Gottingen

Gottingen, the chief town of a circle of the same name in the province of Hanover, Germany, is built on both banks of the Leine river in a pleasant valley overlooked by the Hainberg. It is connected by railway with Hanover, 67 miles distant. A mere village in the tenth century, it became from 1286 to 1463 aprosperous member of the Hanseatic league (q.v.). The support which it gave to the Reformation and the misfortunes suffered in the Thirty Years' War reduced it nearly to ruin. In 1734 George II. founded the famous university of Georgia Augusta, and the fortunes of the town revived. A hundred years later the Liberal tendencies of the staff led to the expulsion of seven eminent professors and to the temporary decline of the institution. It has since recovered, and after the annexation of Hanover in 1866 the Prussian Government did much to restore its prestige. Among those who have filled chairs here may be mentioned the brothers Grimm, Ewald, Gervinus, Benfey, Haller, Hermann, 0. Muller, Heeren, Blumenbach, and Heyne. Neander and the chemist Biinsen were natives of the town.