Hanover
Hanover names 4 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Hanover a northwestern province of Prussia
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a northwestern province of Prussia. It borders on the North Sea . Hanover City is the capital. Bremen, a free city, is the natural metropolis and seaport. The principal institution of learning is Gottingen University. The inhabitants are, for the greater part, Lutherans. Prior to 1866 Hanover was an independent kingdom. Through the marriage of an elector of Hanover with a granddaughter of James I, the House of Hanover became connected with the Stuarts of England. At the death of the English queen, Anne, in 1714, George Louis, elector of Hanover, became also George I, king of Great Britain . In 1814 Hanover was raised by the Congress of Vienna to the rank of a kingdom. Three Georges were kings of Great Britain and electors of Hanover. George IV and William IV were kings both of Great Britain and of Hanover. In accordance with a custom known as the Salic law, the crown of Hanover could not be worn by a woman. When Victoria was crowned queen of Great Britain, the crown of Hanover went to the nearest male heir, the duke of Cumberland. In the war between Austria and Prussia, Hanover had the misfortune to side with Austria, the losing side. At the conclusion of peace the little kingdom was incorporated with Prussia. It was in this dual capacity, as a British and a German prince, that George III obtained the German troops that lost his battles in the war with the American colonists. See George ; Free Cities ; Bremen Hanseatic (han-se-at'ic) League, a confederation of the northern German towns. The German name for the League was the Hansa, a word meaning union. The Hansa was formed by commercial cities to protect their pack trains from robbers on land, their ships from pirates on sea, and their towns from the oppression of princes. As early as 1241 Hamburg and Lubeck formed an alliance to keep a road open across the neck of land that separates the North Sea from the Baltic. Several small leagues of this sort were merged into the larger one, called the Hansa. During the fourteenth century it became a powerful confederation. At its height ninety towns in the territory now included in the German empire , the Netherlands, and Belgium, flew the Hansa banner. The league formed commercial treaties with distant peoples, and even enforced its claims by dint of arms. A trading station on the Thames was maintained in London. It was known as the Steel Yard. Like the Hudson Bay Company and the East India Company of later times, the Hansa established distant agencies. Although the importance of the league was great its organization was never a very close one. The deputies of the various cities assembled at Lubeck to consider questions of general importance. The decrees of this meeting, or diet, had no binding force unless ratified by the merchants in council of the various cities of the league. Naturally enough a general system of weights and measures prevailed throughout the confederacy. The canal system of north Germany was begun under its influence. The great service of the league was the carrying out of its original purpose, the protection of commerce by land and sea. As soon as robbers and pirates had been suppressed and the government of the various princes became more established and powerful, the mission of the league was practically at an end. Jealousies sprang up between the different cities. The large towns aimed to divert trade from the smaller ones for their own advantage. The Thirty Years' War brought the league practically to an end. In 1669 the last diet was held. At the present time there is but one political vestige of the old Hansa. The cities of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg are still independent and form sovereign states of the German Empire. In their prime the Hanseatic cities were centers of enterprise and culture. Their merchant princes possessed enormous wealth. The old cathedrals, town halls, market places, homes of the merchants, council chambers, wood carving, antique furniture, rich hangings, priceless table-ware, now the admiration of students, date from the period of the Hanseatic League. Separate articles may be consulted for brief descriptions of the chief cities.
Hanover formerly a kingdom in the N
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
formerly a kingdom in the N. W. of Germany, now a province of Prussia; area 14,870 square miles; pop. about 3,000,000. It is of very irregular shape, and is divided by intervening territories into three distinct portions, besides some small territories to the S., and a range of sandy islands lining the coast. It is divided into six districts--Hanover, Hildesheim, Lüneburg, Stade, Osnabrück, Aurich. The surface in the S. is covered by the Hartz Mountains, but the rest of the country is a low, monotonous flat, with a gentle slope to the North Sea. The Ems, the Weser (with its tributaries, the Leine and Aller), and the Elbe flow through fertile districts industriously cultivated for corn and flax. Near the coast the land is marshy, but feeds large numbers of very superior cattle. The Harz Mountains are rich in minerals, the working of which is an important industry. Hanover was long connected with the Brunswick family, and latterly more especially with the line of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Ernest Augustus, a prince of the latter line, became, in 1692, the first Elector of Hanover, married a granddaughter of James I. of England, and was succeeded in 1698 by his son, George Louis, who in 1714 became George I. of England. Henceforth it was ruled in connection with England. In 1814 the Congress of Vienna raised Hanover to the rank of a kingdom, the crown of which was worn by George IV. and William IV., but, on the accession of Queen Victoria, passed by Salic law to Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. In 1851 he was succeeded by his son, George V., but in 1866, Hanover having become involved in the Austro-Prussian contest, his kingdom was absorbed by Prussia.
Hanover capital of the Prussian province of Hanover
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
capital of the Prussian province of Hanover, situated in an extensive plain on the Leine, which here receives the Ihme and becomes navigable. The old town, irregularly built with many antiquated buildings, is surrounded by the handsome new quarters which have arisen to the N., E., and S. E. The principal buildings are the Market Church, the Old Town House, the Theater, one of the finest in Germany, the Royal Palace, the Museum of Art and Science, the Royal Library, the Waterloo Monument, etc. About a mile to the N. W. W. is Schloss Herrenhausen, the favorite residence of George I., George II., and George V. Near the town is the colossal Welfenschloss, or palace of the Guelphs. Hanover prior to the World War was a manufacturing town of some importance, had cottonspinning, machine works, iron foundries, chemical works, tobacco and cigar factories, etc. Hanover is first mentioned in 1163. It joined the Hanseatic League in 1481. It became the residence of the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and capital of the principality in 1636. Pop. about 313,000.
Hanover a borough of Pennsylvania
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a borough of Pennsylvania, in York co. It is on the Pennsylvania and the Western Maryland railroads. It is in the center of an important agricultural and iron-ore region. Its industries include the manufacture of cigars, gloves, silks, water wheels, flour, shoes, furniture, wire cloth, etc. The borough has a public library, and a handsome high school, and two parks. Pop. (1910) 7,057; (1920) 8,664.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921, Hanover was a Prussian province of about 3,000,000 people; Prussia itself was abolished by the Allies in 1947, and in 1946 the old province was merged with Brunswick, Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe to form the state of Lower Saxony, with Hanover city as its capital. The city, heavily bombed in the Second World War, was rebuilt and became known for the Hannover Messe industrial fair and the Expo 2000 world exposition. Aiton's note that Bremen and Hamburg remain sovereign states still holds -- both are federal states of Germany today -- but Lübeck lost its statehood in 1937 under the Greater Hamburg Act and is now part of Schleswig-Holstein. The Hanoverian royal line described here had already been renamed: the British royal house took the name Windsor in 1917.
Written for this edition, 2026.