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Hamburg
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HAMBURG |
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Germany |
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1.738.483
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German |
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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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