Augsburg, a city of Bavaria, capital of the province of Swabia, is situated in the angle between the rivers Wertach and Lech, 37 miles WNW. of Munich. It has a noble street, the Maximilian Strasse, adorned with three bronze fountains (1593-1602); and the principal edifices are the Renaissance town-house (1620), with its splendid ' Golden Hall;' the Perlach Tower, dating from the 11th century; the former episcopal palace, where, on 25th June 1530, the Protestant princes presented the Augsburg Confession to Charles V.; the grand old mansion of the merchant-princes, the Fuggers; the ' Three Moors,' one of the most interesting hostelries in Germany; and the Gothicised Romanesque cathedral (994-1421), with its bronze doors and early glass-paintings. The industry of Augsburg is once more vigorous. Cotton is now the staple manufacture, besides woollens, paper, tobacco, machinery, gold and silver wares, brewing, printing, lithography, and bookselling. Pop. (1871) 51,270; (1900) 89,500; of whom 66 per cent. were Catholics. The Emperor Augustus in 12 B.C. here founded the ' colony' of Augusta Vindeli-corum, which in 1276 became a free city of the empire, and which was the centre of German art as represented by the Holbeins, Burgkmair, Altdorfer, etc. The discovery of the Cape route to India, and of America, dried up the sources of Augsburg's prosperity. It ceased to be a free city on the abolition of the German empire in 1806, and was taken possession of by Bavaria.