_Berlin_, the capital, is one of the few cities having a population of more than one million. It is not only a great centre of trade, but it is one of the leading money-markets of Europe; it is also the chief railway centre. _Hamburg_ and _Bremen_ are important ports of German-American trade, the former being the largest seaport of continental Europe. _Breslau_ is an important market, into which the raw materials of eastern Europe are received, and from which they are sent to the manufacturing districts. The art galleries of _Dresden_ have had the effect of making that city a centre of art manufactures which are famous the world over. _Luebeck_ is one of the free cities that was formerly in the Hanse League. The twin cities, _Barmen-Eberfeld_, in the Ruhr coal-field, form one of the principal centres of cotton manufacture in the world. _Dortmund_ is a coal-market. At _Essen_ are the steel-works founded by Herr Krupp. They are the largest and one of the most complete plants in the world. The output includes arms, heavy and light ordnance, and about every kind of structural iron and steel used. About forty thousand men are employed. _Chemnitz_ is an important point, not only of cotton manufacture, but also of Saxony wools, underwear and shawls being its most noteworthy products. At _Stettin_, _Danzig_, and _Kiel_ are built the steamships that have given to Germany its great commercial power. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION In what ways are Great Britain and Germany commercial rivals? What are the advantages of each with respect to position?--with respect to natural resources? From the Statesman's Year-Book make a list of the leading exports of each;--the leading imports of each. What exports have they in common? From the Abstract of Statistics find what commodities the United States sells to each. FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE Adams's New Empire--Chapter III. Gibbins's History of Commerce--Book III, Chapters III-V. CHAPTER XXVI EUROPE--THE BALTIC AND NORTH SEA STATES These states, like Great Britain and Germany, belong to Germanic Europe, and their situation around the North and Baltic Seas makes their commercial interests much the same. From the stand-point of commerce Holland might be regarded as an integral part of Germany, inasmuch as a large part of the foreign commerce of Germany must reach the sea by crossing that state. =Sweden and Norway.=--Sweden and Norway occupy the region best known as the Scandinavian peninsula. The western side faces the warm, moist winds of the Atlantic, but the surface is too rugged to be productive. The lands suitable for farming, on the other hand, are on the east side, where, owing to the high latitude, the winters are extremely cold.