Alps
the highest and most extensive system of mountains in Europe, included between lat. 44° and 48° N., and long. 5° and 18° E., covering the greater part of northern Italy, several departments of France, nearly the whole of Switzerland, and a large part of Austria. The culminating peak is Mont Blanc, 15,781 feet high, though the true center is the St. Gothard.
The Alps in their various great divisions receive different names. The Maritime Alps, so called from their proximity to the Mediterranean, extend westward from their junction with the Apennines for a distance of about 100 miles; culminating points, Aiguille de Chambeyron, 11,155 feet, and Grand Rioburent, 11,142 feet; principal pass the Col di Tende, 6,158 feet, which was made practicable for carriages by Napoleon I. Proceeding northward the next group consists of the Cottian Alps, length about 60 miles; principal peaks:
Monte Visco, 12,605 feet; Pic des Ecrins, HEIGHT FEET 15,000 ALPS 13,462; Pelvoux, 12,973. Next come to the Black Sea by the Danube. In the guille de the Graian Alps, 50 miles long, with extensive ramifications in Savoy and Piedmont; principal peaks:
Aiguille la Sassière, 12,326 feet; Grand Paradis, 13,300; Grande Casse, 12,780. To this group belongs Mont Cenis, 6,765 feet. ALSACE-LORRAINE to the Black Sea by the Danube. In the the Alps it averages about 32°-a height lower valleys the mean temperature reaches. In respect to vegetation the Alps have been divided into six zones: which, in the snowy regions, it never reaches. In respect to vegetation the Alps have been divided into six zones:
PELVOUX 10,000 5,000 1.000 MT BLANC MISCHABEL MT POURI PELAT PILATUS JUNGFRAU 11 MATTERHORN 1 MONTE ROSA ZUFALL SPITZE ZUCKER HUTL WEISSKUGEL WILD'SA VIDLA PBERNINA ORİLER 111 ANGLOFT LANGLOFT HOCHFEILER 1 HOCHGALL 11 DREI HERREN SP. 11 VENEDIGER GROSS GLOCKNER HOCHALPEN SP.
GROSS ANKOGL HOCHKÖNIG DACHSTEIN 1 11 HOCHGOLLING TERGLAU i ۱ PREDIGT STUHL HOHEN WART !
SIMPLON- DIMA DEL PRA- GERLITZEN MTPREMAGGIORE- PENNA ST GOTTHARD -EBRO- BAYARD PREDIL PROFILE MAP SHOWING MAIN PEAKS OF THE ALPS or coniferous: the Among the The first is the olive; the second, the vine; the third, the mountainous; the fourth, the sub-Alpine or coniferous: the fifth, the pasture; and the sixth, the the sub-Alpine fifth, the pasture; and the sixth, the region of perpetual snow. minerals that are obtained are iron and lead, gold, silver, copper, zinc, alum, and coal.
The Pennine Alps form the loftiest portion of the whole system, having Mont Blanc (in France) at one extremity, and Mont Rosa at the other (60 miles), and including the Alps of Savoy and the Valais. In the E. the valley of the upper Rhone separates the Pennine Alps from the great chasm of the Bernese Alps. The principal heights of the Pennine Alps are Mont Blanc, 15,781 feet; Monte Rosa, 15,217; Mischabel- A naturally rich and historically interhörner (
Dom), 14,935; Weisshorn, 14,804; Matterhorn, 14,780. In the Berfrom the great chasm of the Bernese Alps. The principal heights of the Pennine Alps are Mont Blanc, 15,781 feet; Monte Rosa, 15,217; Mischabel- hörner (
Dom), 14,935; Weisshorn, The pass of Great St. Bernard is celebrated for its hospice. The easternmost pass is the Simplon, 6,595 feet, with a carriage road made by Napoleon I. Further E. are the Lepontine Alps, divided into several groups. The principal pass is the St. Gothard (6,936 feet). Highest peaks: Tödi, 11,887 feet; Monte Leone, 11,696. The Rhætian Alps, extending E. to about lat. 12° 30′ N., are the most easterly of the central Alps; I. Further E. are the Lepontine Alps, divided into several groups. The prin- cipal pass is the St. Gothard (6,936 feet). feet; Ortlerspitze, 12,814; Monte Ada- Highest peaks: Tödi, 11,887 feet; Monte feet, from Verona to Innsbruck. The eastern Alps form the broadest and lowest portion on of the system, and embrace the Noric Alps, the Carnic Alps, the Julian Alps, etc.; highest peak, the Grossglockner, 12,045 feet.
The Alps are very rich in lakes and streams. Among the chief of the former are Geneva, Constance, Zürich, Thun, Brienz, on the N. side; on the S.
Maggiore, Como, Lugano, Garda, etc.
The drainage is carried to the North Sea by the Rhine, to the Mediterranean by the Rhone, to the Adriatic by the Po, 10-Vol. I-Cyc coal. tive industries. It was ceded by France to Germany in 1871, and awarded to France by the Treaty of Versailles, 1919.
Its utmost length from N. to S. is 123 miles; its breadth varies between 22 and 105 miles; and its area is 5,580 square miles, of which 1,353 belong to Upper Alsace (in the S.), 1,844 to Lower Al- sace (N. E.), and 2,383 to Lorraine (N. W.). Pop. about 2,000,000. The French speaking population is mainly in the larger towns and in Lorraine. The Rhine flows 115 miles north-by-eastward along all the eastern boundary, and re ceives, below Strasbourg, the Ill from Alsace, 127 miles long. Other rivers are the Moselle, flowing through Lorraine past Metz, and its affluent, the Saar.
About 48.5 per cent. of the entire area Alsace, 127 miles long. Other rivers are the Moselle, flowing through Lorraine past Metz, and its affluent, the Saar. is rich in mines, iron and coal; and 30.8 under wood. Alsace-Lorraine pro- Mulhouse (pop. about duces much wine, grain, and tobacco; it manufactures iron, cotton, wool, silks. chemicals, glass, and paper. It contains a French province, Alsace was divided the important cities of Strasbourg (pop. about 200,000); Mulhou 115,000); Metz (pop. about 85,000). As into the departments of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin. Lorraine fell into the depart- ALSBERG ments of Meuse, Moselle, Meurthe, and Vosges.
In Cæsar's time Alsace-Lorraine was occupied by Celtic tribes, and formed part of ancient Gaul; but during the decline of the empire the Alemanni and other tribes from beyond the Rhine occupied and largely Germanized it. From the 10th century it formed part of the German empire, under various sovereign dukes and princes, latterly of the house of Hapsburg; till a part of it was ceded to France at the Peace of Westphalia (1648), and the rest fell a prey to the aggressions of Louis XIV., who seized Strasbourg (1681) by surprise in time of peace. By the Peace of Ryswick (1697), the cession of the whole was ratified. In 1814-1815 Russia would not hear of the restitution of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany; and not till 1871, after the Franco-Prussian war, were Alsace and German Lorraine, by the treaty of Frankfort, incorporated in the new German Empire. The great mass of the population were strongly against the change, and 160,000 elected to be French, though only 50,000 went into actual exile, refusing to become German subjects. For, at least since the era of the Revolution, Alsace in sentiment was wholly French. To France she gave the bravest of her sons-Kellermann, Kléber, and many another hero. Strasbourg first heard the "Marseillaise"; and MM.
Erckmann-Chatrian, Lorrainers both, have faithfully represented their countrymen's love of La Patrie in the days of the third as of the first Napoleon.
France long cherished the hope of regaining the lost territories, but had resigned herself to the inevitable when the war of 1914-1918 suddenly thrust on her by Germany enabled her, through the victory of the Allies, to realize her dream.
See FRANCE; WORLD WAR.