of the blood-royal, the two archbishops, the barons or heads of certain noble families, a Roman Catholic bishop and Protestant clergyman appointed by the Crown, and any other members whom the king may nominate either as hereditary peers or as counsellors for life ; but these last must not exceed a third of the hereditary members. The lower house, or Chamber of Representatives (Wahlkammer), consists of about 150 deputies, who formerly were chosen in definite proportions from the different classes of the community, an eighth part from the nobility, another eighth from the clergy, a fourth part from the burghers, and the remaining half from the lauded proprietors ; but since 1848 they may be selected without any such restrictions. A general election takes place once in six years, one deputy being allowed for every' 7000 families in the kingdom. The election, however, is indirect, - electoral proxies, or Wahlndinner, to whom the real election is entrusted, being chosen by the general body of electors at the rate of one proxy to every 500 men. The king generally convenes the parliament once a year, and by the constitution it is obligatory on him to do so at least once in three years.

The following is a statement of the budget for the year 1874-5, in marks (equal to ls. sterling) : - The Bavarian army forms, since the 23d November Air 1870, a separate portion of the army of the German empire, with a distinct administration ; but its organization is subject to the general imperial rules, and in time of war it is placed under the command of the emperor. It comprises two corps d'arnule, each divided into two divisions. In time of peace its infantry consists of 26,590 men, distributed in sixteen regiments ; besides which there are ten battalions of chasseurs, 5500 strong, and thirty-two battalions of landwehr ; the cavalry numbers 7200 men divided into ten regiments, and the artillery amounts to 5528 men in six regiments ; there are also two battalions of pioneers and as many of the military train. In time of war the total force is raised to 149,892, or rather more than trebled.

The districts of Lower Bavaria, Upper Bavaria, and the Rel Upper Palatinate are almost wholly Catholic, while in the Rhine Palatinate, Upper Franconia, and especially 'Middle Franconia, the preponderance is on the side of the Protestants. The exercise of religious worship in Bavaria is altogether free. The Protestants have the same civil rights as the Catholics, and the sovereign may be either Catholic or Protestant. Of the Roman Catholic Church the heads are the two archbishops of Munich-Freising and Bamberg, and the six bishops of Eichstadt, Spire, Wilrzburg, Augsburg, Regensburg, and Passau, of whom the first three are suffragans of Bamberg. The " Old Catholic " party has recently taken considerable hold of the country, and has organized congregations in all the more important towns. Among the Protestants the highest authority is the general. consistory of Munich. The proportion of the different religions in 1871 was as follows : - Roman Catholics, 3,464,364; Protestants, 1,342,592; Jews, 50,662; lesser Christian sects, 5453 ; other religions, 379.

Bavaria was formerly as backward in regard to education as Austria, or any part of the south of Germany; but latterly considerable efforts have been made to lessen the prevailing ignorance. At Munich there are scientific and literary academies, as well as a university, a lyceum, a gymnasium, and other public schools. The university has a very numerous attendance of students, ranking third in the new German empire ; and there are two provincial universities on a small scale, one (Catholic) at Wiirzburg, the other (Protestant) at Erlangen in Franconia. In the kingdom at large there are ten lyceums, twenty-eight gymnasia, about sixty progymnasia, besides ten normal, twenty-six trade, three polytechnic, and upwards of 7000 common schools. These certainly form a great contrast to the indifference and neglect of former times ; and the Government continues to evince much solicitude for the diffusion of instruction. Technical schools here, as in other parts of Germany, have been established for the purpose of affording to mechanics more suitable education than they could otherwise obtain, including mathematics, mechanics, drawing, chemistry, architecture, &c. These schools are supported by the commune, aided when necessary by the province, and commissioners are annually sent by Government to examine and report upon them to the minister of trade. The course extends over three years, from the age of twelve to fifteen, after which pupils may enter one of three polytechnic schools, where a still higher co.irse of instruction is imparted, also extending over three years ; but engineers have a special fourth year's course. A building school was established at Munich in 1823, and is chiefly intended for carpenters and masons, who are there instructed in architecture, drawing, geometry, stone-cutting, modelling ornaments, &c.

The duchy of Bavaria during the Middle Ages consisted of the southern half of the present kingdom, and lay almost all to the south of the Danube, extending about 100 miles from that river to the Tyrol, and somewhat more from Swabia on the west to Austria on the east. The addition in 1623 of the Upper Palatinate, a province of full 3000 square miles, to the north of the Danube, gave the elector a territory of about 15,000 square miles, with a population of less than 1,000,000, which in a century and a half had increased to about 1,500,000. In 1778 the succession of the Rhenish branch of the reigning family added the Palatinate of the Rhine, and in 180G a large augmentation was effected by Napoleon, who presented the king with the districts of the Lower Main and the Rezat, and with part of those of the Upper Main and the Upper Danube ; not to mention Tyrol, which was afterwards restored to Austria. Some slight changes have taken place in the extent of the kingdom since then; but its general character has not been affected. The most important cession of recent years was that of part of Franconia in 1866 to Prussia, amounting to 291 square miles, with a population of 32,976 inhabitants. The following table gives the present and former division of the kingdom and its population in 1818, 1846, and 1871 respectively : -

His son Charles Albert, who succeeded him in 1726, untaught by these disasters, renewed his connection with France ; and, in 1740, on the death of the emperor of Germany, came forward as a candidate for the imperial crown. He obtained the nomination of a majority of the electors, and overran a considerable part of the Austrian territory ; but hig triumph was of short duration, for the armies of Maria Theresa not only repulsed the Bavarians, but obtained in 1741 possession of the electorate. The elector died soon after, and his son Maximilian Joseph recovered his dominions only by renouncing the pretensions of his father.

Bavaria now remained tranquil above thirty years, until 1777, when, by the death of Maximilian, the younger line of the house of Wittelsbach, the line which had long ruled in Bavaria, became extinct. The next heir was Charles Theodore the Elector Palatine, the representative of the elder line of Wittelsbach; but Austria unexpectedly laid claim to the succession, and took military possession of part of the country. Tins called into the field, on the side of Bavaria, Frederic II. of Prussia, then advanced in years ; but, before any blood had been shed, Austria desisted from her pretensions, on obtaining from Bavaria the frontier district which bears the name of Innviertel, or the Quarter of the Inn.

Bavaria again remained at peace until the great contest between Germany and France began in 1793, when she was obliged to furnish her contingent as a member of the empire. During three years her territory was untouched ; but in the summer of 1796, a powerful French army under Moreau occupied her capital, forced her to sign a separate treaty with Franco, and to withdraw her contingent from the imperial army. The next war between France and Austria, begun in 1799, ending disastrously for the latter, the influence of France in the empire was greatly strengthened, so that, when the Austrians once more took up arms, in 1805, Bavaria was the firm ally of France, and for the first time found advantage in the connection, - its elector, Maximilian Joseph, receiving from Napoleon the title of king and several additions of territory.

Bavaria continued to support the French interest with her best energies till 1813, when, on condition of her late acquisitions being secured to her, she was led to join the Allies, and her forces contributed largely to the ultimate defeat of Bonaparte. In 1818 Maximilian presented his country with a constitution, of rather a mixed character, in which an attempt was made at once to satisfy the growing desire for political liberty and to maintain the kingly power. At the same time several beneficial measures, such as the abolition of serfdom, were effected in the earlier sessions of the new parliament. 'In 1825 Maximilian was succeeded by his son Louis, who distinguished himself as a promoter of the fine arts, but proved himself destitute of political capacity, and in consciousness