Piotrkow

Piotrkow (Ger. Petrikau), a government of Russian Poland, bounded by the government of Warsaw on the N., Radom and Kielce on the E., Kalisz on the W. and Prussian Silesia on the S. Area, 4729 sq. m.; pop. (1906, estimate), 1,675,200. Geologically it represents a continuation of Upper Silesia, and is built up of Upper Carboniferous deposits, containing near Bendzin a bed of coal 265 sq. m. in extent. Permian and Jurassic deposits, containing zinc ores, as also lignite and limonite iron ores, overlie the Carboniferous. The surface consists of a series of heights, 5000 to 1600 ft. above sea-level, intersected by ravines, and stretching from south-west to north-east. The government is drained by the Warta and the Pilica, and was formerly covered with thick forests. It was colonized by Mazurs and Poles (Veliko-Polyans and Malo-Polyans). The government, which is the most densely peopled in the Russian Empire, is divided into eight districts, of which the chief towns are Piotrkow, Bendzin, Brzeziny, Czenstochowa, Lask, Lodz, Nowo-Radom and Rawa. Agriculture and cattle-breeding are extensively carried on; and coal and iron are mined. Textile industries developed with extraordinary rapidity during the closing years of the 19th and the opening years of the 20th centuries, the towns of Lodz, Pabianice, Zgerz and Bendzin all being important centres. Other branches of productive industry are distilleries, breweries, flour-mills, brickyards, sugar, cement, glass and candle factories. Granica and Sosnowice, in this government, are two of the most important custom-houses in Russia, and the annual trade is estimated at £12,000,000.