BERLIN.
When in 1871 Berlin, already the capital of the Prussian monarchy, became
the metropolis of a united Empire, its population was 824,484. At the census
of December 1st, 1905, its population numbered 2,040,148, the increase since
the preceding census of 1900 having been 151,300, or 8'01 per cent., and during
the preceding decade 362,844, or 21*63 per cent. ISTor has this expansion been
the result in any notable degree, as in the case of many large towns, of the
incorporation of outlying townships. There are in the street nomenclature of
Berlin “ chaussées ” and “ allées ” which speak of the absorption of former rural
areas, and in these streets may still be seen old-fashioned buildings whose origin
goes back to the time when the " chaussee ” or “ allee ” was a sandy road leading
through a forest of fir trees or through open com land, but Berlin’s growth has
been due pre-eminently to the inrush of population which began with the
industrial and commercial development that immediately followed the war of
1870-1.
The percentage of the total increase due to this movement from the outside
and to excess of births respectively is here shown for successive inter-censal
periods :—
Inter-censal Periods.
1871 to 1875
1875 „ 1880
1880 » 1885
1885 „ 1890
1890 „ 1895
1895 „ 1900
1900 „ 1905
Percentage of total increase due to
Excess of Immigration
over Emigration.
Excess of
Births over Deaths.
74*78
55-65
68-40
70-60
16-57
59-99
46-26
2522
44-35
31-60
29-40
8343
4001
53-74
It was found at the census of 1905 that of 2,040,148 inhabitants only
822,270, or 40*3 per cent., were born in Berlin ; of 1,217,878 born elsewhere,
1,062,074, or 52T per cent, of the total population, came from other parts of
Prussia, and 103,674, or 5T per cent., from other German States.
The effect of this recent development, and of the entire transformation which
the original town, save in a comparatively limited area, has undergone, is that
Berlin can claim to be one of the most modern of capitals.
The structure and laying out of the town have followed practical lines, and
have been deliberately devised for practical ends. The streets are long and run
in straight lines, and their symmetry is perfect. To that extent convenience is
served in a high degree, though the total effect is somewhat monotonous to anyone
accustomed to the unsystematic formation of the ordinary English town ; for
one street succeeds another, as one house succeeds another, alike in plan and
structure, until any sort of curve or corner would be a relief to the eye.
There is a Berlin and a Greater Berlin. The nuclei of Berlin proper were
the two townships of Berlin and Kölln, Wen dish colonies, one on the right and
the other on the left bank of the Spree, which early in the fourteenth century
joined together, and for a time ruled themselves as a republic. In the seventeenth
century the small towns of Friedrichswerder and Dorotheenstadt were added,
though the united population at the beginning of the eighteenth century is only
estimated to have been 57,000. The four original components of Berlin still
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