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Hamburg » Germany
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HAMBURG

Country:

Germany

germany flag
population 1.738.483
language German
currency Euro (€)
 
Is the second largest city in Germany and with the Hamburg Harbour, its principal port. Hamburg is also the second largest port city in the European Union.

The official name Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (German Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg) refers to Hamburg's membership in the middle ages Hanseatic League and the fact that Hamburg is a City State and one of the sixteen Federal States of Germany.

Hamburg is situated on the southern tip of Jutland Peninsula, geographically centered between Continental Europe and Scandinavia and between North Sea and Baltic Sea. The city of Hamburg lies at the junction of the river Elbe with the rivers Alster and Bille and the city center is beautifully set around Lake Binnenalster and Lake Außenalster.

Hamburg is an international trade city and the commercial and cultural center of Northern Germany. Hamburg is famous for its sophisticated music scene.



History

The city takes its name from the first permanent building on the site, a fort ordered to be built by Emperor Charlemagne in 808 AC. The fort was built on some rocky ground in a marsh between the Alster and the Elbe as a defence against Slavic incursion. The fort was named Hamma Burg, where "burg" means "fort."

The "Hamma" element remains uncertain. Old High German includes both a hamma, "angle" and a hamme, "pastureland." The angle might refer to a spit of land or to the curvature of a river. However, the language spoken might not have been Old High German, as Plattdüütsch was spoken there later. Other theories are that the fort was named for a surrounding Hamma forest, or for the village of Hamm, later incorporated into the city. Hamm as a place name occurs a number of times in Germany, but its meaning is equally uncertain. It could be related to "heim" and Hamburg could have been placed in the territory of the ancient Chamavi. However, a derivation of "home city" is perhaps too direct, as the city was named after the castle.

In 834 Hamburg was designated the seat of a bishopric, whose first bishop, Ansgar, became known as the Apostle of the North. In 845 a fleet of 600 Viking ships came up the River Elbe and destroyed Hamburg, at that time a town of around 500 inhabitants. Two years later, Hamburg was united with Bremen as the bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen.In 1030 the city was burned down by King Mieszko II of Poland. After further raids in 1066 and 1072 the bishop permanently moved to Bremen.

The charter in 1189 by Frederick I "Barbarossa" granted Hamburg the status of an Imperial Free City and tax free access up the Lower Elbe into the North Sea. This and Hamburg's proximity to the main trade routes of the North Sea and Baltic Sea quickly made it a major port in Northern Europe. Its trade alliance with Lübeck in 1241 marks the origin and core of the powerful Hanseatic League of trading cities.

In 1520 the city embraced Lutheranism, and Hamburg subsequently received Protestant refugees from the Netherlands and France. Hamburg was at times under Danish sovereignty while remaining part of the Holy Roman Empire as an Imperial Free City.

Briefly annexed by Napoleon I (1810-14), Hamburg suffered severely during his last campaign in Germany. The city was besieged for over a year by Allied forces (mostly Russian, Swedish and German). Russian forces under General Bennigsen finally freed the city in 1814. During the first half of the 19th century a patron goddess with Hamburg's Latin name Hammonia emerged, mostly in romantic and poetic references, and although she has no mythology to call her own, Hammonia became the symbol of the city's spirit during this time. Hamburg had several great fires, notably in 1284 and 1842.

Hamburg experienced its fastest growth during the second half of the 19th century, when its population more than quadrupled to 800,000 as the growth of the city's Atlantic trade helped make it Europe's third-largest port.In 1900 Hamburg-America Lines was the World's largest transatlantic shipping company, and Hamburg was also home to shipping companies to South America, Africa, India and East Asia. Hamburg became a cosmopolitan metropolis based on worldwide trade.

Hamburg was the port for most Germans and Eastern Europeans to leave for the New World and became home to trading communities from all over the world (like a small Chinatown in Altona). After World War I Germany lost her colonies and Hamburg lost many of its trade routes. In 1937 the city boundaries were extended with the Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz (Greater Hamburg Act) to incorporate Wandsbek, Harburg, Wilhelmsburg and Altona. The city counts 1.7 million inhabitants. During World War II Hamburg suffered a series of devastating air raids which killed 42,000 German civilians (Bombing of Hamburg in World War II). Through this, and the new zoning guidelines of the 1960s, the inner city lost much of its architectural past.

The Iron Curtain - only 50 kilometers east of Hamburg - separated the city from most of its hinterland and further reduced Hamburg's global trade. On February 16, 1962 a severe storm caused the Elbe to rise to an all-time high, drowning one fifth of Hamburg and killing more than 300 people. During German Division from 1945 until 1990 Hamburg happened to be West Germany's only proper World City and for this reason acquired a prominent cultural role. After German reunification in 1990, and the accession of some Eastern European and Baltic States into the EU in 2004, Hamburg Harbour and Hamburg have ambitions for regaining their positions as the region's largest deep-sea port for container shipping and its major commercial and trading center.



Places of interest

For the Hamburg visitor it offers numerous attractive. Already mentioned lake in downtown he is unique in its sort. It is surrounded by three avenues, with elegant buildings, among them two of the hotels with greater tradition.

From this place several towers of the churches of Hamburg are descried, whose superior part is covered with copper laminae which they have been acquiring a green color. To short distance is the city council, that it is a building constructed in the Nordic style, also with copper tile roof.

The outer, greater lake of size, this surrounded by houses with gardens. Another attractive tourist one is the port, that can be crossed in boats of diverse sizes, with durations more or less prolonged. In the harbor zone numerous channels exist in whose sides encuentrans the old warehouses.

These buildings, that have let be used due to the appearance of the containers, are being rehabilitated and being prepared for houses and other uses. Near the port is the marine district of Hamburg, where they are clubs and nocturnal bars.

The main street of this district is called Reeperbahn, that gives name to all the zone. Hamburg also counts on a designed botanical garden like park, in which they are possible to be passed several hours admiring the vegetation.
 
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