RUGEN

largest island of Germany, in the Baltic Sea opposite Stralsund and separated from the German mainland by the Strelasund (Strela Sound) and Bodden Strait. It is administered as part of MecklenburgWest Pomerania Land (state). Its length from north to south is 32 miles (51 km), its maximum breadth 25 miles, and its area 358 square miles (926 square km). The coastline is irregular, as Rgen originally consisted of several separate islands that, in geologically recent times, have been joined by strips of land. The general name is applied locally only to the roughly triangular main trunk of the island, while the larger peninsulas of Jasmund and Wittow (north) and Mnchgut (southeast) are considered to be as distinct from Rgen as the various adjacent smaller islands, notably Ummanz and Hiddensee, which are also included under the name for statistical purposes. The west coast is generally low, while on the eastern shore chalk cliffs rise to 400 feet (122 m) at the Stubbenkammer promontory. The highest point is the Piekberg (528 feet) in Jasmund. Rgen is rich in prehistoric artifacts. There are Upper Paleolithic remains, traces of the Neolithic Beaker folk, and the Bronze Age Hgelgraber Culture (distinguished by burial tumuli). The Germanic Rugieri tribe was displaced by the Slavic Wends (c. 500 BC), whose fortress on the northern promontory of Arkona was destroyed by the Danish king Waldemar I when he conquered and Christianized the island in 1168. Rgen was thereafter ruled by native princes under Danish supremacy until 1218 and passed to Pomerania (Pomorze) in 1325, to Sweden in 1648, and to Prussia in 1815. The fertile morainic soil supports sugar beets, oats, rye, and potatoes. Cattle and sheep are reared on the drier ground. The chief industry is herring fishing, and chalk pits in Jasmund are commercially exploited. Tourism is also important at such resorts as Lohme, Binz, Sellin, Ghren, and Lauterbach-Putbus. The principal towns are Bergen (the administrative centre) and Sassnitz, the base of the deep-sea fishery and the terminus of the ferry to Trelleborg, Sweden. Rgen is connected to the mainland by a 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometre) road and rail embankment, the Rgendamm, over the Strelasund, opened in 1936. Pop. (1990 est.) including adjoining islands, 87,248.