MORAVIA, a marquisate of Germany, derives the name of Mahern, as it is called by the Germans, and of Morawa, as it is called by the natives, from the river of that name, which rises in the mountains of the county of Glatz, and passes through the middle of it. It is bounded to the south by Austria, to the north by Silesia, to the west by Bohemia, and to the east by Silesia and Hungary; being about 120 miles in length and 100 in breadth. Its surface is about 89,000 square miles. In 1775 its population, according to official returns, was 1,134,674, of whom 23,382 were Jews; but in 1801 has been computed to be 1,400,000 (Mentelle et Malte Brun). Olmutz, formerly the chief town, contains 11,000 inhabitants; Brunn, now the seat of government, contains 14,000; and there are several other considerable towns.
A great part of this country is overrun with woods and mountains, where the air is very cold, but much wholesomer than in the low grounds, which are full of bogs and lakes. The mountains, in general, are barren; but the more champaign parts tolerably fertile, yielding corn, with plenty of hemp and flax, good saffron, and pasture. Nor is it altogether destitute of wine, red and white, fruits, and garden stuff. Moravia also abounds in horses, black cattle, sheep, and goats. In the woods and about the lakes there is plenty of wild fowl, game, venison, bees, honey, hares, foxes, wolves, beavers, &c. This country affords marble, alum, iron, sulphur, salt-petre, and vitriol, with mineral waters, and warm springs; but salt is imported. Its rivers, of which the March, Morawa, or Morau, are the chief, abound with trout, crayfish, barbels, eels, perch, and many other sorts of fish.
The language of the inhabitants is a dialect of the Slavonic, differing little from the Bohemian; but the nobility and citizens speak German and French.
Moravia was anciently inhabited by the Quadi, who were driven out by the Sclavi. Its kings, who were once powerful and independent, afterwards became dependent on, and tributary to, the German emperors and kings. At last, in the year 908, the Moravian kingdom was parcelled out among the Germans, Poles,
Moravia and Hungarians. In 1086, that part of it properly called Moravia was declared a marquisate by the German king Henry IV. and united with Bohemia, to whose dukes and kings it hath ever since been subject. The states of the country consist of the clergy, lords, knights, and burgesses; and the diets, when summoned by the regency, are held at Brunn. The marquisate is still governed by its own peculiar constitutions, under the directorium in publicis et cameralibus, and the supreme judiciary at Vienna. It is divided into six circles, each of which has its captain, and contributes to its sovereign about one-third of what is exacted of Bohemia. Towards the expences of the military establishment of the whole Austrian hereditary countries, its yearly quota is 1,836,490 florins. Seven regiments of foot, one of cuirassiers, and one of dragoons, are usually quartered in it.
Christianity was introduced into this country in the 9th century; and the inhabitants continued attached to the church of Rome till the 15th, when they espoused the doctrine of John Huss, and threw off Popery: but after the defeat of the elector Palatine, whom they had chosen king, as well as the Bohemians, the emperor Ferdinand II. re-established Popery; though there are still some Protestants in Moravia. The bishop of Olmutz, who stands immediately under the pope, is at the head of the ecclesiastics in this country. The supreme ecclesiastical jurisdiction, under the bishop, is vested in a consistory.
The commerce of this country is inconsiderable. Of what they have, Brunn enjoys the principal part. At Iglau and Trebitz are manufactures of cloth, paper, gunpowder, &c. There are also some iron works and glass houses in the country.
The inhabitants of Moravia in general are openhearted, not easy to be provoked or pacified, obedient to their masters, and true to their promises; but credulous of old prophecies, and much addicted to drinking, though neither such sots or bigots as they are represented by some geographers. The boors, indeed, upon the river Hant, are said to be a thievish, unpolished, brutal race. The sciences now begin to lift up their heads a little among the Moravians, the university of Olmutz having been put on a better footing; and a riding academy, with a learned society, has been lately established there.