LUXEMBURG, Grand Duchy of, one of the states of the German Confederation, and part of the kingdom of the Netherlands, is bounded N. and E. by Rhenish Prussia, S. by France, and W. by Belgium. Its length from N. to S. is about 48 miles, and its breadth from E. to W. 34; area, 986 square miles. Its surface is elevated, being part of the plateau of the Ardennes, and largely covered with wood and heath. The River Moselle, which bounds it on the S.E., drains the greater part of it; and the Sure and its tributaries Our and Alzette, and the Meuse and its affluent Ourthe and Lesse, the remainder—the Sure itself falling into the Moselle. It is divided into three districts—that of Luxembourg, Grevenmacher, and Diekirch, containing eleven cantons; and, in 1855, a population of 189,480. The bulk of the population is employed in agriculture, which is rather in a backward state, the nature of the soil being adverse; and there is a considerable amount of pastoral country. Wine is grown to some extent, but it is of inferior quality. The chief agricultural products are corn, vegetables, hemp, flax, and hops. Iron is found in the eastern districts, and about 9000 tons are annually manufactured, wood being employed as fuel. The quarries of lime and slate are pretty extensive. Lead was also worked at one time, but is now exhausted or abandoned. The population of the whole of Luxembourg, including the Belgian province, with few exceptions, speak German, though French is understood. In religion they are, almost without exception, Roman Catholics. There was till lately a great want of schools and colleges, but a movement has taken place in this respect.
Luxemburg was originally governed by counts, who were at the same time sovereigns of Brandenburg. In 1354 it was erected into a duchy by Charles IV.; and in 1443 fell to Philip of Burgundy by marriage, and through Philip to the House of Spain, with whom it continued entire till, at the peace of the Pyrenees in 1659, part of it was ceded to France, and took the name of French Luxembourg. This latter portion is now comprised in the department of the Moselle. In the first revolution France again appropriated the whole; but in 1814 it was given to Holland in compensation for the German principalities of Nassau, Dillenburg, Siegen, Hadamar, and Dietz; and was organized by the King of the Netherlands as a foreign province, with a constitution and administration of its own. It was again dismembered in 1831, in consequence of disputes following on the Belgian revolution of 1830; and the portion W. of a line drawn from the French to the Prussian territory, a little to the E. of Arlon and Bastogne, given to Belgium.