Hamburg, city and Land (state), on the Elbe River in northern Germany, is the country’s largest port and commercial center.
========================================================================(in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the second-largest city in Germany and 6th-largest in the EU. At the southern tip of the Jutland Peninsula, Hamburg stands on the branching River Elbe at the head of a 110 km (68 mi.) estuary to the North Sea, at the mouth of the Alster and Bille.
+
Hamburg is one of Germany's three city-states alongside Berlin
and Bremen, and is surrounded by Schleswig-Holstein to the north
and Lower Saxony to the south. The Port of Hamburg is Germany's largest
and Europe's third-largest. Before the 1871 unification of Germany, it
was a sovereign city state, and before 1919 formed a civic
republic headed by a class of Grand Burghers or Hanseaten.
+ The name Hamburg comes from the first permanent building on the site, a castle that the Emperor Charlemagne ordered constructed in 808 CE. It rose on rocky terrain in a marsh between the River Alster and the River Elbe as a defence against Slavic incursion, and acquired the name Hammaburg (burg meaning castle or fort). The origin of the Hamma term is uncertain, but its location is estimated to be at the site of today's Hammaburgplatz (a lowland castle built in the early Carolingian period, from which the name of Hamburg is derived).
+ In 834 CE, Hamburg was designated as the seat of a bishopric. The first bishop, Ansgar, became known as the Apostle of the North. Two years later, Hamburg was united with Bremen as the Bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen. Hamburg was destroyed and occupied several times.
In 1189, by imperial charter, Frederick I "Barbarossa" granted Hamburg the status of a Free Imperial City and tax-free access (or free-trade zone) up the Lower Elbe into the North Sea. On 8 November 1266, a contract between Henry III and Hamburg's traders allowed them to establish a hanse in London.
+ In 1529, the city embraced Lutheranism, and it received Reformed refugees from the Netherlands and France. When Jan van Valckenborgh introduced another layer to the fortifications to protect against the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century, he extended Hamburg and created a "New Town" (Neustadt) whose street names date from the grid system of roads he introduced.
+ The name Hamburg comes from the first permanent building on the site, a castle that the Emperor Charlemagne ordered constructed in 808 CE. It rose on rocky terrain in a marsh between the River Alster and the River Elbe as a defence against Slavic incursion, and acquired the name Hammaburg (burg meaning castle or fort). The origin of the Hamma term is uncertain, but its location is estimated to be at the site of today's Hammaburgplatz (a lowland castle built in the early Carolingian period, from which the name of Hamburg is derived).
+ In 834 CE, Hamburg was designated as the seat of a bishopric. The first bishop, Ansgar, became known as the Apostle of the North. Two years later, Hamburg was united with Bremen as the Bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen. Hamburg was destroyed and occupied several times.
In 1189, by imperial charter, Frederick I "Barbarossa" granted Hamburg the status of a Free Imperial City and tax-free access (or free-trade zone) up the Lower Elbe into the North Sea. On 8 November 1266, a contract between Henry III and Hamburg's traders allowed them to establish a hanse in London.
This was the first time in history that the
word hanse was used for the trading guild of the Hanseatic League. In
1270, the solicitor of the senate of Hamburg, Jordan von Boitzenburg,
wrote the first description of civil, criminal and procedural law for a
city in Germany in the German language, the Ordeelbook (Ordeel:
sentence). On 10 August 1410, civil unrest forced a compromise (German:
Rezeß, literally meaning: withdrawal). This is considered the
first constitution of Hamburg. In 1356, the Matthiae-Mahl feast dinner
for Hanseatic League cities was celebrated for the first time on 25
February, the first day of spring in medieval times. (It continues today
as the world's oldest ceremonial meal.)
+ In 1529, the city embraced Lutheranism, and it received Reformed refugees from the Netherlands and France. When Jan van Valckenborgh introduced another layer to the fortifications to protect against the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century, he extended Hamburg and created a "New Town" (Neustadt) whose street names date from the grid system of roads he introduced.
,%20in%20the%20city%20of%20Cologne,%20Germany.jpg)